The Africana Studies Program has launched its new Black Studies Book Club. “Our plans are to bring in a scholar (once per semester) whose recent publication has shifted the conversation in Africana Studies to deliver a public lecture and to facilitate a more intimate, book club–style conversation,” said Mia L. Bagneris, director of the Africana Studies Program.

The Tulane University Marching Band played at the 2020 World Expo in Dubai on Nov. 28, 2021. The band took the stage as the only college band to perform on U.S. National Day. Formerly known as the World’s Fair, the six-month Expo began Oct. 1 and will run through March 31, 2022. World Expo showcases innovation and culture from 192 countries, with 25 million visitors worldwide expected to attend. It had been postponed from last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

School of Architecture professors Tiffany Lin and Emilie Taylor Welty, and Lisa Molix, psychology professor at the School of Science and Engineering, will study how members of the community react to public spaces and monuments that memorialize contentious historical figures and events. They will use their findings to develop the framework for an advanced architecture research studio that examines strategies to bridge the gap between architects and the general public.

The Newcomb Art Museum will commemorate the life of the late Kim Boutte, a member of the Fi Yi Yi Mardi Gras Indian tribe and a longtime Sodexo employee at Tulane, through a portrait by New Orleans–based artist Brandan “BMike” Odums. The portrait, still being created, is in response to calls from the Tulane community to honor Boutte’s contribution to the cultural landscape of New Orleans and the connections she made with students.

The Poydras Corridor Sculpture Exhibition presented by the Helis Foundation features a sculpture by the late Ida Kohlmeyer (NC ’33, G ’56). The sculpture, Box of Artificial Flowers #6, is the largest sculpture Kohlmeyer created, standing at 17 feet tall and 14 feet wide. The Helis Foundation purchased the sculpture from a private collector in Chicago in 2018 and invested in the restoration of the piece. The sculpture now sits on the neutral ground of Poydras Street and Loyola Avenue.