On April 5, Stevens’ School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) held a one-day conference called Crisis and Meaning: Intersections of Humanities and Mental Health. As part of HASS’s Campus Point Connection events, which aim to shed light on research in arts and culture, speakers from Stevens and across the world came together to discuss issues concerning the relationship between mental health and the humanities.
A member of The Stute was able to present their research concerning mental health in art, which included student perspectives from HASS in order to shed light on some of the things individuals, communities, and Stevens can do to address the needs of students pursuing the humanities. Other presentations throughout the day affirmed these messages, touching on ways to address mental health through artistic practices.
The conference was broken down into four sections: Trauma, Illness, Arts, and Healing. Topics ranged from portrayals of mental health in artistic works to the importance of acknowledging hidden disabilities. Several of the presentations touched upon the ways that technology influences our response to health. The methods prompted both hopes (with Stevens Professor Elaine Fefferman inviting the room to participate in a performance that used a student-developed cell phone app to speak to users’ worries) and apprehension (with Stevens student Kerry Leccese presenting her research on an AI therapy app, one in particular which responded “Good Job!” when prompted with restrictive eating behaviors). One presentation students may find interesting was Stevens Professor Robert Harari’s research analyzing sound frequency levels of certain spaces to see how easy it is to hear voices, a practice that could improve places like hospitals and classrooms, where verbal communication is vital. In his study, he found that several classrooms here at Stevens (in Morton and Kidde) experience ambient noise that perfectly masks the important frequencies of human speech (meaning it may not be your fault that you don’t hear everything a professor says during class).
The event, which was originally set to take place in UCC Techflex, instead took place in a classroom in Martha Bayard Stevens Hall. The small classroom setting, however, provided for interesting, intimate conversations, even debate, amongst the speakers who ranged in age and area expertise. Overall, the event was a success, and it remains to be seen what other great experiences HASS’s Campus Point Connection will bring to Stevens next.
