Our Team

Erika George, Director, is the Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law at the S. J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. George earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as articles editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago, served as a fellow and a consultant to Human Rights Watch, and recently was appointed to serve on the Earthjustice Board of Trustees. Her scholarship has been widely published in legal periodicals, and she is the author of Incorporating Rights (Oxford UP, 2021). Her research examines the responsibilities of multinational corporations to respect international human rights and various efforts to hold corporations accountable for alleged rights violations. George teaches and presents frequently on human rights, sustainability, diversity, gender equality, and corporate social responsibility. She has served as the THC Director since July 1, 2019 and oversees the center’s academic research, public outreach, and educational enrichment programs. 

Beth James, Tanner Humanities Center Associate Director, received bachelor’s degrees with honors in English and Psychology from Boston University. She has worked at the Tanner Humanities Center since 2003 and was appointed Associate Director in 2015. James is responsible for all center operations.  She handles budgets, accounts, payroll, and contracts; processes fellowship applications; coordinates all contracts for speakers and events; manages planning logistics for visiting speakers; and assures compliance with accounting, human resource, and development policies and procedures. She coordinates with Tanner Humanities Center Advisory Boards, University of Utah partners and faculty, and community organizations. She also administers the multi-university Tanner Lectures on Human Values series, organizes annual meetings for the Tanner Board of Trustees, and oversees the center’s Gateway Workshops and National Theatre Live Program.  James’ strategic acumen, deep institutional knowledge, and ability to manage multiple programs, complex logistics, and varied constituencies make her an invaluable member of the Tanner Humanities Center Team. She also played a central role in developing, planning, and executing two NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops (Manifest Destiny Reconsidered: The Utah Experience) in 2017 and 2019.

Jeremy Rosen, Associate Director for Faculty, is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Utah. His first book, Minor Characters Have Their Day: Genre and the Contemporary Literary Marketplace, was published as part of Columbia's “Literature Now” series in 2016. His current project “Genre Bending” considers the adoption of forms of popular genre fiction by acclaimed writers of literary fiction. Rosen teaches post-World War II U.S. and global fiction, with courses on genres like science fiction, detective fiction, climate fiction or “cli-fi,” as well as other timely topics like “Diversity in the Postwar Novel,” “Global/Transnational Literature: Contemporary Fiction of Immigration and Refugees,” and “Contemporary Literature and the Business of Books.” Rosen joined the Tanner Humanities Center in August 2021.  In this role, he will help facilitate academic research programs, including our research fellows, work-in-progress talks, faculty panels and workshops, and research interest groups.

Susan Anderson, Tanner Humanities Center Development Officer, earned her bachelor’s degree with honors in English and Education and her master’s degree in English from Marquette University and received graduate training in English with an emphasis in American Studies and poetry at the University of Utah. She has taught courses in writing and literature and worked as an editor, writer, and grant writer. She also has taught poetry to elementary students in Salt Lake City and developed and conducted a book group for Art Access, a local nonprofit arts organization that provides arts programs to people with disabilities and other underserved populations. Anderson began working at the Tanner Humanities Center in 2015. She is responsible for all development activities: establishing fundraising priorities; exploring local, state, and national funding opportunities; writing and managing grants and other development and marketing documents; and researching, cultivating, stewarding, and tracking donors. She also communicates and coordinates funding efforts with development staff in the College of Humanities and assures compliance with the University of Utah’s Office of Institutional Advancement and Office of Sponsored Projects. As a core member of the Tanner Humanities Center Team, Anderson also is involved in strategic, event, and program planning, project management, and stakeholder outreach and coordination. She also played a central role in developing, planning, and executing two NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops (Manifest Destiny Reconsidered: The Utah Experience) in 2017 and 2019.

Missy Weeks, Tanner Humanities Center Marketing and Communications Specialist, earned her bachelor's degree in Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations from Utah Valley University. Weeks is responsible for all marketing and communication duties. This includes assessing, targeting, and connecting with various constituencies; researching and maintaining media contacts; designing and developing promotional materials for TV, radio, print, and electronic media; and assuring compliance with the University of Utah’s marketing and communication policies and procedures. She also manages the center’s website, databases, program registration, social media and handles audio, video, and photo logistics and production. Weeks works to engage audiences, build brand voice and awareness, and increase attendance metrics. 

Skylar Fetter is a first-year master's student in the Environmental Humanities ​program at the University of Utah. She is an enrolled member of the St. Regis Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne​, and her work explores issues of environmental racism through a gendered lens with a focus on Indigenous women's methods of resistance. Skylar recently completed her undergraduate degree at Columbia University​, where she focused on Indigenous health and violence in the Northeast and Canada. In her current role as a Graduate Student Research Assistant for the Tanner Humanities Center, she helps draft social ​media materials, conduct research on upcoming speakers, and write feature stories about the Center's environmental humanities programming.

Sean Collins is a Ph.D. Candidate in English at the University of Utah. His dissertation, "Nature and Nation: Environmental Preservation and the Politics of Modernism," examines transatlantic environmental preservation narratives that emerged within 20th-century experimental literature. He also teaches courses in the Department of English and the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies. Sean joined the Tanner Humanities Center as a Graduate Research Fellow during the 2021-2022 academic year. In his current role as a Graduate Student Research Assistant, he is gathering information on over 250 of the Center's former academic research fellows and investigating humanities centers across the nation.  He also assists with the Center's public humanities outreach events.