Brenda Longfellow is an associate professor and Head of the Art History division at the University of Iowa. She received her Ph.D. in classical art and archaeology from the University of Michigan, and her research is focused on the art and architecture of the ancient Roman Empire. She is the author of the book Roman Imperialism and Civic Patronage: Form, Meaning and Ideology in Monumental Fountain Complexes (Cambridge 2011) and co-editor of the book Roman Artists, Patrons, and Public Consumption: Familiar Works Reconsidered (Ann Arbor 2018).​

​She is a 2019 recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend and was the 2013 Andrew Heiskell Post-Doctoral Rome Prize winner at the American Academy in Rome.  

​喻荣军, or Nick Yu, joins us this fall from the People’s Republic of China. His professional titles include: Artistic Director of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, Artistic Director of the Shanghai International Comedy Festival, and Co-director of the Shanghai Performing Arts Group.
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Yu has had over 60 of his original plays produced in China and abroad. He also works in film, TV, and radio. His writing has won him the Cao Yu Script Award and an Outstanding Social Achievement Awaird at the Cairo International Experimental Theatre Festival.