For some, artificial intelligence represents the latest development in an age-old series of fantasies about escaping our vulnerable, imperfect, animal bodies. Humans have continuously developed tools to boost our capabilities; in the case of AI, we’re amplifying the speed of cognitive processes. But what capacities remain distinctively human?

Dr. Susan Hrach is the author of the 2022 Silver Nautilus Award-winning book Minding Bodies: how physical space, sensation, and movement affect learning (WVU Press, 2021). As an undergraduate, she spent a year studying at the Universität Innsbruck, Austria, which shaped her lifelong interests in world literature, translation studies, and global education. Her international teaching experiences inform her on-going research and practice. In 2022-23 she served as Fulbright Canada Distinguished Research Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Currently Director of the Faculty Center and professor of English at Columbus State University in Georgia, Dr. Hrach has been recognized by the University System of Georgia with a statewide Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award; she has also served as a scholar for the USG’s Executive Leadership Institute. She is a member of the International Coaching Federation and provides executive coaching within and outside of higher education, incorporating embodied strategies to support mental and physical wellbeing.

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