Josh Pahigian
Josh Pahigian directs the Center for Global Humanities and teaches the advanced studies course that accompanies each semester’s lecture series.
A member of the University of New England since 2004 when he began teaching part-time in the English Department, Josh is an accomplished author, having penned ten baseball books — including popular travel guides like The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip, The Amazing Baseball Adventure, and 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out, which was a finalist for the 2008 Casey Award presented annually to the most impactful new baseball book.
As an expert on the baseball landscape and baseball culture, Josh has appeared widely on television and radio to offer his perspective on baseball stadiums, tourist sites, and fan traditions. He has been cited as an expert or had his books reviewed by USA Today, Reader's Digest, The Washington Post, Men's Health, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Hartford Courant, Detroit Free Press, Toronto Star, Houston Chronicle, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Providence Journal, and scores of other media outlets.
In 2015, Josh received a legislative commendation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts House of Representatives for "his commitment to preserving the history of America's favorite pastime."
Josh is also an accomplished fiction writer. His mystery novel Strangers on the Beach received praise from Publisher's Weekly, The Portland Press Herald, The Bangor Daily News, The Worcester Telegram, The Kennebec Journal, and other periodicals, while the Maine Edge included it on its “Best Books of 2012” list. Meanwhile, Josh’s short stories revealing the complexities of the Armenian-American cultural experience have been published in literary journals in the United States and in translation in Armenia.
Josh has presented invited lectures on creative writing, his travels, and his books at the College of the Holy Cross, Nichols College, the University of Maine at Fort Kent, the University of Southern Maine, Western Connecticut State University, and UNE, among other venues.