[This post is reblogged from Culture on the Edge] In 2008 I took a small group of undergraduate students from our Department at the University of Alabama to Thessaloniki, Greece (that’s us above, with a famous philosopher, who has a shiny toe, likely from tourists rubbing it), where I had been for a conference a couple years before, and at which I first met my Culture on the Edge colleague, Vaia Touna. I’ve returned several times since that first trip, […]
This summer a grad for 2013, Hannah Hicks, sat down to talk a little about her undergraduate degree, in which she double majored in Religious Studies and Philosophy. Hannah is now in her first year of Law School here at UA. […]
A presentation by Jonathan Z. Smith, (2003-4 Aronov lecturer) as part of the University of Chicago’s “Craft of Teaching Seminar,” from February 2013. […]
Did you hear President Obama’s speech at the University of Buffalo the other day, on how to address increasing costs in higher education? Here’s the final paragraph from the response of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP): Read the AAUP’s whole statement here. […]
Did you see this article by UVA’s Mark Edmundson, a — you guessed it — Professor of English, published at The Chronicle of Higher Education? It’s a pretty good example of how some play the zero sum game called “getting majors”: we cannibalize other Departments by positioning ourselves as the best place to prep for, say, law school or, in Edmundson’s rather ambitious argument, to become a better human being. […]
Did you read the recent piece online at The Atlantic? Building on an earlier online piece from The Chronicle of Higher Education (and using its graphs, like me) it makes the point that, when judged by the percentage of all degrees earned, the anomaly in the Humanities isn’t now but a few decades ago, when the influx of baby boomer freshmen found college majors. The drop that followed their departure is therefore better understood as a normalization. […]
What is the relevance of the Humanities…? This paragraph ends (quoting Jane Wellman) with one interesting answer to that often-asked question. From Jeffrey Selingo’s College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What it Means for Students (2013, p. 29). […]
What do you think the Humanities are all about? […]
What do you think the Humanities are? As we strive to create a more civil public discourse, a more adaptable and creative workforce, and a more secure nation, the humanities and social sciences are the heart of the matter, the keeper of the republic—a source of national memory and civic vigor, cultural understanding and communication, individual fulfillment and the ideals we hold in common. Read the full American Academy of Arts & Sciences report, written by its Commission on the […]
As my colleague Steven Ramey said, this is perhaps the best statement on the relevance of the Humanities that we’ve so far seen. That is comes from one of our own graduating majors inspires just a little pride. […]