A $1.5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has enabled a five-year project, Expanding Humanities Impact and Publics, at The Humanities Institute. The project is designed to spark new modes of public Humanities scholarship and provide support for doctoral student success.
The Expanding Humanities Impact and Publics project draws together many THI initiatives with a focus on (1) engaging the campus and broader Santa Cruz community in the essential work of the Humanities; (2) creating opportunities for graduate students to explore the value of a Humanities education for a range of careers beyond the academic job market; and (3) supporting the success of humanities doctoral students from historically underrepresented backgrounds in higher education.
GRANT TEAM
Nathaniel Deutsch, Project PI
Irena Polic, THI Managing Director
Saskia Nauenberg Dunkell, Research Program Manager
PROGRAMMING THEMES
2020 – 2021 | Memory
As movements across the United States spark a national reckoning over how history is remembered through public monuments and our communities grieve the devastation wrought by unprecedented fires on the West Coast, a profound discussion about memory could not be more important. The Humanities – from literature to poetry to history and art – are vital spaces of memory and essential for examining what we remember and what we forget. In 2020-2021, The Humanities Institute is leading conversations at UC Santa Cruz and beyond on the many facets of Memory and its significance in our lives.
2019 – 2020 | Futures
What kind of futures can we imagine? And how does thinking about the future inform our present? In the face of major technological advances, ecological transformations, and radical political developments, the Humanities can provide insights into a range of possible futures and inspire new ways to navigate our complex world. During the 2019-2020 Academic Year, THI is investigating what lies ahead by leading conversations in Santa Cruz and beyond on the theme of Futures.
2018 – 2019 | Data and Democracy
As technology increasingly shapes our habits and defines our access to knowledge, it is more important than ever that we understand how we got here and work to imagine a more inclusive, open, and transparent future. The Humanities are essential in helping us make sense of this changing world. During the 2018-2019 Academic Year, THI investigated this theme, presenting a series of public events with luminaries such as Jaron Lanier on campus and community conversations in downtown Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley.
2017 – 2018 | Freedom and Race
During the 2017-2018 Academic Year, THI addressed the most vexing questions surrounding the historic struggle of people around the world to be free. We launched our first-ever course and brought the Santa Cruz community together for standing-room-only events featuring the kind of thoughtful dialogue that defines the work of the Humanities.
PROGRAMS
- Public Fellowship Program
- Questions That Matter Events
- Graduate Student-Led Courses on Questions that Matter
- Graduate Student Success Program
- Mentorship + Writing Workshops
- PhD+ Workshop Series
- Committee on Graduate Student Grant Writing
NEWS
- Hope in the time of dystopia September 2020
- THI’s 2020-2021 Theme: Memory September 2020
- 2020 Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture to feature visionary author Margaret Atwood September 2020
- The Deep Read: Margaret Atwood Live August 2020
- Announcing Three New Research Clusters and GSIs June 2020
- Graduate Profile: Jose Antonio Villarán, Literature Doctoral Student June 2020
- Announcing Seven New THI Public Fellows May 2020
- Congratulations to the Inaugural Winners of the Coha / Gunderson Prize in Speculative Futures May 2020
- Public Fellow Spotlight: Eric Sneathen, Literature Doctoral Candidate May 2020
- Undergraduate Public Fellows Spotlight: Davenport Jail Museum May 2020
- Imagining the Post-Pandemic University May 2020
- Freedom and Race in the COVID-19 Era May 2020
- Making Sense of COVID-19 May 2020
- Questions that Matter in the Time of Pandemic April 2020
- Announcing our 2020-2021 theme: Memory April 2020
- Atwood Answers April 2020
- New Committee on Graduate Student Grant Writing
- The Deep Read Santa Cruz Salon March 2020
- Humanities Institute launches new ‘Deep Read’ initiative with spotlight on Margaret Atwood February 2020
- Amitav Ghosh February 2020
- THI Research Cluster Presents a Free Screening of “Unrest” February 2020
- The Coha-Gunderson Prize in Speculative Futures February 2020
- Questions That Matter: Reporting the Middle East January 2020
- Public Fellow Profile: Gabriel Mindel, History of Consciousness Doctoral Candidate January 2020
- Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor to kick off ‘Beyond the End of the World’ lecture series January 2020
- The Age of Intoxication: An Excerpt of Faculty Work December 2019
- Ages of Intoxication: an Interview with Benjamin Breen December 2019
- Visual studies graduate student drawn by focus on decolonization November 2019
- Exploring the impact and ethics of the Frankenstein phenomena November 2019
- Latino Studies Graduate Student Focused on History, Roots November 2019
- Introducing Four New THI Research Clusters November 2019
- Against Orthodoxies – Working with Hayden White November 2019
- Campus Conference to Honor Renowned Late Historian Hayden White October 2019
- Celebrating 20 Years of Inquiry, Investigation, and Innovation September 2019
- Sienna Ballou on The Highlights of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music July 2019
- THI Welcomes Saskia Dunkell, New Research Program Manager June 2019
- Public Fellows Spotlight: Melody Nixon, The Humanities Institute May 2019
- Anti-Semitism and the Internet Resonates Beyond Silicon Valley May 2019
- Community Partner Focus: Bookshop Santa Cruz May 2019
- Summer Public Fellow Collaboration Leads to White Paper May 2019
- Public Fellows Spotlight: Gabriela Ramirez-Chavez, UC Press May 2019
- Announcing Ten New THI Public Fellows May 2019
- Announcing Three New THI GSIs May 2019
- Night at the Museum in Silicon Valley to spotlight Anti-Semitism and the Internet April 2019
- ‘Hi-Phi Nation’ philosophy podcast host to launch humanities residency at UC Santa Cruz April 2019
- Barry Lam To Visit UC Santa Cruz as Scholar in Residence April 2019
- Public Fellows Profile: Wyatt Young, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History February 2019
- Questions That Matter public humanities series to spotlight ‘Data and Democracy’ at Kuumbwa Center January 2019
- THI supports Graduate Student Initiatives Focused on Public Scholarship November 2018
- Graduate Profile: Courtney Kersten, Literature Doctoral Student November 2018
- Public Fellows Spotlight: Trey Highton, Save the Waves Coalition November 2018
- Social media is destroying Democracy, tech pioneer tells Santa Cruz audience October 2018
- Visionary tech pioneer Jaron Lanier to deliver Peggy Downes Baskin Ethics Lecture October 2018
- After Neoliberalism: an interview with Banu Bargu and Massimiliano Tomba October 2018
- Jaron Lanier to Santa Cruz: Quit Social Media Now October 2018
- Announcing 9 THI Summer Public Fellowships: Supporting Grad Students Beyond the Academy June 2018
- Event Recap: UCSC Night at the Museum explores the global impact of 1968 protest movements May 2018
- The Humanities Institute Welcomes Rachel Deblinger May 2018
- Japanese American authors expand frame in works on WWII internee kin April 2018
- ‘And Then They Came for Us’ brings history into the present March 2018
- Author calls on faculty to reimagine higher education March 2018
- New class: Freedom and Race March 2018
- The Spirit of 1968 March 2018
- Cathy Davidson on The New Education February 2018
- Karen Yamashita’s memoir explores Japanese-American internment January 2018
- Event Recap: Questions That Matter: “Freedom and Race” February 2018
- Questions That Matter: Jennifer González says racism has been growing for decades January 2018
- Freedom & Race: 5 Questions for Tyler Stovall January 2018
- Questions That Matter public humanities series to explore ‘Freedom and Race’ January 2018
- Your call: How should we talk about race and class in the Trump era? December 2017
- UC Santa Cruz to host ‘Freedom, Justice, Difference: The Merchant of Venice Now’ at museum October 2017
- Fall Living Writers Series explores histories of war, refuge and social justice October 2017
- Mellon Foundation grants $1.5 million for expanding humanities impact November 2017