The University of Washington’s Simpson Center for the Humanities, whose director Kathleen Woodward has long had an interest in the “public humanities,” has announced a Certificate in Public Scholarship for graduate students at the University of Washington. Might such an institutional structure for humanities training that involves engagement with the public be a model for other universities and humanities programs or centers to follow?

The Certificate in Public Scholarship, according to the Simpson Center’s web site, is designed to attract graduate students from its campus interested in producing projects and portfolios related to:

• public scholarship in the cultural disciplines and other fields that work with culture as a form of public practice;
• revitalized emphases on campus-community partnerships across all sectors of higher education;
• non-traditional forms of scholarly dissemination (digital publication, multimedia formats, exhibitions, learning environments, and performance, among others);
• emerging trends and methodologies of community-engaged research, teaching, and service;
• professional development for university careers and other sectors inside or outside higher education. (See full announcement)