Advocacy Statements & Campaigns

Advocacy statements, examples of the importance of the humanities, and news about the past, present, and future of the humanities: 4Humanities provides a platform for endorsing the importance of research, teaching, innovation, and creative renewal in the history, language, literature, philosophy, the study of cultures, and other areas that help society focus on human values and needs.

See also the other materials gathered in our “Voices For the Humanities” section.

“Silicon Valley Needs Humanities Students”

In his column for The Washington Post, Vivek Wadhwa — a technology entrepreneur and Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University–writes: “In 2008, my research team at Duke and Harvard surveyed 652 U.S.-born chief executive officers and heads of product engineering at 502 technology companies. We found that they tended to be highly […]

How Are Funding Issues Impacting Humanities Education at Universities?

–Report contributed to 4Humanities by Jessica Meyer When budget season hits the federal government and the debate begins about where and how to cut spending, a perennial favorite target is the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and its sister organization, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The NEH, created in 1965 by Congress, […]

The Humanities and the Corporate World: Dedicated Deep Thinkers

In a recent article for The Chronicle of Higher Education (link to PDF), history professor Peter A. Coclanis – noting the importance of innovation to many businesses and the establishment in recent years of high-level positions like the CINO, or the chief innovation officer, in many businesses – argues for the creation of a new […]

Fighting for the Humanities

In a recent piece entitled “Fighting for the Humanities: Who will bankroll poetry?” published in Academe, Professor and President of the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) Cary Nelson calls for “a humanities offensive.” Nelson’s substantial and wide-ranging piece covers, among among other things, the significant differences in public perceptions of the sciences and the […]