Professors Paul Jay, Gerald Graff, and Gregory Jay, authors of the article “Fear of Being Useful,” which appeared in Inside Higher Ed at the beginning of January (profiled here on the 4Humanities site), have started a website called “The Future of the Humanities: A Think Tank.” The website is meant to serve, the authors claim, […]
The Changing Humanities
New Approach to Defending the Value of the Humanities
In a recent piece in Inside Higher Ed, professors Paul Jay and Gerald Graff review some of the most recent contributions to the conventional wisdom on the current crisis in the humanities, outlining the divide between “traditionalists” and “revisionists,” both of which argue that “the humanities should resist our culture’s increasing fixation on a practical, […]
Open Letter on Socio-economic sciences and the humanities
NET4SOCIETY and other organizations have drafted an Open Letter on the Socio-economic sciences and the humanities. The letter to the European Commissioner for Research and Innovation calls for inclusion of the social sciences and humanities in large-scale research programmes (which is presumably not the case now.) They argue, While for many questions, natural, human and […]
A Different Kind of College and University Ranking
Washington Monthly has recently published its college and university rankings, and the result is much different from the more traditional kinds of rankings published by outlets like U.S. News & World Report. Conceived of as a counter to the U.S. News rankings, which emphasize admission rates and prestige, Washington Monthly‘s rankings focus on “how well […]
Top Students in Britain Shun Humanities
The numbers of applications to study traditional humanities subjects like English, history, classics, and philosophy at British universities have fallen this year, The Telegraph reports. Experts say the trend is due to fears over the economy and the cost of a university education, with students applying to study subjects like law, teaching, and accounting that […]
Duke’s “Humanities Writ Large” Initiative
Duke University has received a five-year, $6 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help support and emphasize the role of the humanities the undergraduate curriculum. The “Humanities Writ Large” initiative will support visiting scholars and new faculty appointments, undergraduate research, humanities labs, and interdisciplinary collaboration across departments and institutions. As reported in […]
Margaret Conrad on “Rescuing the Humanities One Website at a Time”
Margaret Conrad was awarded the 2011 SDH/SEMI Outstanding Achievement, Computing in the Arts and Humanities prize. Award winners are asked to give an address to the Society meeting and she spoke about “Rescuing the Humanities One Website at a Time” (PDF of full talk.) Her moving talk wove personal history together with a general discussion […]