It is useful to see how the social sciences are responding to cuts and changes. The International Sociological Association (ISA) has a blog titled, Universities in Crisis. The blog has reports from different countries so you can see what is happening in a place like Italy. They have videos from sociologists around the world and […]
Voices For the Humanities
Scotland: Stoppard fights cuts to languages at Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is talking about closing down many of its modern language programs to save money. This has people like Tom Stoppard sending letters to the Education Secretary and students protesting. The Guardian quotes Robin Perkins who is completing a degree in Portuguese as saying, “They are failing to understand how much modern […]
Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences Formed by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
At the request of a bipartisan group of U.S. legislators, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced on February 18, 2011, that it has created a new Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Chaired by Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead and Excelon Corporation Chairman (and CEO) […]
Cornell President Speaks Out Against Proposed Elimination of National Endowment for the Humanities in U.S.
Cornell University President David J. Skorton, a physician and scientist whose advocacy of the humanities has previously been featured on 4Humanities (see posts of Dec. 5, 2010 and Dec. 1, 2010) has spoken out against the current proposal by the Republican Study Committee to eliminate all funding for the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities […]
Project Humanities at Arizona State University
While at other universities the humanities are under attack, at Arizona State University they have launched a year-long Project Humanities. For more on the project see the interview with the Dean of Humanties, Live Talk: Neal Lester. To the question about the message behind the year-long celebration he says, Project Humanities raises awareness about the […]
National Humanities Alliance Sends Out Action Alert on Threat to NEH
The National Humanities Alliance in the U.S. issued an “action alert” on February 7, 2011, calling on humanities advocates to “send a brief, customizable electronic message from the Alliance’s online action center” to combat legislation introduced by the House Republican Study Committee and Senate Steering Committee to eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities (among […]
“Certificate in Public Scholarship” at U. Washington Humanities Center
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 […]