2021-22 Humanities For Everybody Summary

Virtual Book Clubs 

Unable to offer face-to-face H4E community classes due to the pandemic, we provided some support (purchased books) to the WMU Center for the Study of Ethics in Society, to support the following Virtual Book Clubs. These book clubs had, on average, between 10-15 adult participants. 

Spring 2021 Virtual Book Clubs 

  • Frances Rosenbluth and Ian Shapiro's Responsible Parties: Saving Democracy from Itself facilitated by Dr. Norman Hawker, professor of Finance. Feb. 9, 16, & 23 
  • Alex Vitale's The End of Policing facilitated by Dr. William Santiago-Valles, associate professor of Africana Studies. March 1,8,15, 22 & 29. 
  • John Scalzi's sci-fi novel Lock In facilitated by Dr. Tyler Gibb, co-chief of the Program in Medical Ethics, Humanities & Law at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine. March 2, 16 & 30 
  • Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of our Discontents facilitated by Dr. Kathy Purnell, immigration attorney and part-time instructor in in the School of Public Affairs and Administration.  April 7, 14, & 21

Fall 2021 Virtual Book Clubs https://wmich.edu/ethics/book-clubs 

  • Michael Sandel’s Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? facilitated by Charlie Kurth, associate professor of philosophy. Online discussions on WebEx at 5:30 p.m. Mondays, Sept. 20, Sept. 27, Oct. 4 and Oct. 11.  
  • Joseph Caren’s The Ethics of Immigration facilitated by Kathy Purnell, immigration attorney and part-time instructor in in the School of Public Affairs and Administration. 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Oct. 13, 20 and 27.  
  • Harriet Washington’s Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present facilitated by Tyler Gibb, co-chief of the Program in Medical Ethics, Humanities & Law at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine. 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Nov. 3 and Nov. 17.  

Digital Humanities Workshop  
This last summer we partnered with Amy Bock, WMU’s digital projects librarian, to create community outreach: Capturing Community: Digital Storytelling & Community-Driven Archives