Mission
The mission of the Center for the Humanities is to recognize and support the humanities at Western Michigan University. As a gathering place for dialogue, the center acts as an incubator for the exchange of ideas among faculty, emeriti, alumni, undergraduate and graduate students, and people in the wider community. Through the understanding of diverse cultural, professional, political and intellectual landscapes, we nurture engaged and vital academic life.
About the humanities
The humanities provide fundamental intellectual resources for exploring the issues of our day. Rooted in diverse perspectives, the humanities comprise the classics, languages, literature, philosophy, ethics, history, jurisprudence, religion, archaeology and cultural studies, as well as the social sciences, such as cultural anthropology, economics, geography, political science and sociology. They also have close links to the study of visual and performing arts, the sciences, engineering, business and health sciences. Moreover, the humanities cross disciplinary boundaries, taking up questions about the meaning of human existence that transcend the thinking of any single field of study.
The deep wellsprings of humanities scholarship have long been honored in higher education, but are too often neglected, taken for granted, or regarded as the self-sufficient domains of academic specialists. Within the culture of the University, we all stand to gain from successful measures to encourage, encounter, and learn from the many forms of humanities scholarship that, as a learning community, we are able to share. A university culture that opens such pathways of appreciative understanding will both nurture diverse particular strands of scholarship in the humanities and enhance formation of connections across the university, with our students, and in our wider community.
Advisory board
- Ashley Atkins, Philosophy
- Amy Bocko, University Libraries
- Dale Brown, Coordinator of Humanities Outreach
- Anne Chapleau, Interdisciplinary Health
- Lofton Durham, Department of Theatre
- Paul Farber, Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies
- Tyler Gibb, Medical Ethics, Humanities and Law, Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
- Lynne Heasley, Departments of History and Environmental and Sustainability Studies
- Todd Kuchta, Department of English
- David Kutzko, World Languages and Literatures
- Dini Metro-Roland, Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies
- Ann Miles, Department of Sociology
L. Lusike Mukhongo, School of Communication
- Nicholas Padilla, School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability
- Natalio Ohanna, Department of Spanish
- Alisa Perkins, Department of Comparative Religion
- Ángela Pérez Villa, Department of History
- David Rudge, Department of Biological Sciences
- Mary-Louise Totton, Frostic School of Art
- Mercedes Tubino-Blanco, Department of Spanish
- Brian Wilson, Department of Comparative Religion
- Kristina Wirtz, Spanish