Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The long-standing refrain about the crisis in the humanities has intensified over the past few years as colleges discontinue humanities majors and small colleges develop professional programs to attract students. This framing of the humanities’ future positions us on the defensive, always trying to work ourselves out of this negative narrative. Despite this perception in higher education and the media, humanities departments are developing innovative strategies for thinking beyond their own disciplinary boundaries. In this session, we will facilitate a conversation that emphasizes various interdisciplinary paths forward for the humanities. For this focused discussion, we will outline some of the recent voices on the necessity of the humanities to other disciplines, and some of the concerns with those approaches. We will also describe our NEH grant-supported project to create an Emphasis in the Integrated Humanities at Doane, where we are designing intentionally linked courses to deepen STEM and social sciences students’ preparation for working with diverse human populations. We will then open the discussion to attendees to share innovative strategies for designing the future of the humanities at liberal arts colleges