As we close out the academic year, all of us at the Humanities Institute want to thank the faculty whose incredible work makes our programming so rich. We will showcase some of that work at our Annual Spring Symposium, with the conveners and participants of our Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminars and Workshops in conversation on Thursday, May 2nd at 2pm, followed by a keynote by Ignacio Sánchez-Prado at 4pm. The HI is also delighted to announce in this newsletter the recipients of our Summer 2024 grants for writing, course planning, and digital humanities, whose projects represent the full range of humanistic practice as scholarly, creative, and engaged with communities — often all at once. Note, too, that the NEH will be hosting a May 15th webinar on changes to its summer stipend award — and don’t miss Caroline Parrish’s profile of Dr. Barry Trachtenberg. All of us at the HI wish Caroline all the best as she graduates this month. And I wish you all a wonderful summer!

You are invited to join us for the Annual Humanities Institute Spring Symposium. This year's event will take place on Thursday, May 2nd, beginning at 2:00pm.

The program will include a discussion of the faculty projects the Humanities Institute supported during the 2023-2024 academic year. This portion of the symposium will take place in Room 403 of the Z. Smith Reynolds Auditorium.

Following the conversation, we will feature the Keynote Lecture, "Always Deprovincialize: the Humanities and the Ethos of Cosmopolitanism,” by Dr. Ignacio Sánchez Prado in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library Auditorium (Room 404). Dr. Prado is Professor of Spanish, Latin American Studies, and Film and Media Studies at Washington University in St. Louis where he is also the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Latin American Studies program and the Jarvis Thurston and Mona Van Duyn Professor in the Humanities.

A closing reception will follow the keynote lecture in room 403.

This year, we are asking that faculty register for this event. Please click here for the registration link.

Please contact Aimee Mepham, HI Associate Director, with questions.

From Caroline Parrish, WFU '24:

For the second edition of our Faculty Spotlights, I spoke with Dr. Barry Trachtenberg about his perspective on the past, as well as how he believes we can shape the future. As a professor in the WFU History Department who works in Jewish Studies, Dr. Trachtenberg is fervently committed to examining history from all angles. We hope you enjoy his take on the power of the archives.

Click here to read the interview!

From the HI: Congratulations, Caroline!

Also, Caroline Parrish is graduating from WFU this May! Thank you so much for establishing Faculty Spotlights so that it will continue on as an HI newsletter feature after you leave, as well as the many other contributions you have made to the HI.

Words cannot express how much we have enjoyed working with you over the past few years. We wish you all the best as you take the next step in your journey, and please don't be a stranger!