Humanities Division
Revitalizing the Humanities at Harvard
As enrollment in the humanities has fallen, from 321 senior concentrators in 2010 to 284 in 2012, faculty and students are looking to counter what has proven to be a global shift away from the humanities.
Upcoming Report to Address Challenges Facing the Humanities
In order to address concerns of declining student enrollment in the humanities, the Harvard Arts and Humanities Division is preparing to release an in-depth report analyzing trends in the humanities and recommending ways to rekindle undergraduate interest in the liberal arts.
Panelists Discuss Future of Humanities
As the field of humanities seeks to assert its educational value and revive dwindling student interest, faculty and administrators from several universities gathered at the Knafel Gymnasium, formerly known as the Radcliffe Gymnasium, Tuesday afternoon to discuss the future of the humanities at Harvard and beyond.
The Translators Speak
Elvira DiFabio (right) listens to Edith Grossman (left) discuss the importance of translation. Panelists assembled Monday afternoon for the 33rd annual Raimundo Lida Memorial Lecture, this year titled "Questions in Translation:ask the Translator!"
Overall Satisfaction with Humanities Concentrations among Class of 2012
Graduating humanities concentrators in the Class of 2012 rated their overall satisfaction with their respective concentrations on a scale of one to five.
Concentration Satisfaction: Class of 2012
As freshmen enter the second week of Advising Fortnight, Flyby presents a complete set of data from the Class of 2012's concentration satisfaction ratings. For all freshmen looking to narrow down the list of potential concentrations, sophomores or juniors curious about their chosen concentrations, and seniors reflecting on their undergraduate careers, here are the stats from last year's graduating seniors on how satisfied they were with their respective concentrations. Check out our four interactive graphs showing overall satisfaction rates among Humanities, Natural Sciences, SEAS, and Social Sciences concentrators in the Class of 2012.
Joining the Ranks
“The ad hoc process is greatly shrouded in mystery; remarkably little is written about it,” says current Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Development Judith D. Singer. She smirks wryly as she swigs coffee from her mug, as if this is something she’s explained a hundred times before.
Research Program in Arts and Humanities To Launch This Summer
The new Harvard College Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program, or SHARP, will launch this summer with the goal of filling a gap in research opportunities for students of the arts and humanities.
Fifteen Minutes with Richard Blanco
Richard Blanco was the first Latino and first openly gay poet—and the youngest—chosen to write the inaugural poem, and tasked with an impossibly daunting project of depicting today’s America. The night before he was slated to speak at Harvard , he spent a few minutes speaking with FM.
Professor Tree
Students admire their professors, but professors have professors they admire, too. This week, FM wrote to Professor Daniel T. Gilbert ...
Survive Lab as a Humanities Concentrator
Maybe it's for your SPU requirement, maybe you just drunkenly ended up in the bio-labs, or maybe you're like me, and just wanted to play with chemicals. Regardless of the reason, it's happened—you're are in a lab class. Your strong verbal skills and College Board approved vocabulary won't help you here. As I like to say, science is hard. But luckily I have some tips that will make lab a little easier for us humanities concentrators.
Research Conversations
Professors and students gathered together to discuss research in the humanities, social sciences, hard sciences, and quantitative studies at the second annual National Collegiate Research Conference.
Research Conference Stresses Diversity
Speaking at the second annual National Collegiate Research Conference, MIT physics professor Walter H. G. Lewin kicked off the three-day symposium with a bang—the big bang.
Professor Explores History of Photography
Today almost anyone can snap a photograph at a moment’s notice with a cell phone, but photography has acted as a medium of democratic expression since its conception, History of Art and Architecture Professor Robin E. Kelsey suggested at the Harvard Allston Education Portal Tuesday night.
In Song, Hidden Meanings of Gender and History
In 1620, a nobleman and a nun in Florence, Italy, were accused of having an affair and charged with adultery. They claimed that the nobleman had sneaked into the nun’s apartment to hear her sing, not because of a sexual relationship.
GSAS Students Face Tough Job Market
For doctoral candidates in the humanities graduating from Harvard, the path to professorship is especially long, rocky, and uncertain—qualities that have only been worsened by the current economic climate.
Lunch Break: Dale R. Riley
As I swing open the door to the Barker Center, Dale R. Riley flashes a smile of recognition and pulls out a bundle of budding yellow roses from behind his back.
Diderot and Dissections: The World of the Non-Science Pre-Med
The challenge of filling pre-med requirements while concentrating in a non-science field has spread some students across multiple disciplines.
Dr. Leah Garrett, professor at Monash University, discusses her research on Jewish American war novels of the 40's, particularly the groundbreaking presentations of Jewish American soldiers struggling with antisemitism, masculinity, and identity within their platoons. Garrett's lecture was sponsored by Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center.
Faculty Report Announces Contraction
The total number of ladder faculty in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences dropped from 722 to 712 between 2011 and 2012, a 1.4 percent contraction in the size of the faculty, according to the 2012 FAS Annual Report released last Thursday.
Caribbean Diaspora
Robert A. HIll, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, discusses race, ethnicity, and African identity at the graduate student-organized conference "Reconsidering Caribbean Diaspora." FridaSeptember 28
The Ink-smudged Diaries of Adrienne Rich
You can find Rich’s archives at Schlesinger library, in the same Yard where she attended class. Her many papers and diaries, ink-smudged, doodled-on, and worn, reveal a personal evolution as radical as that of her poetics.
Schoolhouse Rock
John T. Hamilton has the studied look of the stereotypical Harvard professor. But for Hamilton, academia was an afterthought—during the first fifteen years of his adult life, he wrote, performed, and recorded rock music.
Ian McEwan Lecture
Tuesday afternoon Ian McEwan, acclaimed British novelist, speaks at the inaugural Rita E. Hauser Forum sponsored by the Mahindra Humanities Center. In his talk, "The Lever: Where Novelists Stand to Move the World," McEwan recounted--and appreciated--several readers' corrections to his work.