Engaged Humanities Hub
Nationally-Recognized Humanities Projects and Programming
The Engaged Humanities Hub at the University of Portland puts the humanities to work in the world, engaging our local communities on questions that matter, and empowering our students to craft meaningful lives after completing their UP degrees.
Now, more than ever, the world needs what the humanities have to offer: careful reading and interpretation, open-ended conversation, creative questioning, the ability to pay attention, and critical exploration of alternate perspectives.
These are the activities that happen behind humanities classrooms doors; the founding mission of the Engaged Humanities Hub at the University of Portland is to empower faculty and students to put humanities practices and mindsets to work beyond the classroom.
Recognized with multiple awards from the field's most prestigious granting agencies such as the Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Hub has a proven track record in creating successful initiatives that show what the humanities can do on campus, in our communities, and for our students, faculty, and neighbors.
What We Do
The Hub runs a variety of programs that offer opportunities for students, faculty, and UP's neighbors to connect, converse, and create together.
Connecting Students to the World Beyond the Classroom
Contrary to stereotype, the humanities set you up for a meaningful life AND a productive career. The Hub offers student opportunities to creatively and interdisciplinarily apply your liberal arts education to real-world challenges. Whether you’re an English major looking to translate your interpretive skills to a public audience, or a STEM major who wants a chance to connect your technical skills to imaginative expression, the engaged humanities has an opportunity for you: one that will harness your education for a life of purpose, both personal and professional.
Public Research Fellows
An interdisciplinary undergraduate research program that supports student and faculty teams in the creation of public-facing projects.
Engaged Humanities Curriculum
Courses that connect humanities practices with timely issues and local communities.
Alumni Networking
Opportunities to connect with humanities alumni via panels, events, and one-on-one mentoring.
Supporting Innovative Faculty Ideas
The Hub offers opportunities for faculty to develop and pilot new ideas, projects, and courses and creates spaces for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Civic Humanities Incubator
Sparks ideas, partnerships, and projects that mobilize the practices of the humanities to create connection, conversation, and collaboration with our local neighborhoods, the city of Portland, and the wider public.
Engaged Humanities Working Group
The EHWG brings together faculty from a range of disciplines for monthly meetings to read, discuss, and build projects that create stronger civic connections on campus and in our communities.
Engaged Humanities Toolkit
With the support of an NEH grant, the program created an Engaged Humanities Toolkit to help faculty learn more about the field and how they might utilize its approaches in their own pedagogy and research.
Building Relationships Between UP and our Local Communities
The Hub designs and supports opportunities to collaborate with our neighbors, sharing the best of what a place like UP offers with those beyond campus and in turn learning from our local communities.
Neighborhood Humanities
An intergenerational learning experience that brings UP students and UP neighbors together to learn about and engage in a timely, challenging topic.
Civic Humanities Residencies
Mellon-funded program in development that brings local community members to campus to develop civically engaged projects alongside UP student interns.
Hub Events
The Hub offers a variety of programming that creates conversation among UP students, faculty, and our communities, including local and national guest speakers, faculty and student roundtables and focus groups, alumni panels, and more.
Alumni Panels & Guest Speakers
Each Spring semester, the Hub hosts a panel discussion with local humanities alumni to help UP students see firsthand the wide variety of exciting paths that come with studying the humanities. Recent panels included alumni working in documentary filmmaking, entrepreneurship, non-profit management, and the fields of technology and law. Additionally the Hub invites guest speakers to share perspectives on how the humanities work in the world.
The Reading Hour
A signature event now in its third year, each semester the Hub hosts The Reading Hour, offering the UP community an opportunity to reclaim their relationship to the radical act of reading.
Conversations & Focus Groups
The Hub designs roundtables, panels, and focus groups to learn from our communities, develop new ways of understanding current challenges, and gain insight into alternative perspectives on how the humanities can thrive at UP and and in turn help students, faculty, and neighbors thrive in the world.
The Engaged Humanities Newsletter
Want to learn more about the Hub and its initiatives? Check out the latest issues of our newsletter and subscribe to receive the next one in your inbox.
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