Humanities Institute
Promoting collaborative research on ideas central to the pressing issues of our time.
HumIn Focus
HumIn Focus is a multi-part web series centering on pressing social issues through the lens of the work of humanities scholars.
Watch our live-stream of the second episode, Making Home: Migration, Mobility, and Hospitality here.
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Public Humanities FellowsAre you an undergraduate student in the humanities who cares about social issues?
Do you wonder how you can relate your study of history, philosophy, literature or other humanities subject to the world?
A Public Humanities Fellowship at the Humanities Institute will provide you with experience relating your study of history, philosophy, literature, or other humanities subjects to the world.
Click here to learn more
At the Heart of Every Other Question
In politics, business, and issues of social concern, the most trenchant challenges we face all rest upon fundamental questions about the human condition. What does it mean to be human, a citizen, a biological organism, a member of a society? What role does our history, and its complex conflicts and triumphs, play in our current confrontations? What responsibilities do people have for themselves and their environment versus what concern should be borne by the rest of us in a caring and just world? Where do we fit in the larger non-human world? Countless pressing social issues turn on abstract and longstanding questions that are at the center of humanities research.
Walls that Transcend Boundaries
By providing a space for faculty and graduate students in the humanities to address the fundamental questions that underly the most pressing issues of our time, we foster collaboration, innovative approaches to research, and outreach that brings humanistic discovery and thought into the public domain.
Initiatives to Inspire and Engage
Through thematic programming series and public events, the Penn State Humanities Institute aims to open new lines of questioning for humanities scholars, engage the public in humanities research, and cultivate a community that can champion the human perspective in their lives and in their work.