Promoting collaborative research on ideas

central to the pressing issues of our time.

Episode 9 of HumIn Focus, “Teaching Humanity: The Social Value of Higher Education” premiered on WPSU on October 24th, 2024, at 9:00 p.m. 📰 Click here to read more about this episode.

HumIn Focus is a multi-part web series centering on pressing social issues through the lens of the work of humanities scholars. To learn more about the web series, visit the HumIn Focus website.

Monday, March 31 at 4:00 pm
110 Robb Hall, Hintz Family Alumni Center
Reception to follow.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Annual “Celebrate the Humanities” Lecture and Outstanding Alumni Award Ceremony.  Our lecturer, Dean Sara Guyer, spoke about defending the humanities against powerful current challenges, and our Award winner Rónké Òké expressed what creative energy is needed to promote equality and justice in academia.  They both inspire us all.  Thanks also to everyone who participated in, and helped plan and bring about, the event.  It was an edifying and socially important gathering at this crucial time for the humanities and higher education.

Picture of lecture hall with table in front

In partnership with our humanities colleagues in the Commonwealth Campuses, an initiative demonstrating the value of humanities education is ongoing. Humanities Works tells the stories of people who use the skills and knowledge of the humanities to face real-world challenges and to make better solutions. Read more at https://www.humanitiesworks.psu.edu/.

There are currently no upcoming events. Here are some of our past events:
April 14, 2025
5:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m.
Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
April 4, 2025
2:00 p.m.–3:45 p.m.
Memorial Lounge, 107 Pasquerilla Spiritual Center
April 4, 2025
12:30 p.m.–1:45 p.m.
Memorial Lounge, 107 Pasquerilla Spiritual Center
April 3, 2025
5:00 p.m.–7:15 p.m.
Flex Theater, 132 HUB-Robeson Center
April 2, 2025
11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
April 1, 2025
3:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Dewey Room (W043) in the Collaboration Commons of the Pattee Library
April 1, 2025
noon–1:00 p.m.
124 Sparks Building
March 31, 2025
4:00 p.m.
110 Robb Hall, Hintz Family Alumni Center

Welcome to 2024-2025 at the Humanities Institute!

We look forward to another year full of rich discussion and collaboration within our Penn State community, and to welcoming the multiple scholars who will join us for visits short or extended. Stay tuned for more details on our Graduate and Faculty Resident Lecture Series, our Faculty Invites events, our Annual Event and more by joining our listserv, following us on social media, or checking back here!

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Acknowledgement of Land

The Pennsylvania State University campuses are located on the original homelands of the Erie, Haudenosaunee (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora), Lenape (Delaware Nation, Delaware Tribe, Stockbridge-Munsee), Shawnee (Absentee, Eastern, and Oklahoma), Susquehannock, and Wahzhazhe (Osage) Nations. As a land grant institution, we acknowledge and honor the traditional caretakers of these lands and strive to understand and model their responsible stewardship. We also acknowledge the longer history of these lands and our place in that history.