In keeping with its commitment to displaying the social value of the humanities, the HI is engaged in a multi-level program to bring humanities ideas into broader public conversation.
The Public Humanities Fellowship Program trains undergraduate and graduate students in translating humanities ideas and research into media content that can reach a broader public outside of the university. This program involves two courses; the first teaches elements of public humanities and media skills, and the second allows students to develop their own media projects. The courses are co-led by an instructor with experience in public humanities and an instructor with experience in media production, who work together with students to develop these skills. The Public Humanities Fellows also create partnerships with local community organizers. Visit the Public Humanities Fellowship Website.
In addition, the Humanities Institute has engaged in a partnership with WPSU to produce a video documentary series called HumIn Focus that examines pressing social issues from the broader and deeper perspectives of humanities scholars.
Episodes have explored topical issues such as public monuments, immigration, religion, and democratic representation in a way that contextualizes these debates in a broader historical and philosophical perspective. We discuss work by Penn State scholars who provide crucial background for the deeper questions lying beneath policy debates and social controversies.
Production is suspended for now but we hope to continue with new episodes at some point in the future.
This Initiative results from a partnership between the HI in the College of Liberal Arts and the Bellisario College of Communications.
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Public Humanities Forum
Date: Wednesday, February 4 Time: 3:15–5:15 p.m. Location: Heritage Hall, HUB–Robeson Center
Reception to follow
Register here by Monday, January 19, 2026
The Humanities Institute invites all faculty and graduate students interested in or actively participating in community-engaged humanities work to join us for a Public Humanities Forum. The purpose of the forum is to collaboratively exchange ideas, build connections, discuss challenges, and strengthen resources regarding publicly engaged humanities research, teaching, and projects.
The public humanities engage diverse publics in the collaborative work of creating, sharing, and reflecting on humanistic knowledge. Public humanities projects encompass a wide range of events and materials including workshops, exhibitions and programming, oral history, performances, archives, walking tours, public art, podcasts, documentaries, and other digital media.
The event will create space for small group discussions around topics of interest such as working with community partners, teaching community engaged courses, digital public humanities, engaged scholarship, principles of collaboration, and ethics of publicly engaged work.