Mission
The Humanities Institute at Penn State is dedicated to supporting the generation and promotion of ideas in all aspects of the humanities and related disciplines. We are committed to a collaborative and interdisciplinary spirit in supporting research projects at all levels of production and to help publicize the social value of humanities scholarship. Through fellowship support, public lectures and conferences, workshops, and public outreach, we aim to support both Penn State faculty, other academics, and the wider public in ongoing discussion of the most pressing questions of our time.
The Institute also provides support for a wide variety of endeavors for the university community. Faculty and Graduate Student Fellowships, workshop and conference sponsorships, lectures and public media are offered to support the efforts of faculty and students in discussions of the fundamental questions of the human condition.
Legacy of the Institute for Arts and Humanities
Fall 2017 marked the Inaugural Year of the Humanities Institute, an outgrowth of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities which flourished at Penn State for the previous 50 years (1966-2016). The IAH generated numerous important initiatives and partnerships, successfully developed faculty research projects, and produced the highest quality public events, lectures and performances, all of which gave Penn State international exposure as a premier location for art and scholarship. The Humanities Institute proudly inherits this legacy, as we continue to build our own unique programs and public presence.
Staff
John Christman is a Professor of Philosophy, Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. He is the author of numerous articles and books in social and political philosophy, specializing in topics such as the social conception of the self, theories of justice and oppression, and the idea of freedom. His books include The Myth of Property: Toward an Egalitarian Theory of Ownership (Oxford), The Politics of Persons: Individual Autonomy and Socio-historical Selves (Cambridge), and Social and Political Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge). He is the editor of The Inner Citadel: Essays on Individual Autonomy (Oxford) and co-editor, with Joel Anderson, of Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism: New Essays (Cambridge).
Lauren Kooistra, Associate Research Professor of Humanities, earned a Ph.D. in Music Education from Penn State University with a dissertation entitled The Experiences of Two Young Children in Informal Piano Lesson Settings: Expressions of Meaning and Value. Holding previous degrees in both Piano Performance (B.M., Gordon College) and Piano Performance and Pedagogy (M.M., Westminster Choir College), Lauren is interested in the ways that young children express and develop their musicianship within the contexts of their lived experience, with implications for learning and teaching. Her research focuses on the application of these aspects within piano lesson settings, and her scholarship has been internationally published and presented.
Elizabeth Gray
Elizabeth Gray earned her doctorate in Comparative Literature from Brown University. She is currently working on a book manuscript, The Poetics of Intervention: Art and Activism in Contemporary Latin America, which explores literature, performance, and protest in spaces of present-day crisis. The project centers on the artistic practices of excluded communities and amplifies innovative models for responding to social and ecological issues. She has worked as a public school teacher in the United States, Brazil, and Chile, and facilitates workshops in arts and social justice. Over the last fifteen years, she has also worked as a program coordinator and teaching artist in youth arts organizations such as The Center for Teen Empowerment, Books of Hope, and the Louder Than a Bomb Youth Poetry Festival.
Ryan Muchen Wang is an artist and filmmaker. Drawing from individual experiences of human mobility, including displacement, migration and travel, his work explores the fragility of memory through recollections of real and constructed pasts. His video work blends documentary, experimental video, claymation and writing to investigate the accented structure of feelings in the unfolding of the everyday, between the realms of transit and separation, the homeland and hostland. Wang earned his MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University with a concentration in moving images. His work has been showcased at venues such as the Jewish Museum, Half Gallery and ZAZ Times Square
Caleb is in the Master of Arts program in Musicology, focusing on film music. He previously earned a Master of Music in Conducting (Band/Wind Ensemble emphasis) from Penn State in 2012.