The Humanities Center : University of Rochester

COVID-19 Resource Center

Fostering multidisciplinary perspectives

Supporting collaboration

Exploring artifacts of the human experience

What is the Humanities Center?

As scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences at the University of Rochester, we examine human culture in its myriad forms: literature, language, media, philosophy, religion, history, anthropology, visual and performing arts, and much more. We are committed to critical thinking, reasoned discourse, inclusiveness, civility, empathy, and compassion—values that lie at the center of humanistic inquiry and that are essential for a thriving democratic citizenry. The Humanities Center, located in Rush Rhees Library, is our home base for interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration. We offer programs for faculty, students, and the public. To become an affiliate of the Center and receive emails about our events, contact humanities@rochester.edu.

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News & Announcements

July 1, 2021

There’s hope for objective moral standards—but how can we better live up to them?

In an article in the magazine of science and culture Nautilus, William FitzPatrick, the Gideon Webster Burbank Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the University of Rochester, accomplishes two aims. First, he lays out a case for hope that there is indeed “an objective and universally true human morality” (albeit one that still allows for nuance and variations according to circumstances across cultures). Second, he considers whether, given the global rise of tribalism and nationalism, “’the better angels of our nature’ are robust enough to create and sustain a better world.”

New research project explores social and political nuances of migration in the Americas

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the University of Rochester one of its prestigious grants for a Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Cultures, to support the project “Unbordering Migration in the Americas: Causes, Experiences, Identities.”

The interdisciplinary seminar will explore neglected but vital aspects of human migration in the Western hemisphere, considering the political, social, and economic circumstances of migration to and within the Americas over time. Components of the project also include biweekly seminars, public lectures, monthly workshops, film screenings, and an art exhibition.

October 27, 2020

Teaching the complexities of the Nobel Prize in Literature

English professor Bette London introduces students to Nobel-winning authors and the controversies surrounding the prize.

May 15, 2020

Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva Receives Inaugural President’s Ferrari Humanities Research Award

Pablo Miguel Sierra Silva, an assistant professor of history, is the first recipient of the President’s Ferrari Humanities Research Award, an award endowed by University of Rochester Trustee Bernard T. Ferrari ’70, ’74M (MD) and his wife, Linda Gaddis Ferrari. The $25,000 annual award promotes and supports humanities research among tenured and tenure-track faculty across Arts, Sciences & Engineering who are affiliated with the University’s Humanities Center.

April 11, 2019

Gift Supports Faculty in the Humanities

A recent gift from University of Rochester Trustee Bernard T. Ferrari ’70, ’74M (MD) and his wife, Linda, establishes the President’s Ferrari Humanities Award. This endowed fund provides a $25,000 annual award—in perpetuity—to promote and support humanities research among tenured and tenure-track faculty across Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (AS&E) who are affiliated with the University’s Humanities Center.

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HUMANISTS ENGAGING WITH CURRENT SOCIAL CRISES

Beneath many of the coronavirus ethical dilemmas facing Americans lie longstanding inequities in our social structure and failures of social justice, say three ethicists. Read more

In These Times: A Humanities Program for Today

In 2021-22, “In These Times: A Humanities Program for Today” will explore not only the individual and social consequences of COVID-19, but also the new visions of human existence inspired by other departures from the “normal,” such as war, revolution, migration, and economic change. As discussion leaders, University of Rochester faculty members will draw on historical documents, visual arts, social science, and literary texts to examine the challenges and opportunities that crisis has created, past and present.

The Humanities Center

Fostering Interdisciplinary Collaboration

In the Humanities Center, faculty, fellows, students, affiliates, and the public gather to collaborate and create community. Seminars, workshops, lectures, digital projects and other forms of humanistic inquiry animate our beautiful new space in Rush Rhees Library.

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Unbordering Migration in the Americas: Causes, Experiences, Identities

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the University of Rochester one of its prestigious grants for a Sawyer Seminar on the Comparative Study of Cultures, to support the project “Unbordering Migration in the Americas: Causes, Experiences, Identities.”

The interdisciplinary seminar series will explore neglected but vital aspects of human migration in the Western hemisphere, considering the political, social, and economic circumstances of migration to and within the Americas over time.

24
departments and programs

With majors and degree programs that incorporate dozens of disciplines.

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115
humanities clusters

Comprised of hundreds of courses based in Arts, Sciences and Engineering.

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Support the Center

Rochester is uniquely positioned to pursue research that spans the arts and humanities. If you would like more information about the humanities at Rochester or the Central New York Humanities Corridor, please contact us.

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