Calendar of Events
Humanities for Everyone
November 2020
*DIGITAL* Emma Willard: Early Female Education and the Campaign for Women’s Suffrage
Emma Willard founded the first school for women’s higher education in the United States. Saint Michael’s professor Susan Ouellette describes how the opportunities provided by Willard’s schools laid the groundwork for the early suffrage movement. (Pre-registration required.) Read More »
December 2020
*DIGITAL* Friends with Academic Benefits: How College Friendship Networks Matter
For her book "Connecting in College," Dartmouth professor Janice McCabe examined 82 students’ friendships over five years. Challenging views of friendships as either helping or harming, McCabe will show how and for whom friends help and hinder. (Pre-registration required.) Read More »
January 2021
How to Read Chinese Poetry (If You Can’t Read Chinese): The Case of Ezra Pound
In 1915, Ezra Pound published a collection of early “translations” of Chinese poetry that took the poetic world by storm. However, Pound didn’t know a word of Chinese. Middlebury professor Timothy Billings deciphered the manuscripts that Pound used as “cheat sheets,” and shares his discoveries. Read More »
February 2021
Andy Warhol’s Animal Advocacy
Contrary to his reputation as a mechanical figure, Andy Warhol was a biocentric artist with a deep interest in non-human life. Author Anthony Grudin examines this contradiction, which has been overlooked by most of the artist’s commentators. Read More »
March 2021
US Immigration Policy in Historical Perspective
It may seem that the current anxieties about immigration in the US have never been more intense, but history suggests otherwise. Dartmouth professor Richard Wright examines the present-day contradictions of US immigration policy and places them in historical perspective. Read More »
April 2021
On Athletes and Activists
Sports have a clear relationship to American culture. And social science gravitates toward an analysis of cultural issues like race, class, gender, and politics. Jack and Jamie McCallum address both perspectives in an unusual collaboration. Read More »
May 2021
From Politics to Poetry
As the first woman governor for the State of Vermont and the holder of other prestigious positions, Madeleine Kunin has inspired women and girls to discover their own voices as leaders. Governor Kunin will speak about her life in politics and read from her newest book of poetry. Read More »