The Oregon Humanities Center Mission and Values

 

Aerial view of west campus looking south toward Spencer's Butte

Mission

The Oregon Humanities Center promotes and strengthens the humanities at the University of Oregon by supporting student and faculty research, teaching, and collaboration among the disciplines; and by providing enriching public programs for the broader community.

The Oregon Humanities Center (OHC) is the primary interdisciplinary umbrella organization and research institute for the humanities at the University of Oregon (UO). The OHC supports and amplifies faculty, graduate and undergraduate humanities research; advances new knowledge and scholarship; fosters the development of innovative courses to enhance students’ educational and career opportunities; and offers free public programming to enrich the knowledge and lives of Oregon’s citizens.

The OHC’s mission as a UO research center is interconnected to the UO’s larger research and teaching mission and goals, supporting students’ successful transition to meaningful careers and preparing them to make important societal contributions. The humanities are vital to all students’ university experience. From taking required classes that teach critical thinking and communication skills, to attending arts and cultural events that expand their understanding of the world, to taking advantage of research and work opportunities that prepare them for the job market, the humanities help students set a foundation for lifelong curiosity about our world, and they build the necessary skills to make important societal contributions and lead meaningful and productive lives after college.

The center’s work is focused by uniquely human capacities: creative imagination, critical reasoning, ethical reflection, thoughtful analysis, informed interpretation, and engaged conversation. The term “humanities” can be applied to work in nearly any academic discipline that seeks to understand and enrich the human experience. The humanities are inter- and transdisciplinary spanning diverse disciplines, experiences, forms of human expression, and methods of inquiry, and humanities scholars help us understand the past, navigate the present, and conceive of possible futures.

Values

Located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional Indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people, the OHC embraces the responsibilities conferred by history. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon, and continue to make important contributions in their communities, at UO, and across the land we now refer to as Oregon. The OHC honors our debt to displaced, marginalized, and oppressed peoples by amplifying the voices of all; celebrating the wide variety of backgrounds, orientations, and abilities that contribute to the vibrancy of human social life; advancing a wide range of research methods and approaches; supporting the creation of innovative classes that encourage interdisciplinary and transcultural thinking; and facilitating public discourse on the issues impacting our shared worlds. (See resources section below for more information about Territorial Acknowledgements.)

Research

The OHC supports scholarship through its Research Fellowship programs for UO faculty and graduate and undergraduate students. Faculty and graduate dissertation research fellowships provide the recipient with an opportunity to devote time exclusively to research for a full academic term. Because the UO is a research university—an institution whose faculty define and reshape the very nature of their fields through their research, teaching, and publication—these fellowships are an essential form of faculty support. Undergraduate research opportunities can form a cornerstone in a student’s experience at UO and provide valuable mentorship and career skills.

Publication subvention

The OHC provides financial support to defray costs for faculty and graduate students publishing their research in open access and with nonprofit university presses and journals.

Teaching

The OHC encourages the development of innovative, interdisciplinary research-driven undergraduate courses in the humanities though its Teaching Fellowship program. Teaching fellowships offer faculty an opportunity to develop courses on subjects they would not normally teach, in ways they would not normally teach them—for example, in small team-taught seminars with a colleague from another department.

Teaching fellowships also provide course enrichment funds that allow faculty to bring outside speakers to campus or enhance their course in other ways. These courses enrich the undergraduate curriculum, invigorate faculty, and give students the benefit of fresh ideas and approaches. Faculty take their discoveries and interpretations into the classroom to advance students’ understanding of our world and the human experience.

Career readiness and professional skills

The OHC provides undergraduate fellowships, work experiences, and training in growth areas for the humanities. Students gain marketable skills that prepare them to enter the job market or further their academic careers. Through the OHC, students participate in faculty-led experiences and paid fellowships that hone their ability to conduct original research, argue and reason effectively, and produce papers and exhibits that are shared with the public. Research experience builds indispensable lifelong skills that help students succeed after college, on the job market, or in academia.

The OHC’s robust arts and culture public programming ensures students and the community have free access to events, exhibits, and speakers. The OHC actively encourages faculty to weave our programming into their courses, inviting instructors to bring their classes to events and arranging for smaller group sessions with our speakers and invited guests. These activities beyond the classroom teach students how to be engaged community members and citizens, and inspire curiosity in the world.

Public outreach and knowledge dissemination

The OHC is committed to fostering public awareness and discussion of critical issues in the humanities. We offer or co-sponsor a rich array of free public programs both on and off campus, including lectures, conferences and symposia, theater, exhibits, readings, and concerts.

OHC’s UO Today program features UO faculty, visiting lecturers and performers, and the voices of undergraduate and graduate student humanities researchers who share news and perspectives on their work. Archived on the OHC’s YouTube channel, UO Today features a wide range of topics, discussed by experts who deliver their ideas in accessible ways. The OHC has prepared playlists to explore different themes of interest, allowing educators and the general public free access.

Advocacy

The humanities are essential to identifying, understanding, and solving the multilayered challenges the world is facing. The OHC participates in professional organizations and activities that help promote the humanities in the US and internationally.

Get involved

Click here for the OHC calendar of events and newsletter
Click here to give to the OHC

Territorial Acknowledgement resources 

UO Resources

Asian, Desi, & Pacific Islander Strategies Groups (ADPI)
Black Cultural Center
Black Strategies Group
Black Studies Program
Center on Diversity and Community (CoDaC)
Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS)
Deconstructing Whiteness Working Group
Disability Studies
Division of Equity and Inclusion
Implicit Bias research guide
Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies
LatinX Strategies Group
Latinx Studies Minor
Native American Strategies Group
Native American and Indigenous Studies
Spanish Heritage Language Program
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
UO Accessible Education Center
Office of the President
Office of the Provost

OHC YouTube playlists:

African American scholars, artists, and speakers
Asian, Desi, and Pacific Islander scholars, artists, and speakers
Native American scholars, artists, and speakers
Latinx scholars, artists, and speakers