Mission

The Oregon Humanities Center (OHC) seeks to promote and strengthen the humanities, both on campus and in the broader community, by supporting humanities research and teaching, fostering collaboration among the disciplines, and sponsoring public programs.

The OHC is the primary interdisciplinary umbrella organization and research institute for the humanities at the University of Oregon (UO). We encourage scholars to articulate their ideas in language that is accessible both to scholars in other fields and to the general public. The OHC sponsors a wide array of free public programs designed to provide a forum for discussion of and reflection on important issues.

Research

The OHC supports scholarship through its Research Fellowship programs for UO faculty and doctoral students. A research fellowship provides 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.

Teaching

The OHC encourages the development of innovative undergraduate courses in the humanities though its Teaching Fellowship program. Courses developed with OHC support span a broad range of academic disciplines and cultural perspectives. 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.

Public outreach

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, readings, and concerts. On occasion we collaborate with other community arts and cultural organizations such as the Eugene Ballet, the Eugene Opera, the Eugene Public Library, and the Eugene Symphony, and with other community non-profit organizations. We also host a weekly television interview program, “UO Today,” in which the OHC director speaks with UO faculty and visiting lecturers and performers about their work.