Leah Middlebrook: Greetings from the OHC, friends!

Leah Middlebrook

As I prepare this letter, in the final weeks of summer, I have a plate of star crimson pears ready at hand. It’s late August, and it’s still quite warm. But these are the first fruits of fall, and by the time this newsletter reaches you, the temperatures will be dropping, students and faculty will have returned to campus, and classes will be underway. Welcome back!

Each year, we organize our endowed lectures and additional activities around a theme. This year, we address “Attention,” considering the dynamics of how, why, and what we focus on shapes our reality and creates our purpose. Attention is the fundamental cognitive ability to sustain one’s energy on a specific pursuit or thought. How do we allocate this precious resource? Who controls our attention? What is the antidote to having a fragmented mind? And how do we build solidarity for collective action to restore our attention? How do we use our attention to be our best selves and transform the world around us? 

A UO faculty panel launches this series on December 2, examining Attention from the perspectives of neuroscience, art, and literature (see story). In January, we will continue our exploration with the help of Portland jazz musician Christopher Brown. And in April, the OHC is honored to welcome Ada Limón, the most recent poet laureate of the United States. 

Check our calendar of events for further details, and make sure you are registered to receive our Sunday afternoon emails, which give a look ahead to the coming week’s many OHC-sponsored and co-sponsored events (calendar of events). Of particular note, remember to mark your calendars for the OHC’s Wine Chat on October 22 with Professor Alisa Freedman speaking on the “Anime Academy,” plus our weekly Work-in-Progress and Book-in-Print talks, which take place nearly every Friday, at noon, during the academic year.  

I also want to acknowledge that 2025 is proving a difficult year for the humanities. In April, an astonishing 12 UO faculty researchers experienced the direct impact of grant recissions that ensued from federal attacks on the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Research funds that had been awarded through a highly competitive process were abruptly cut off, leaving faculty scrambling, early to mid-project. Additionally, this summer, some U.S. universities have sought to address tightening budgets by cutting liberal arts and humanities programs. 

Even as these cuts are happening, UO humanities faculty are consistently recognized on national and international indices for excellence [1]. And in the face of recent events, it is more important than ever to make a fundamental point about higher education. From the time of the Renaissance forward, universities have been spaces designated by society for upholding the value of uniquely human knowledges and skills: reasoning, ethical reflection, communication, linguistic and cultural agility. These capacities furnish the basis for a flourishing society [2],  and they are the terrain of the humanities. In an era of increased emphasis on career readiness, and in a time of considerable economic, cultural, societal, market, and political flux, institutions of higher learning are responsible as never before for training students to meet the moment by being empowered to think critically and lead creatively. Artificial Intelligence may increasingly replace human beings in computational tasks, data analysis, or summaries of information. But humans, not computers, transform information into knowledge, observation into interpretation, and experience into wisdom. This work is fundamental to the twenty-first century present, as numerous studies and an increasing number of testimonials from the business and tech world show. 

While we are facing significant challenges in the humanities, the OHC continues to be thankful for the steadfast support of our friends: the Board of Visitors, the Faculty Advisory Board, and the wider community who attend events, participate in sessions and conversations, and advocate for the vibrancy and relevance of humanistic values. We want to especially acknowledge the ongoing collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (VPRI) for their unfailing support of the humanities. 

The OHC will continue advocating for humanistic research all year long and into the future. We hope you will join us.  

[1] Bennett, Joshua. “Why So Many MIT Students Are Writing Poetry.” The Atlantic. August 15, 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2025/08/what-mit-students-are-learning-poetry/683856/?gift=qUU8-owx_USVsR2vnKMTbDYPiggTtytz1FBdoTw3zxA&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

[2] See this June, 2023 report from Oxford University on the career value of humanities training: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2023-06-21-new-research-shows-how-studying-humanities-can-benefit-young-people-s-future-careers. See also Tan, Kwan Wei Kevin. 2025. “A Top Banker Said His Wharton MBA Was ‘a Waste of Time’ — but the Skills From His Humanities Degree Are Needed More Than Ever.” Business Insider. June 26, 2025. https://www.businessinsider.com/top-banker-wharton-mba-waste-of-time-humanities-skills-needed-2025-6?utm_source=linkedin&utm_campaign=business-sf&utm_medium=social.