The Humanities Center at Carleton cultivates the intellectual and cultural life at the College by providing a locus for innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty and students; by fostering, coordinating, and publicizing diverse programming on campus; by engaging students in the practice of the humanities; and by interrogating the relationship between humanistic study and artistic, ethical, and political issues in the contemporary world.

The Center opened its metaphorical doors in the fall of 2008. While it will not be lodged in a particular building until the completion of the Arts Union liberates some space on the central campus, it has already assumed an important virtual presence on campus. The initiative began in 2005 with a New Directions Grant from the Mellon Foundation and is currently partially funded by a gift to Carleton from David and Marian Adams Bryn-Jones. The original Steering Committee included Deborah Appleman (Educational Studies), Shahzad Bashir (Religion), Jorge Brioso (Spanish), Susan Jaret McKinstry (English), Silvia López (Spanish), Susannah Ottaway (History), Diet Prowe (History), and Cathy Yandell (French and Francophone Studies). With the support of Carleton President Robert Oden, Dean Scott Bierman, and Mark Gleason, Director of Foundation Relations, the initiative has become a lively and vibrant program.

The faculty remain the driving conceptual force behind the Center, but our programming serves all constituencies: faculty, students, staff, and the surrounding community. We invite you to peruse the website and to participate in the seminars, discussions, lectures, and symposia sponsored by the Humanities Center, as well as the numerous interdisciplinary events that we promote on campus. Since the Center's newness invites experimentation and discovery, we encourage you to send us your ideas!

Cathy Yandell
cyandell@carleton.edu

Director

Cathy Yandell, W.I. and Hulda F. Daniell Professor of French Literature, Language, and Culture
David and Marian Adams Bryn-Jones Distinguished Teaching Professor of the Humanities

Advisory Board

  Jorge Brioso, Associate Professor of Spanish 

  Carol Donelan, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies

  Andrew Fisher, Assistant Professor of History

  Susan Jaret McKinstry, Helen F. Lewis Professor of English

  Silvia López, Associate Professor of Spanish

  Susannah Ottaway, Associate Professor of History

Administrative Assistant

Mary Tatge, LDC 340