Videos of Past Events
The Arts and Humanities in a Rice Liberal Arts EducationThe School of Humanities embraces a vision of connective and interdisciplinary humanities as they are practiced by our gifted faculty. We have fostered a significant renaissance of the visual and dramatic arts, as evidenced in the approval for a new building for Department of Art, which will welcome hundreds of students who come to study and practice these arts with us each year. Our programs in Medical Humanities, Environmental Humanities, and Politics, Law and Social Thought connect us with our colleagues across the university and, indeed, across the street at the Texas Medical Center. The founding of the new Center for African and African American Studies and the new departments of Transnational Asian Studies and Modern and Classical Literatures and Cultures make clear this interdisciplinary ambition and our embrace of a humanities that is capable of new exploration and change. On Oct. 29, 2020, Kathleen Canning, Dean of the School of Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History, led a conversation, "State of the School: New Goals for the Arts and the Humanities in a Rice Liberal Arts Education." She was joined by Natasha Bowdoin, Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing in the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts, and Fay Yarbrough, ’97, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Special Projects in the School of Humanities and Associate Professor in the Department of History. |
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What Can You Do With a Humanities Degree?On Oct. 28, 2020, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Special Projects in the School of Humanities and Associate Professor of History Fay Yarbrough, ’97, led a panel discussion, "What Can You Do With a Humanities Degree?" Humanities alumni from across a broad range of fields, interests and careers shared how humanistic and artistic inquiry help prepare our students for lifelong success. Learn about the skills they honed in critical analysis, interpretation, analytical writing and oral presentation and how this historical exploration and self-critical questioning of all ways of human knowing and living enriched their understanding and prepared them for diverse professional pursuits — from politics and policy development, to business and the arts, to health care and marketing. Panelists included Molly Chiu, ’14, Senior Communications Specialist, Baylor College of Medicine; Jesse Dickerman, ’02, ’15, Chief of Staff, Harris County Budget Management; Lulu Fang, ’11, Co-founder, Honey Art Café; and Bradley Houston, ’10, C2 Art Advisors and a member of the School of Humanities Advisory Board. |
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Why the Humanities Matter in Times of PandemicAs our society grapples with profound moral questions and health inequities laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic and new awakenings around social and racial justice, students from across Rice are turning to the humanities to make sense of the world we live in and help create a more humane, just and equitable society. On Oct. 27, 2020, Kathleen Canning, Dean of the School of Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History, led a conversation about how humanistic inquiry, that is, the historical exploration and self-critical questioning of all ways of human knowing and living, can enrich students’ understanding of any and all professional pursuits — from science and medicine, through law and public policy, to humanities and the arts — and equip them to lead and shape a better tomorrow. Faculty participants included Kirsten Ostherr, the Gladys Louise Fox Professor and Chair of the Department of English, and Director of the Medical Humanities Program; Timothy Schroeder, Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy; and Jeffrey J. Kripal, the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought in the Department of Religion and Associate Dean of Faculty and Graduate Studies in the School of Humanities. |