Humanities Week 2015, scheduled to take place September 21 to 24, has given student organizer and videographer Naomi Pelkey a unique perspective on the importance of humanities to all academic pursuits.

Pelkey, who worked under the direction of Humanities Research Group director Erica Stevens Abbitt, was tasked with producing a video that posed the question, “Why Humanities?” to a group of students, faculty, and staff.

“I think we live in a complex and complicated world. A world in which we need informed citizens and leaders who understand the world to help make it a better place,” said Diana Mady Kelly, professor emeritus, School of Dramatic Art, in her interview. “I think the humanities provide pathways for us to do so.”

Dr. Stevens Abbitt says that bringing the richness of the human experience to the campus community and the wider public is the goal of this year’s event.

“During Humanities Week, we are setting up an ongoing conversation about the humanities and their relevance to our world,” she said. “Perhaps most exciting, this represents a wonderful collaboration between HRG and the President’s Office—with support from our HRG student ambassadors, UWSA, PAC, FAHSS, the Leddy Library, Recruitment, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra: an alliance of students, faculty, staff and community members working to promote awareness of the humanities on campus and beyond.”

Among the week’s scheduled events is a visit from the Windsor Symphony Orchestra; student-led Humanities Café debates with invited professors; and the “WHY Humanities?” competition, where the best student entry on the relevance of humanities in the 21st century will win the entrant a free semester of tuition.

“Humanities are what make us human,” said Christine Quaglia, student development specialist in Student Disability Services, who also appears in Pelkey’s video. “Things like art, like philosophy, like music, like literature—they’re the things that move humans forward.”

For a full calendar of Humanities Week events and more information on the “WHY Humanities?” competition, visit http://www1.uwindsor.ca/hrg/.