Humanities Week, scheduled from September 21 to 25, will include the student-led Humanities Café debates with invited professors; and a prize-giving ceremony for the “WHY Humanities?” competition where the best student entry on the relevance of humanities in the 21st century wins the lucky applicant a free semester of tuition.
Bringing the richness of the human experience to the campus community and the wider public is the goal of Humanities Week, scheduled from September 21 to 25.
“Humanities is in everything we do – art, music, literature, philosophy, history, language – every creative endeavour and every branch of inquiry which explores the things which make us human and unique,” says Humanities Research Director Erica Stevens Abbitt.
“During Humanities Week, we are setting up an ongoing conversation about the humanities and their relevance to our world. 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.”
Dr. Stevens Abbitt says that the week’s activities will be an ideal time for students outside humanities-related programs to broaden their horizons and see things from a different perspective.
She points to a humanities talk (and walk) scheduled for Wednesday, September 23rd from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with UWindsor alumnus Shawn Micallef, author of The Trouble with Brunch: Work, Class and the Pursuit of Leisure, as an opportunity to gain new perspectives on the way we interact with our daily urban environment
There will also be a public lecture inviting us to examine the value of the humanities in the academy with Nancy Kindelan, a Boston-based professor, learning specialist, and author of the ground-breaking, Artistic Literacy: Theatre Studies and A Contemporary Liberal Education, taking place Tuesday, September 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Katzman Lounge.
“There is the notion that Humanities Week and more so, the pursuit of a Humanities- based education, is reserved only for those who are interested in the Humanities and all that it encompasses,” says former UWSA President and Humanities Week volunteer Ronnie Haidar.
“Humanities, and more specifically, the urge to learn more about it is a natural occurrence that exists in all of us. Humanities touch every aspect of our life—it enhances our interpersonal skills and allows us to connect more genuinely with society.”
The general public and university community are warmly invited to attend all activities, which also include a surprise campus visit from the WSO; the student-led Humanities Café debates with invited professors; viewings across campus of a student-produced humanities video; and a prize-giving ceremony for the “WHY Humanities?” competition where the best student entry on the relevance of humanities in the 21st century wins the lucky applicant a free semester of tuition.
A full list of Humanities Week activities will be available on www.uwindsor.ca/hrg. Check back often as events will continue to be added in the coming weeks.