The university is a place charged with imagining our collective future. We turn to the humanities to craft the values that will shape that future, and to guide us as we face the challenges ahead.

Anna Mae Duane, Director, UConn Humanities Institute
A photograph of an outdoor wall covered in pasted images, including cartoons, a black and white image of Marilyn Monroe, and a "like" indicator from a social media website.A large group of faculty members and students gathered in the UCHI conference room to participate in a public event. One group sits around a conference table, while other participants sit in chairs lining the wall.A stereoview of woman in long dark dresses standing in what appears to be a big hall draped with flags and adorned with flowers. The caption reads, "The Great Sanitary Fair, Philadelphia, 1864"An aerial view of people gathered at the Seeing Truth exhibition at the Benton Museum. Art is hanging on blue walls and in the middle of the room a table covered in a black table cloth holds silver objects.

How do we know what we know? What does the truth look like? Consider these questions and more at our exhibition

Seeing Truth: Art, Science, Museums, and Making Knowledge

William Benton Museum of Art

January 17–March 10, 2023

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This exhibition is supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Image: Blazing the Trail to the Distant Past by Arthur A. Jansson, used with permission from the American Museum of Natural History.

Support Undergraduate innovation this UConn Gives with a gift to the UConn Humanities Institute.

What does it mean to be human?

UConn Humanities

The humanities seek to understand the whole human being: our languages, our histories, our art and ideas. The mission of the UConn Humanities Institute (UCHI) is to promote research on these questions, and to act as a voice for that research on the regional, national and international stage. In hosting annual residential fellowships, offering opportunities for humanities-focused programming, and fostering an interdisciplinary space for scholars to think, collaborate, and create, the Institute serves as a global hub for scholars dedicated to humanist scholarship and activism. UCHI seeks to inspire and support scholars at all levels and across disciplines to take on the critical and public task of humanistic inquiry.

Humanities Institute Success

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Established, with the help of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the first-ever New England Humanities Consortium, bringing together both ivy-league and state-sponsored institutions.

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Chosen to be an affiliate partner with the Yale Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition. UCHI Director Anna Mae Duane will co-direct a two-year seminar convening an international group of leading scholars of the history of slavery.

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Awarded a three-year grant of $750,000 by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand the New England Humanities Consortium (NEHC) Faculty of Color Working Group (FOCWG).

Latest News and Events

2023–24 UCHI Fellow's Talk. Public Patriotism: he United States Sanitary Commission and Black Women's Interregional Grassroots Activism During the Civil War. Kathryn Angelica, Ph.D. Candidate in history, with a response by Geoffrey Hedges-Knyrim. September 27, 12:15pm. Humanities Institute Conference Room, HBL Fourth Floor.

Fellow’s Talk: Kathryn Angelica on Black Women’s Activism

Draper Dissertation Fellow Kathryn Angelica will discuss how histories of the Civil War have neglected the contributions of African American women within and beyond the United States Sanitary Commission, with a response from Geoffrey Hedges-Knyrim. September 27, 2023, 12:15pm.

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The UConnPopCast, hosted by UCHI Associate Director Stephen Dyson and Professor Jeff Dudas, features scholarly analyses of popular culture and interviews with prominent scholars.

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Why We Argue features conversations with scholars, artists, and scientists about topics related to truth, science, art, political conviction, and more.

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