What can you do with a humanities degree? And why are the humanities so important during times of pandemic, past and present?
During Owl Together week — this year’s combination of the annual homecoming and family weekends, much of it delivered virtually — Rice’s School of Humanities will host a series of online conversations about the crucial role humanities disciplines play in in our modern world.
Each webinar is open to the public and will feature discussions between deans, department chairs, professors and alumni.
“Why the Humanities Matter in Times of Pandemic” is the topic of the first webinar Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. As 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.
Dean of Humanities Kathleen Canning, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History, will lead a conversation with associate dean Jeffrey Kripal, the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought; English department chair Kirsten Ostherr, the Gladys Louise Fox Professor and Chair and director of the Medical Humanities Program; and philosophy department chair Timothy Schroeder.
“What Can You Do with a Humanities Degree?” is the question posed in second webinar Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. Alumni from a broad range of fields will offer an interactive discussion about the skills they honed in critical analysis, interpretation, analytical writing and oral presentation — and learn how this historical exploration and self-critical questioning has enriched their understanding and prepared them for diverse professional pursuits.
Associate dean and associate professor of history Fay Yarbrough ’97 will moderate the conversation among fellow Rice alumni Molly Chiu ’14, senior communications specialist at Baylor College of Medicine; Jesse Dickerman ’02, ’15, Harris County Budget Management chief of staff; Lulu Fang ’11, co-founder of Honey Art Café; and Bradley Houston ’10 of C2 Art Advisors.
On Oct. 29 at 3 p.m., Canning will lead a webinar on the “State of the School: New Goals for the Arts and the Humanities in a Rice Liberal Arts Education.” Yarbrough will join her alongside Natasha Bowdoin, associate professor of painting and drawing in the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts (VADA), in a discussion of the significant growth in humanities programs and participation in humanities courses from across all schools and majors.
Webinar participants will learn more about the school’s popular programs in Medical Humanities; Environmental Humanities; and Politics, Law and Social Thought; the renaissance of the visual and dramatic arts on campus embodied by the newly approved VADA building; and 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.
For more about the School of Humanities’ upcoming we