The Center for the Humanities: What We Do
The Center for the Humanities at Southern Oregon University consolidates the efforts of the departments of art, communication, history, language, literature, and philosophy, music and theatre to promote the arts and humanities on the SOU campus and in the community. The SOU Center for the Humanities supports the role of the arts and humanities in a liberal arts education and the impact of the arts and humanities on public life.
The Mission of the SOU Center for the Humanities:
The Mission of the Center for the Humanities at Southern Oregon University is to celebrate the humanities through conversations across disciplines and campus- community partnerships. The center promotes its mission by:
- Fostering a greater interaction between the campus and the community.
- Cultivating multidisciplinary collaboration among faculty, community members and students in the humanities and in other disciplines;
- Supporting research and teaching in the humanities;
Through its emphasis on the humanities, the SOU Center for the Humanities will work to build a thoughtful, informed, and engaged community. The Center will be a multidisciplinary forum dedicated to advancing inquiry and knowledge in all fields, with particular emphasis on connecting the humanities to other fields.
The Center will organize a broad range of activities; develop educational resources; and collaborate with other organizations to offer humanities programs on and off campus. The Center will organize special workshops and public events to strengthen the intellectual and creative life of the university, foster innovative scholarship and teaching, and enrich our understanding of the richness of human achievement.
A centerpiece of the SOU Center for the Humanities will be active engagement with the local community toward strengthening the campus and community bond.
Goals of the SOU Center for the Humanities:
- Coordinate efforts to promote the arts and the humanities on campus and in the community.
- Create an identity for the arts and the humanities on the SOU campuis.
- Develop lectures, programs, symposia, etc. that will bring together faculty and students from various disciplines in the arts and humanities.
- Foster understanding of the role of the arts and the humanities in the academic community and society at large.
Each year, the Center for the Humanities selects a thematic focus for the year. Courses and public events related to the theme are sponsored throughout the year. For information about this year’s theme, and related courses, go to Campus Theme
