About the Center

The human fingerprint maps our identity, the ties that bind us, the lingering traces we leave on this earth. As humanists, we explore the durability as well as the fragility of the human condition — opening windows onto worlds near to home and oceans away, worlds we interpret through stories and images, poems and performance, history and narratives, sounds and silence. At Washington University in St. Louis, the Center for the Humanities facilitates the labor of humanists by nurturing innovative research, transformative pedagogy, and vibrant community engagement locally and globally.

Read More About Our Mission and Our History

 

Funding new research in the humanities

Pursuing new scholarly ideas about the world takes funding — whether it's for a two-month tour of research sites in Japan or a two-week trip to an archive to view materials available only there — that can be hard to find via regular channels. The Center for the Humanities fills this gap with a number of funding opportunities for Washington University faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Learn more about their stories!

The Graduate Student Fellowship allowed me to make more progress on my dissertation in a single semester than I had been able to in the entire preceding year.

―Ann Marie Jakubowski Department of English, Fall 2023 Graduate Student Fellow

upcoming
events

EALC Lecture Series: Territorial Sovereignty and Socialist Landscape Paintings

Busch 18

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Toxic Sublime: Art and the Climate Crisis

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

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Science in the Public Square: Conevery Bolton Valencius

DUC 276

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Faculty Fellowships at Center for the Humanities

Time devoted exclusively to research and writing is integral to academic productivity. Faculty fellowships provide the opportunity to make significant strides.

Ann Marie Jakubowski

The Graduate Student Fellowship allowed me to make more progress on my dissertation in a single semester than I had been able to in the entire preceding year. I benefited from the quiet and productive environment of the Center for the Humanities wing and was able to develop a sustainable writing/research routine with minimal distractions. While I love teaching, the opportunity to focus exclusively on my dissertation research in my second-to-last semester of the PhD was extremely helpful. ... I also enjoyed working there because of the friendly faces of the Center for Humanities staff and Faculty Fellows and the real sense of community that developed over the course of the semester.

―Ann Marie JakubowskiDepartment of English, Fall 2023 Graduate Student Fellow

Apply for funding for humanities research, fellowships, reading groups and more

The humanities center facilitates the labor of humanists by nurturing innovative research, transformative pedagogy, and vibrant community engagement locally and globally.

Learn More