Great Books Course
When first-year students at the University of Utah step inside the classroom of HUM 1500: Great Books in the Humanities, they will not only begin to explore seven global texts that have changed minds and influenced generations, but they will also learn how each of these books has been interpreted and understood by scholars from seven different disciplines. More information
Perspectives 2021 - 2022
This issue of Perspectives takes readers on a tour of the various spaces occupied by the College of Humanities. Each space offers a unique point of entry to the college and collectively underscore the evolving role of the humanities on the U campus and in the community. Read the Issue
Humanities Radio
Comm 4670 exposes students to the business of podcasting. Students analyze podcast story structure and learn how to pitch and collaborate on audio stories.
CLICK HERE TO LISTENWhy Humanities with Doug Bowser
Doug Bowser, President of Nintendo of America, majored in the humanities at the University
of Utah knowing the skills he would obtain – writing, communication, creative thinking
and problem solving – would benefit him in any career path.
Click Here to Watch
Our Commitment to Inclusivity
Click below to read our Commitment on Inclusivity Statement.
More InformationSupport the College of Humanities 
Give to Great Books in the HumanitiesGive to Humanities Emergency Scholarships
The humanities teach us to question the world around us in order to better understand our place within it. In the humanities, we seek to understand the nuances of cultural issues, to interpret human experience, and to appreciate the power of words and ideas.
By studying humanities, we broaden our historical, ethical, social and international perspectives while enhancing ourselves intellectually and creatively.
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News and Awards
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Exceeding the Traditional Bounds of Literary Analysis: Faculty feature with Crystal Rudds
In the summer of 2009, Crystal Rudds took an internship with the Midwest Coalition for Human Rights. She was stationed in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green Rowhouses, a public housing project that was facing demolition. That summer, she stood alongside tenants to protest the demolition of the development. It was an experience that would shape the rest of her academic career.
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The Intricacies of Communication: Faculty feature with Kevin Coe
Kevin Coe, professor of communication at the University of Utah, explores how messages matter. After growing up in Tacoma, WA, Coe moved to Illinois to complete his doctorate and then taught at the University of Arizona for five years. After spending time in the desert, he was searching for water, trees and mountains — so, in 2013, he moved to Salt Lake.
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The Role of Gender in Indigenous Peoples Experience with Climate Change
The Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah is proud to announce that Whyte, associate professor of philosophy at Michigan State University and an expert in environmental philosophy and indigenous knowledge systems, will be speaking at the UMFA Dumke Auditorium, April 4, 2023, 7 p.m. Whyte will discuss some of his research on Climate Change through an Intersectional Lens and the role of gender in indigenous peoples climate change experience.
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Blending German Studies and Environmental Studies: Faculty feature with Katharina Gerstenberger
As editor of the prestigious German Studies Review, Katharina Gerstenberger, professor of German at the University of Utah, uses the opportunity to foster an international community within the German Studies discipline.
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Bridging Science and Humanities: Faculty Feature with Stephen Downes
Science and the humanities seem to be the oil and water of academia. In a black-and-white world, these two fields are opposites, two fields of study with not just a picket fence dividing them but a concrete wall. A man crossing this divide and blurring these lines is Stephen Downes, professor of philosophy and adjunct professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah.
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Can Science Fiction Fuel Social and Political Change in our Ecological Crisis?
The Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah is pleased to host award winning science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson for The Tanner Lecture on Human Values Thursday March 16, 2023, at 7 p.m. at Kingsbury Hall.
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Mark Bergstrom Awarded Western States Communication Association Lifetime Achievement Award
Associate Professor Mark Bergstrom was recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western States Communication Association. The WSCA Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Western States Communication Association.
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Great Books Not Textbooks
When first-year students at the University of Utah step inside the classroom of HUM 1500: Great Books in the Humanities, they will not only begin to explore seven global texts that have changed minds and influenced generations, but they will also learn how each of these books has been interpreted and understood by scholars from seven different disciplines. A team of leading professors from the departments of communication, English, history, world languages and cultures, linguistics, philosophy, and writing and rhetoric studies will lead first-year students in close reading of transformative books from each of these fields, offering students a unique opportunity to engage across the humanities.
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How the American West Center and Utah Humanities are Working Together to Improve People’s Lives
Utah is home to several organizations whose missions prioritize education, research, and community outreach, but the long-standing partnership between the American West Center (AWC) and Utah Humanities (UH) in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution’s Travelling Exhibitions Services (SITES) Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program, has been especially fruitful. By combining their individual strengths, they have cultivated an approach to “doing history” that not only demonstrates the discipline’s importance, but also its ability to help people and communities more meaningfully connect to the past, each other, and to their own time and place.
Events
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Mar 27
Monday
3pm - 4:30pmPSRG
Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building (CTIHB)
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Mar 28
Tuesday
1pm - 3:30pmArid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia
Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building (CTIHB)
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Mar 28
Tuesday
1pm - 3:30pmNatalie Koch - Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia
Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building (CTIHB)
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Mar 29
Wednesday
11:50am - 1:10pmDr. Kris Imants Ercums - "What's Buddhist Art Doing in Kansas?: Cultures of Collecting, 1920-Present"
Art Building (ART)
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Mar 29
Wednesday
4pm - 5pmAn Afternoon with Taylor Brorby, author of Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land
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Mar 30
Thursday
12pm - 1pmExpertise, Exegesis, and Ecclesiology: The Intellectual Roots of Latter-day Saint Creation/Evolution Conflict in the Twentieth Century | Ben Spackman
Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building (CTIHB)
Now, more than ever, we need the humanities.
Now, more than ever, the humanities need you.