Humanities grad students attending commencement ceremony.

A New Humanities: Imagining a Better Future, Building a Better World

Message from the Director

Ricardo Ortiz

As the Director of Georgetown’s Master’s Program in Engaged and Public Humanities, I invite students interested in the study of the arts, and of culture, history, faith, and thought, to contribute to our reinvention of humanities education as a justice-driven, professional, and practical endeavor committed to making positive, and real, change in the world we all share. Human beings by our nature engage in the creative production of meaning, and of feeling, through an ever-expanding array of expressive objects, images, forms, and media, at the individual, relational, and collective levels. We also experience, study, and think with these processes of production, and with everything they create, and increasingly we do so beyond the spaces of pure critique and reflection that universities traditionally offer, taking the wisdom, insight, and invention fostered there to the world that shapes us and that we shape in turn. Our program’s model of a publicly engaged humanities contributes to this renewal through our intensive, synthetic mix of academic study and professional practice, offering each student optimal individual attention, as well as significant opportunities to work collaboratively with teams of mentors and peers. In doing so, we contribute to an emerging movement that hopes, and promises, to enliven the humanities, and enrich the world, for generations to come.

Ricardo Ortiz, Director, ENPH

Program Highlights

  • Address our world’s practical challenges applying the skills of an advanced humanities training.
  • Acquire a robust grounding in the theories and methods of the engaged and public humanities.
  • Dive deeper into humanities disciplines or interdisciplines, relating them to issues involving the public humanities.
  • Experience mentored, meaningful internships from the rich array of opportunities available in the Washington DC area and beyond.
  • Learn from faculty whose work embodies their commitment to interdisciplinary research and teaching.
  • Integrate your interdisciplinary skills, personal and professional interests in a public-facing capstone project.

Want to Talk to Someone About the Program?

Our program director, Professor Ricardo Ortiz, will be available to answer your questions. Office hours are available by request. Please schedule a time directly with Professor Ortiz or the program coordinator.

Fall 2024 Applications Are Open!

January 15

Priority Deadline

Applications received by this date will receive priority consideration. Fall term starts mid-August.

March 1

International Deadline

Applications from non-US residents must be received by this date. Fall term starts mid-August.

April 1

Regular Deadline

Final application deadline for US residents.

News

Student Spotlight: Katherine Rowe

August 14th, 2023

Katherine Rowe firmly believes that, no matter what you do, you can seek ways by which to bring out the humanity in other people. This is something Rowe wishes to center in her own career.…

Student Spotlight: Christina Ribbens

July 19th, 2023

Christina Ribbens, a student of the ENPH program set to graduate this August, wishes more people had more enjoyable and positive experiences with the humanities growing up.  Christina…

ICYMI: What has our ENPH Director been up to? 

June 26th, 2023

This past month, Professor Ricardo L. Ortiz, the Program Director of the Georgetown Masters in Engaged and Public Humanities, has been involved in various public humanities…