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, MAEPH

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 2023 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

Orientation Invite to New MAEPH Students

August 18th, 2022

Welcome to Georgetown University! Our MA in the Engaged & Public Humanities Orientation will be on Friday, August 19, 2022 from 10 am to 1pm. We are very excited to meet everyone on Friday, to introduce you to members of our amazing core faculty, as well as representatives from a number of campus resource units that are there to support students in various areas of your life and work while at Georgetown.…

Farewell to the Class of 2022

August 7th, 2022

On Thursday 18 August, the MAEPH community will gather to celebrate the accomplishments of the students who are completing the program this summer, and also to celebrate together the program itself, the completion of its inaugural year.…