Launch of the ENPH and Georgetown’s Commitment to Humanities Education

Posted in Announcements

Georgetown is building on its strengths in humanities education and scholarship with new initiatives and classroom opportunities focused on expanding faculty and student engagement with the humanities.

These efforts consist of the new Georgetown Humanities Initiative, the Future of the Humanities Project, and the new Master of Arts in Engaged and Public Humanities (ENPH), which demonstrate the global, interdisciplinary, and multifaceted dimensions of Georgetown’s approach to humanities education.

“In the humanities we study the past in order to better understand our present condition and plan for the future,” says Kathryn Temple, founding director of the new ENPH. “We can draw on humanities training and habits of mind to help solve global and local problems, to understand why we behave as we do and how we might do better.”

The ENPH will be launched in fall 2020 with a focus on giving students the opportunity to put their humanities skills to use in the real world.

Students in the program will explore and combine their academic interests through interdisciplinary courses from across the university while building a foundation in the public and digital humanities. In addition to coursework, students will complete an internship at an academic, nonprofit, or corporate organization that fits their interests.

For Professor Temple, “the humanities has something to offer across different disciplines. There are many different ways humanities scholarship can contribute to political culture and national culture”.

“The humanities must remain a critical part of higher education,” says David Edelstein, vice dean of faculty in the College. “The humanities offer unique and provocative insight into the human condition, and for that reason, they are an essential part of the education our students receive.”

Read more about Georgetown’s efforts in the Humanities.