Wesleyan President Michael Roth speaks on "The Humanities and Their Aftermath: Three Tales of Protection, Sophistication, and Connection" during the Center for the Humanities 50th Anniversary Conference Oct. 9 in Russell House. President Roth was one of several speakers who discussed the pursuits, temporalities, obligations and limitations of the humanities of the 21st century.Victor Gourevitch, professor of philosophy, emeritus, delivered comments following President Roth's talk. Founded in 1959, the Center for Humanities is among the oldest in the United States.Sean McCann, professor of English and American studies, speaks on "Ordeals of Liberal Humanism: The Center for the Humanities and the Cold War University." Ethan Kleinberg, associate professor of history and letters (pictured); introduced McCann and the topic of liberal humanism. Elizabeth Traube, professor of anthropology, and Richard Stamelman, director of The Montgomery Foundation at Dartmouth College, professor of French, emeritus at Williams College offered comments on McCann's talk.In front, from left, Demetrius Eudell, associate professor of history, associate professor of African American studies, director of the Center for African American Studies; Jerry Wensinger, the Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature and Professor of the Humanities, emeritus; Helen Reeve, professor emeritus from Connecticut College; and Joe Rouse, the Hedding Professor of Moral Science, professor and chair of the Science in Society Program, professor of philosophy; were among the conference's attendees. Eudell also led a talk titled "After the Humanities? Or After the episteme?: Toward a Humanism Made to the Measure of the World." Four faculty guests from other universities spoke during the conference, including Nancy Armstrong, the Gilbert, the Louis and Edward Lehman Professor of English at Duke University.Pictured in foreground, Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors and the Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, led the keynote discussion on "The Last Humanist and the Perfect Storm: The Budgetary and Ideological Threats to Life as We Have Known It."Lori Gruen, associate professor of philosophy, associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies, listens to a talk by Cary Nelson. Gruen also presented her paper titled "Humanities' Others" during the conference.
Olivia Drake
Mike Mavredakis
Jeff Harder