Support research that explores what it means to be human

The Oregon Humanities Center is raising $40,000 to create an endowment that will fund faculty research. Your gifts fund crucial research, innovative teaching, and enriching public programs that benefit UO students, faculty, and your community.  

The humanities explore what it means to be human across time, cultures, and space. Studying humanistic questions, researching those questions, talking them over in community sparks connection between us. 

Spanning disciplines, experiences, forms of human expression, and diverse methods of inquiry, the humanities help us understand the past, navigate the present, and create the future. 

The humanities are highly relevant and necessary for understanding and solving the challenges facing today’s world. The term “humanities” can be applied to work in nearly any academic discipline that seeks to better understand and enrich the human experience. 

The Oregon Humanities Center (OHC) supports faculty, graduate, and undergraduate humanities research to advance new knowledge and scholarship; fosters the development of inventive courses to enhance students’ educational and career opportunities; and offers public programming to enrich the knowledge and lives of Oregon’s citizens. 

The OHC’s mission as a UO research center is interconnected to the UO’s larger research and teaching mission and goals, supporting students’ successful transition to meaningful careers, and preparing them to make important societal contributions.

Research 

Humanities faculty conduct research that deepens our understanding of society and of the human experience. An OHC faculty research fellowship provides faculty with a term free of teaching. This allows them to spend time focused on their research. 

This research uncovers and analyzes new findings. It produces new knowledge and develops interpretations that help society think about and solve pressing challenges. Faculty share this information in the classroom, and through publication, scholarly talks and conferences, free public events, and in the media. 

Publication

Many faculty publish their research in open-access formats and with nonprofit university presses and journals. To help defray the increasing cost of publishing and make their scholarship widely available, the OHC provides funds to offset these expenses. In addition, the OHC maintains a library of UO humanities faculty scholarly and trade books that can be checked out for free. The OHC disseminates faculty research for free at public events and talks. 

Teaching

Faculty leverage their research to develop new and inventive courses that are foundational to our students’ education. These courses teach students how to think critically, reason carefully, ask meaningful questions, conduct research, and communicate effectively—all indispensable skills in our rapidly changing world and a requirement for any job. 

Career readiness and professional skills

Undergraduate students have many fellowship opportunities and work experiences through the OHC. Students gain marketable skills that prepare them to enter the job market or further their academic careers. 

Thank you for your support!