"The Role of the Humanities: Rice as a Case Study"

The humanities have been an enduring and fundamental part of university life for many centuries. Yet in a young nation that is more predisposed to solving immediate practical problems than to addressing complex and long-term cultural and social issues, the humanities occupy an awkward place. The history of Rice University mirrors the ambivalence of American society toward the humanities. The founding charter established Rice for "the advancement of Literature, Science, Art, Philosophy and Letters." Yet in its early years the university concentrated on science and engineering. This colloquium will explore the past and present role of the humanities at Rice within the larger context of the humanities in American universities. In recent decades, the School of Humanities at Rice has emerged as a powerful intellectual force that is engaged in important research, often in fruitful dialogue with disciplines in other schools as well as institutions outside the university. The questions humanists at Rice ask and the subjects they explore may not always make us comfortable, but they are essential to our achieving a deeper understanding of who we are and what we want to be. As the importance of this work has gained recognition, the humanities at Rice can be a model for humanities elsewhere in the nation.