Center Hosts Spring Forum on AI in Entertainment & Education
Scholars from around the world joined the Center for our Spring 2025 forum, “Beyond the Binge: Ethical Implications of AI for Entertainment and Education – Communication and Philosophical Perspectives” April 10-11. Across two days of discussion on entertainment and the future of humanistic education and research, participants discussed everything from robot teachers to the influence […]
HTC Director Nick Bates Featured on Center Podcast
Managing Director Kurt Cavender welcomes Director of the Howard Thurman Center, Nick Bates, to discuss Thurman’s legacy and relevance to navigating the world today. Nick is a Thurman scholar dedicated to finding ways to help the community develop a relationship with Thurman’s work. Listen to the episode here.
Chika Okeke-Agulu Delivers Spring Lecture in Criticism
The Center welcomed Robert Schirmer Professor of Art and Archaeology and African American Studies Chika Okeke-Agulu on March 20 for its spring Lecture in Criticism. His books include El Anatsui. The Reinvention of Sculpture (Damiani, 2022); African Artists: From 1882 to Now (Phaidon, 2021); Yusuf Grillo: Painting. Lagos. Life (Skira, 2020); Obiora Udechukwu: Line, Image, […]
Support the National Endowment for the Humanities
The BU Center for the Humanities traces its founding to a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), a vital national resource. Recently, the NEH has terminated hundreds of grants that support scholars, cultural organizations, and humanities councils in every state and enacted significant reductions in force of the NEH staff. The […]
Humanists at Work: Margaret Litvin, Associate Professor of Arabic & Comparative Literature
Although Margaret Litvin went to graduate school to study Arabic, she didn’t expect she would end up as a professor. Now an Associate Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at Boston University, Litvin spent her undergraduate years focused on breaking into a different field: journalism. “I worked a lot on my college newspaper, probably more […]
Center Staff Joins National Humanities Advocacy Day
The Center is dedicated to humanities advocacy. Center Managing Director Kurt Cavender, PhD and student staff member Leilani Muchai joined other representatives from across Massachusetts at National Humanities Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. this team met with Massachusetts congressional representatives and staffers to speak to the importance of continued support for the National Endowment for […]
Meet the Fellows: Jonathan Klawans
Professor of Religion and Jeffrey Henderson Senior Research Fellow Jonathan Klawans digs into Biblical forgeries in his latest project. Learn more about past forgeries and the excuses scholars make for them in this short video.
Center Hosts Annual Humanities Book Publication Celebration
Faculty and their guests gathered to celebrate another year of humanistic publications at the Center’s annual book celebration on February 27, 2025. Center Director Juliet Floyd highlighted 21 works by faculty and staff, including the Center Managing Director Kurt Cavender. The publications ranged from book projects—some built off over ten years of research and writing—to […]
Meet the Fellows: Ying Gong, PhD Candidate in Linguistics
PhD candidate in Linguistics and Dissertation Fellow Ying Gong shares her work on Ursu and highlights the importance of building reciprocal relationships with communities that speak understudied languages.
Director Juliet Floyd Featured on NPR’s Philosophy Talk
Center Director and Borden Parker Bowne Professor of Philosophy Juliet Floyd was a recent guest on Philosophy Talk produced by KALW 91.7FM at Stanford University. In conversation with Ray Biggs, Professor of Philosophy, and Josh Landy, Andrew B. Hammond Professor of French, Professor of Comparative Literature, and co-director of the Literature and Philosophy Initiative at […]