The Center for the Humanities promotes the cross-disciplinary, collaborative, and public humanities across and beyond the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We support traditional and new forms of inquiry in the humanities and engage the public through reciprocal partnerships that broaden the ways that knowledge circulates.
Events
@ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Center for the Humanities, University Club Building, Room 313, 432 E. Campus Mall
@ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St. (Room Information Shared Upon Registration)
@ 5:30 pm
Van Hise Hall, Room 104, 1220 Linden Dr.
Announcements
A Year in Review
We want to thank you—the students, faculty, staff, and community members who make this all possible.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 in Wisconsin
During the 2024-2025 Great World Texts program, high school teachers and students throughout the state will read Cho Nam-joo's novel Kim Yiyoung, Born 1982.
AI and the Humanities
In 2024-25, our event theme is a focus on AI, democracy, and uncertainty. In celebration of our 25 years of asking difficult questions about both the expansion of and challenges to human knowledge in public contexts, we explore how intelligence, both artificial and human, impacts our understanding of ethics, art, and politics.
Get Involved with Us
Research Programs
Our research programs provide unique opportunities to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries and to pursue innovation in writing, teaching, and scholarship.
- Borghesi-Mellon Workshops
- First Book Workshop
- Iwanter Prize for Undergraduate Research
- Humanities Education for Anti-racism Literacy in the Sciences and Medicine (HEAL)
- Humanities Without Walls
Public Humanities
Our partnerships with schools, museums, libraries, nonprofits, and cultural organizations demonstrate the value of the humanities inside and outside of the university.
- Graduate Fellowships
- Public Humanities Exchange
- Humanities Without Walls Summer Workshop
- Public Works Seminars
- Community Partners
- Public Humanities Resources
Events
Our events inspire audiences. They are always free and open to the public, invigorating cultural and civic life across Madison.
- Borghesi-Mellon Workshops
- Focus on the Humanities
- Friday Lunches
- Humanities NOW
- Humanities Without Boundaries
- Nellie Y. McKay Lecture in the Humanities
- Tejumola Olaniyan Memorial Lecture
Great World Texts in Wisconsin
Launched in 2005, Great World Texts in Wisconsin engages high school students and teachers across the state through the shared reading of a novel.
During the 2024-2025 program, high school teachers and students from 27 schools throughout the state will read Cho Nam-joo’s novel Kim Yiyoung, Born 1982. The novel follows one woman’s psychic deterioration in the face of rampant misogyny.
News and Interviews
2024 Iwanter Prize for Undergraduate Research
Congratulations to Holly Puza and Matthew Masonius!
Author shows Black culture in Midwest through new book in visit to UW
By Akhilesh Peddi
Diego Alegría Wins 2024 Creative Arts Award
Diego Alegría, a Ph.D. Candidate in Literary Studies and Mellon Public Humanities Fellow, has been awarded the Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Graduate Student Award in the Creative Arts. Each spring, the Division of the Arts recognizes achievements and service, and supports creative projects and research. The Lyman S.V. Judson and Ellen Mackechnie Judson Student Award in the Creative Arts (established in 1997) is presented to an undergraduate and graduate student in the creative arts “who has made the greatest contribution to the field(s) of study covered.”
Three takeaways from UW-Madison panel on challenges to academic freedom
By Amari Mbongwo, photo by Nick Duda
