"To unlock the full potential of the humanities, community colleges must go beyond simply offering standalone general education courses. They need to redesign how humanities are delivered... to one that infuses humanistic skills and questions across all programs of study." bit.ly/48qkITt

"the University of Michigan’s Office of the Vice President for Research eliminated “block funding” for the arts and humanities, ending what faculty say was a flow of money that sustained small-scale, experimental and exploratory creative work since 2021" bit.ly/4mtjMRS

"The arts and humanities help us deal with ethical dilemmas, preserve culture and understand perspectives different from our own. That insight matters not only in museums but also in voting booths, classrooms and boardrooms." bit.ly/4nf0Jfj

"Harvard’s Division of Arts and Humanities launched its inaugural Public Culture Project to encourage philosophical inquiry at Harvard, with the aim of addressing increasing polarization in the U.S. and reinvigorating public life." bit.ly/3Iqf3Cq

“The reduction — annihilation — of NCES functionally is a very serious issue... Maybe it doesn’t appear to be as sexy as other topics, but it really is the backbone of knowledge building and policymaking.” bit.ly/46IckgN

Wow, many congratulations @asheeshksi.bsky.social!

"creativity in STEM fields and the humanities plays an important role in cultivating these skills to help nurture visionary thinkers" thesil.ca/the-importan...

"it's very important when there are discussions about strategic planning, for instance, to make sure that the input of the humanities, but also of the arts, the social sciences, all of those areas are also represented. And it's definitely something that we have to be proactive on." bit.ly/46wltbe

"The pressures on the arts and humanities today are real and in many ways unprecedented. But we won’t build a stronger future for these beloved subjects by treating them as static or frozen in time." bit.ly/469CrNG

In the last few weeks, the U.S. Department of Education has quietly issued “non-continuation” notices for ... close to 20 projects centered around American history; and at least two efforts to supply free books to schoolchildren from low-income families": bit.ly/4n2nXVL

Without massive and immediate increases in educational attainment, 171 occupations of the 561 we analyzed will face skills shortages through at least 2032." bit.ly/3K6nt2j

“It really helps people who feel like they have been shut out of higher education understand that they are welcome, and that studies in the humanities gives them a sense of ownership in their communities” bit.ly/4ppaokR

“The Trump administration is ordering the removal of information on slavery at multiple national parks in an effort to scrub them of “corrosive ideology.”” bit.ly/4n8HOTk

"NEH today awarded a $10.4 million grant to the think-tank and educational center Tikvah for a major, three-year, multi-format project to combat the recrudescence and normalization of anti-Semitism in American society...the largest NEH grant award in the agency’s 60-year history" bit.ly/3K4uPn1

"This is an exciting opportunity for the Humanities Program to innovate while keeping in focus the students’ need to cultivate their understanding of what it means to be fully human within a global context." bit.ly/4nrbTNy

"the general anxiety surrounding the humanities major points to a broader cultural shift: we no longer treat advanced literacy as essential to education or citizenship." bit.ly/4mYHUg9

"She expects the reduction in majors, especially those in the humanities, to continue, especially after the passage of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”...accountability mechanism for degree programs based on graduates’ future earnings to be eligible for federal student loans" bit.ly/46jhr5H

We have a job opening in Cambridge for a Communications Specialist (replacing a public humanities graduate): bit.ly/47IEnxU

"Rather than focusing on employment-related anxieties, they focus on their classes and navigate how to achieve their personal and wholesome ambitions." bit.ly/3K1g6cA

"Blake said she thinks the college could do a better job at emphasizing the importance of taking humanities classes, even for students who are not interested in majoring in the humanities by highlighting the success of H&S alumni." bit.ly/46izGZg

“The humanities underpin a liberal arts education. The future is going to require people who can see past the technology and deeply think through the human impact of the inevitable changes that will affect each of us.” bit.ly/3Id9B5N

"It turns out that some very exciting things are happening for people who followed the humanities path, and where they landed might surprise you." bit.ly/3IboUMj

The reading skills of 12th graders continue to decline: bit.ly/47BPA3c

"Humanities = is a podcast about real individuals, organizations, and communities making a real difference through the humanities." bit.ly/42pigZB

"the Freedom Trucks will bring history to life with inspiring, factual content, including digital and interactive material. Based on concept of the Freedom Train" bit.ly/3VFgm3j

"If we desire a generation capable of deep thought, ethical reasoning, civic understanding and cross-cultural communication, we must push to revalue the humanities...and employers should recognize and reward the unique skill sets these disciplines cultivate." bit.ly/3JXTfON

"It is a striking failure of understanding, then, to respond to a crisis of public communications in the STEM fields by attempting to gain even greater distance from the #humanities that take as part of their purpose teaching more effective public communication." bit.ly/3Ia48wn

“Eighty-two academic programs within the Universities of Wisconsin have been suspended or eliminated since 2022..A majority of those cuts were in the humanities or social sciences” bit.ly/4p8R5vN

One of my favorite humanities organizations (ACLS) seeking a new COO. A great senior leadership opportunity in the field: bit.ly/4fYiqww

"93 percent of public schools reported offering at least one standalone arts class during the regular school day. Music and visual arts were by far the most common" bit.ly/46cxN19

"By fostering creativity and innovation, the humanities and arts enhance design sensibilities and imaginative problem-solving abilities, which are increasingly valued in STEM fields." bit.ly/4mBJ3tJ

"If AI holds any potential to improve education, it will not be by enabling shortcuts to humanistic learning.... In an educational environment that is otherwise saturated with AI, the humanities can provide a human-centered haven." bit.ly/3HLrQPC

"It is the job of historians to approach our past as a construction site, where adding history becomes more important than settling history, and certainly not acting as propagandist for a temporary occupant of the White House." bit.ly/4fVArvD

"One of Miami University’s newest majors in the humanities is coming at the cost of six others....World Languages and Cultures to replace French, Italian and Classics as well as the Department of German, Russian, Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures" bit.ly/45PVpaz

"The university plans to cut more than a quarter of its faculty in the coming years as it retools its academic offerings to focus on fields like climate and environment, media and computing, and health and human behavior — areas...more relevant to today’s world and job market." bit.ly/3Jw6VR7

An update on our recent public humanities work, including new reports from recent surveys about public engagement with the humanities (and some forms of the arts): bit.ly/3JBPWg1

“I would like to think that my (and others’) alarm about the future of the #humanities is overblown. But the evidence doesn’t give me much hope.” bit.ly/4msE2ni

Details of the proposal to gather college admissions information by race and sex is now available in the Federal Register. Notably, they plan to collect information on graduate students by field (lumping arts and humanities into one category): bit.ly/3JOiram

"Harvard’s Arts and Humanities division instructed department heads to collectively reduce their budgets for non-personnel spending by roughly $1.95 million" bit.ly/4fWjLnN

“the NEA has “withdrawn” the “Creative Writing category” due to the agency “updating its grant making policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the Administration.”” bit.ly/45B9jPa

"The effects of these proposed cuts may trickle down to the UO student body if fewer language classes and humanities classes are offered." bit.ly/466KWZy

"There remains a concern that too many of the cuts came in the humanities — art, literature, theater, history — subjects that all college students should be exposed to even if they are majoring in engineering or finance." bit.ly/47K3sIy

"State humanities councils across the country are close to their breaking point...five months without full funding has caused staff layoffs, cancelled programs, and rapid fundraising to cover gaps while councils pivot to long-term sustainability." bit.ly/4fLDnLa

"Most departments in the survey reported engaging in one or more recruitment strategies to increase the number of majors in their disciplines, but religion departments stood out because their most popular strategy was outreach to community colleges" bit.ly/4fZch3l

"The University of Chicago’s Arts and Humanities Division is now pausing new Ph.D. student admissions for the 2026–27 academic year across all departments except philosophy and one program within the music department." bit.ly/3HoKjkT

"The big question is whether higher education will permanently abandon the pursuit of humanities in favor of the sciences, which are seen by many outside academe as more practical for students, and, often incorrectly, more economical for the institution." bit.ly/41RMG6z

We are revising our definition of the humanities (the most popular page on the Indicators) to try to capture all of the aspects we study. (This would precede the catalog of specific academic disciplines on the current page: bit.ly/4lxDGKN). I'm curious what folks might think of the following:

"premier technical institutions face a defining choice: Will they produce engineers who merely build, or those who, like da Vinci, can anticipate the human consequences of their creations?" bit.ly/3Vgp7R2

"NEH will merge the functions and staff of seven grantmaking offices and divisions into four new divisions to support projects that advance humanities research, education, public programs, infrastructure, and cultural preservation." bit.ly/4mqRFna

"The University of Richmond’s Distant Viewing Lab has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand access to artificial intelligence tools for digital humanities research." bit.ly/4oKLXOq