Community Engaged Public Humanities Training Series

The Community-Engaged Public Humanities Training series supports faculty in exploring public humanities pedagogy and project development methods and ethical and reciprocal community engagement practices.

2023-2024 Workshop Series

What are the Public Humanities & Arts?: An Introduction to Pedagogy and Practice (In Person with Stacy Hybrid)

Wednesday, October 18th 2023; 3pm – 5pm 
Facilitators: Cory Alix (RWU) and Dr. Stacy Hartman, Former Director of the PublicsLab, The Graduate Center, CUNY

This session will provide attendees with an introduction to Public Humanities & Arts (PHA) pedagogy and practice with Dr. Stacy Hartman, Former Director of the PublicsLab, The Graduate Center, CUNY and Cory Alix, Adjunct Professor of Humanities and NEH/Co-Lab Curriculum Development Faculty Fellow. The session will explore definitions, some of the goals of the PHA, and the landscape of leading PHA projects at academic institutions. In the second half of the session, Cory Alix will offer one possible pedagogical approach to incorporating public humanities methods into the classroom. Lastly, the session will close with a discussion  of PHA’s relationship to the “crisis in the humanities” and explore the capacity of the public humanities to disrupt & challenge our flow of familiarity. 

Flipping the Script: What Academia Can Learn from Public Humanities Nonprofits  (Online Webinar)

Thursday, November 30, 2023; 3 pm-4:30 pm via Zoom
Facilitators: Dr. Elizabeth Rosner (RWU) and Dr. Stacy Hartman, Former Director of the PublicsLab, The Graduate Center, CUNY

This session will explore successful models of Public Humanities and Arts projects, as well as ways to create meaningful public engagement. A panel of community partners will lead the discussion, reflecting on lessons learned and best practices for building relationships and putting research into practice.

Jeannie Salomon, Founder and Director of the Cultural Society for Entrepreneurship, Bilingualism, Resources and Inspirations and organizer for Museum of Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders (AAPI) History & Culture in Rhode Island effort. 

Charles Roberts, Founder and Executive Director of the Rhode Island Slave History Medallions, a placemaking effort commemorating and celebrating the lives and work of enslaved people in Rhode Island. 

Michael Frederick, Director of The Thoreau Society, the largest and oldest organization devoted to stimulating interest in and fostering education about Thoreau’s life, works, legacy and his place in his world and in ours.

Pedagogy Spotlight: Enslaved Peoples in New England – Two Public Humanities Teaching Approaches

Wednesday, February 28, 2024, 3:00-4:30 pm (In person) ARCH 239A
Facilitators: Dr. Laura D’Amore and Dr. Charlotte Carrington-Farmer

Come learn about ways that two professors at RWU have approached the teaching of enslaved people in New England, as it relates to the public humanities and arts.  Case studies will include collaborating with community partners, centering student-driven research, co-writing curriculum, and approaching sensitive topics with humility.

Process and Problems: Doing & Funding Public Humanities Projects

Wednesday, April 10, 2024; 3pm - 5pm  (In person) ARCH 239A
Facilitators: Dr. Bernardo Motta and Dr. Diane Beltran

This session shares the process, problems, and opportunities for developing, delivering, and funding projects in the public humanities.  Using the projects from two faculty cohort members, attendees share their planning and methods, as well as their work across disciplines and with community partners.  The session also provides information on funding within the RWU community and outside grantmakers in the humanities.