News

When students in the College of Arts and Sciences enroll in Associate Professor Patrick Berry’s class on writing and rhetoric, they likely think, correctly, that they will learn the foundations of good writing across various genres. However, they may not imagine that Berry’s vision for the class involves a less tangible side effect: building community.

An upcoming one-day symposium will explore how Kant’s principles can help lay the foundation for lasting peace. The symposium is supported by the Central New York Humanities Corridor, whose administrative home is based at the Syracuse University Humanities Center...

Māori scholar Krushil Watene projected a photo of herself and a youth education group canoeing on New Zealand’s Taumārere River to an audience of more than 20 students and faculty in Bird Library. Understanding their responsibility to learn about Māori culture is Watene’s group’s mission.

“We need more diversity and we need to hear the voice of those communities who hold the key and the knowledge to address issues that are impacting humanity, not just Indigenous communities, but humanity overall,” said Indigenous Studies Professor Mariaelena Huambachano...

Research, scholarship and creativity coexist and thrive at Syracuse University. All year long, Syracuse students and faculty engage in creative endeavors, like architecture, storytelling and visual art, to forge new relationships with and fresh insights into our natural world.

Humanities practitioners put current issues and events into perspective by encouraging critical thinking and analysis, challenging beliefs and values, sparking creativity and encouraging global citizenship and immersing in history. In an effort to further a world that is healthier, hopeful and more humane, the Syracuse University Humanities Center, in the College of Arts and Sciences, advances humanities research each year by awarding up to four competitive fellowships.

“Advancing graduate student research is so important. As the work of this year’s dissertation fellows and public humanities grantees amply illustrates, graduate students are pushing the boundaries of their fields and advancing the humanities in new ways for the 21st century,” says Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center.

This spring, the Syracuse University Humanities Center welcomes a visit by renowned Māori scholar, moral and political philosopher, Krushil Watene. She is a member of the Māori tribal communities of Ngāti Manu, Te Hikutu, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and the Pacific Island of Tonga (Hunga, Vava’u). Watene is the Peter Kraus Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Auckland/Waipapa Taumata Rau, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Jamila Walida Simon grew up in a time and place where children were expected to be largely seen and not heard; as an adult, she wanted to correct that, providing space for Black girls to express themselves, their thoughts and feelings, their struggles and aspirations. Now, as part of a working group that spurs and supports the self-reflection of Black women who work with Black girls, Simon has found that space for herself.

Now in its third cycle of funding from the Central New York Humanities Corridor, the working group, “Collectively Envisioning Black Girl Futures,” was founded in fall 2022 by Misha Inniss-Thompson assistant professor of psychology in Cornell's College of Human Ecology, and Courtney Mauldin, assistant professor of educational leadership at Syracuse University.

A&S scholar, Mariaelena Huambachano, travels the world gathering and sharing research on the wisdom of “Traditional Ecological Knowledge”, while passing it down to the next generation through her teaching at Syracuse.

Being uprooted from one’s typical routine can have profound impacts on one’s writing practice, and for the third year running, the Corridor Writing Retreat has provided such an opportunity to participants from across all 11 Corridor institutions.