After a nationwide search, the National Humanities Center is pleased to announce the selection of historian Blair LM Kelley as its next president and director. Dr. Kelley's appointment marks a pivotal moment for the Center as it looks to build on five decades of foundational work in supporting and advancing humanities research and education.
These are the featured stories from the first issue of the National Humanities Center's digital newsletter Illuminate, published in April 2025.
The National Humanities Center is pleased to announce the appointment of 32 Fellows for the 2025–26 academic year. These leading scholars will come to the Center from universities and colleges in 13 US states and the District of Columbia as well as Canada and Hong Kong.
The second annual Being Human Festival (US) will be held April 12–28, 2025. Organized around the notion of "landmarks," the festival will include community-focused events in sixteen locations across the country, organized and presented by local artists, scholars, and educators.
The National Humanities Center recognizes the exceptional support of seven of its 100+ institutional sponsors in helping advance the Center's mission. NHC sponsors include institutions of all sizes and types, representing 33 US states and the District of Columbia.
Twenty-one teachers from schools in seventeen states will work with the NHC’s staff in piloting, evaluating, and promoting classroom resources and professional development programs for collegiate and pre-collegiate educators.
The National Humanities Center will extend its Responsible AI project through the 2026 academic year and include faculty and students from community colleges and Minority Serving Institutions. Working collaboratively with faculty that participated in the initial phase, schools will co-develop courses focused on the ethical challenges presented by artificial intelligence.
The National Humanities Center has announced the appointment of Martha M. F. Kelly (NHC Fellow, 2022–23) from the University of Missouri as vice president for scholarly programs, effective July 16, 2024.
The National Humanities Center has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in support of the Center’s residential fellowship program.
The National Humanities Center is pleased to announce the appointment of 31 Fellows for the 2024–25 academic year. Chosen from 492 applicants, they represent humanistic scholarship in an array of disciplines. These newly appointed Fellows will constitute the forty-seventh class of resident scholars to be admitted since the Center opened in 1978.