Blair LM Kelley
President and Director
At a time of challenge and transition for the humanities, the purpose for this institution is clear.
I began as president and director of the National Humanities Center in the summer of 2025, at the precipice of an extraordinary juncture between the Center’s prestigious past and promising future. In 2028 we will celebrate our semicentennial—50 years of supporting exceptional scholarship, empowering educators, and connecting communities to better understand and address human complexity and change in our world.
It is also a crucial moment in the life of our country when the insights provided by historians, philosophers, and humanists from across disciplines are desperately needed. Yet, at campuses across the country, humanities departments are facing restructurings, consolidations, layoffs. Area studies centers are being consolidated and dismantled. Federal funding cuts; endowment taxes; and drastic, politically driven policy shifts have led to radical changes on campuses across the country.
In the last five years, qualitative classroom engagement at every level has been challenged like never before by curricula that are increasingly focused on early-career earnings and struggling to cope with the incursion of AI technologies. AI has also been used to carelessly dismantle the NEH grant system that has so fundamentally strengthened what we as humanists do and helped support the infrastructure of humanities research and engagement in communities across the country.
As a historian and NHC Fellow (2022–23), I understand the crucial role that the Center plays in shaping hope, building community, and providing resources for scholars inside the academy. At a time of challenge and transition for the humanities, the purpose for this institution is clear. As the only private, endowment-based nonprofit organization in the world focused exclusively on advanced studies of the humanities, the National Humanities Center is uniquely equipped to serve as a bridge in this moment.
The beliefs that guided the Center’s founding are proving to be prescient today. That humanities scholarship matters. That it must be grounded in an atmosphere of freedom and support. That the products of humanities research must be shared widely in classrooms and communities to benefit our fellow citizens and help prepare future generations to build on the legacy we have inherited.
Blair LM Kelley is the seventh president and director of the National Humanities Center. Prior to assuming leadership of the Center, she built a career as an award-winning historian, writer, educator, and administrator; fostering intellectual communities and championing the humanities across diverse platforms. In 2024, she was named one of the Top 40 Women in Higher Education by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine.
More about Dr. Kelley’s accomplishments, published works (including her newest book, Black Freedom: A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days), and media appearances can be found at profblmkelley.com.
Office of the President
News from the President’s Office
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From the Director
Humanities in the Age of Change
Mar 19, 2026
On March 19, 2026, the National Humanities Center held a celebration in honor of Blair LM Kelley’s installation as the seventh president and director of the Center.
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From the Director
Kathleen DuVal and Blair LM Kelley Discuss “Native Nations: A Millennium in North America”
Dec 9, 2025
Kathleen DuVal chronicles a thousand years of Indigenous history in North America and reframes centuries of Native American agency.
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Announcements
Ben Vinson III Appointed as Inaugural Presidential Scholar in Residence
Nov 4, 2025
The Presidential Scholar in Residence initiative invites distinguished humanities leaders to participate in the robust intellectual life of the Center.
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Announcements
National Humanities Center Announces Blair LM Kelley as New President and Director
Jun 6, 2025
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.