About the Institute
Our mission, history, and vision for humanities scholarship
Our Mission
The Western Humanities Institute is dedicated to advancing scholarship, teaching, and public engagement in the humanities. We seek to foster critical inquiry into enduring questions and contemporary challenges, promote innovative approaches to humanistic study, and strengthen the role of the humanities in academic and public life.
Through our research initiatives, educational programs, and public outreach, we aim to demonstrate the continuing relevance of humanistic knowledge and methods to understanding the complexities of human experience and addressing the urgent problems of our time.
Our History
Founded in 2010, the Western Humanities Institute emerged from conversations among scholars committed to revitalizing humanities research and education in response to changing intellectual, cultural, and institutional landscapes.
Under the founding directorship of Dr. Robert Campbell, the Institute initially focused on fostering interdisciplinary dialogue through seminars and conferences. In 2015, with the appointment of Dr. Eleanor Wright as director, the Institute expanded its activities to include a peer-reviewed journal, summer institutes for faculty development, and public humanities programs.
Today, the Institute has grown into a vibrant intellectual community that brings together scholars, students, and the public to engage with fundamental questions about meaning, value, and the human condition across diverse cultural and historical contexts.
Our Approach
The Institute's work is guided by several key commitments:
- Rigorous scholarship that advances understanding of human culture, thought, and expression
- Interdisciplinary inquiry that crosses traditional boundaries between academic fields
- Historical depth combined with attention to contemporary questions and challenges
- Methodological pluralism that embraces both traditional and innovative approaches to humanistic study
- Public engagement that extends humanities scholarship beyond the academy
- Educational innovation that reimagines humanities teaching for diverse contexts and audiences
Research Initiatives
The Institute supports humanities research through several ongoing initiatives:
Ethics and Technology Project
Examining philosophical and cultural dimensions of emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence to biotechnology, with attention to questions of human flourishing, justice, and the good life.
Environmental Humanities Collaborative
Bringing together scholars in literature, history, philosophy, and the arts to explore human relationships with the natural world and address urgent environmental challenges.
Civic Humanities Network
Promoting humanities research and teaching that contributes to civic dialogue, democratic practice, and public problem-solving through community partnerships and engaged scholarship.
Digital Humanities Laboratory
Developing innovative computational methods for humanities research and creating digital resources that make humanistic knowledge accessible to broader audiences.
Institute Leadership
Dr. Eleanor Wright
Director
Dr. Wright has served as Director since 2015. A specialist in ancient philosophy, she has published widely on virtue ethics and practical wisdom. She previously taught at the University of Chicago and Yale University.
Dr. James Martinez
Associate Director
Dr. Martinez oversees educational programs and public outreach initiatives. His research examines the relationship between literary form and political thought in modernist literature. He joined the Institute in 2017.
Dr. Michael Chen
Research Director
Dr. Chen coordinates the Institute's research initiatives and fellowship programs. A scholar of German Idealism and Critical Theory, he has been with the Institute since its founding in 2010.
Advisory Board
- Professor Maria Garcia, University of Barcelona
- Professor Jonathan Kim, Stanford University
- Professor Amara Washington, Columbia University
- Professor David Miller, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Professor Julia Bennett, University of California, Los Angeles
- Professor Robert Campbell, Founding Director Emeritus
- Professor Elizabeth Chen, Princeton University
- Dr. Thomas Roberts, National Humanities Foundation
Support the Institute
The Western Humanities Institute's work is made possible by the generous support of foundations, individual donors, and partner institutions. Your contribution helps sustain our research initiatives, educational programs, and public outreach efforts.
Contact Information
General Inquiries
Email: contact@westernhumanities.org
Phone: (555) 123-4567
Research & Fellowships
Email: research@westernhumanities.org
Phone: (555) 123-4568
Educational Programs
Email: courses@westernhumanities.org
Phone: (555) 123-4569
Journal Submissions
Email: journal@westernhumanities.org
Phone: (555) 123-4570
Mailing Address:
Western Humanities Institute
123 Scholar Way
Academic City, AC 12345