Humanities for Everybody Program

FAIN: ZH-252947-17

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5200)
Dini Metro-Roland (Project Director: May 2016 to March 2024)

Scholarships for first-generation college-age students to participate in Humanities for Everybody, as well as program expansion.

Humanities for Everybody (H4E) provides members of greater Kalamazoo, Michigan with a series of rigorous, humanities courses taught by experienced Western Michigan University faculty. Inspired by the writings of Earl Shorris, H4E faculty seek to empower members of the community who traditionally lack access to higher education to lead more active and confident public lives. H4E classes combine a Socratic style of teaching with an intimate and supportive classroom environment that enables students with a variety of academic skills and life experience to engage deeply with complex questions of life. While H4E courses are open to all adults, our targeted population has always been Kalamazoo’s economically disadvantaged populations and communities of color. The funding from NEH and other sources will enable H4E to expand our program to serve first-generation college students in what would constitute as a bridge year between high school and their freshman year.

Associated Products

A Conversation about First-Generation College Students: Reflections on a Bridge Year Program and the Promise of a Relationship-Rich University Education (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: A Conversation about First-Generation College Students: Reflections on a Bridge Year Program and the Promise of a Relationship-Rich University Education
Abstract: First generation college students often face a multitude of academic, social, and economic barriers to success in higher education. This is especially true when these students lack rich relationships with their peers and instructors or confidence in their academic abilities. With the generous support from a National Endowment for the Humanities Access Grant and the Kalamazoo Promise, our team of instructors and peer mentors ran a Bridge Year Program (2018-2021) designed to provide material, academic, and socio-emotional support to a small group of first-generation college students during their first year at Western Michigan University. I will briefly reflect on the successes and failures of this program and also suggest possible ways that institutions of higher education might create supportive, relationship-rich educational experiences for all students. I then hope to facilitate a meaningful conversation with faculty and staff about effective teaching and mentorship that promote first generation college student success.
Author: Dini Metro-Roland, Professor of Educational Studies, Western Michigan University
Date: 05/09/2023
Location: Malmö University, Malmö Sweden

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