The Appalachian HEART Hub: Reimagining a Campus Museum as an Active Learning Hub

FAIN: AKA-285733-22

Mars Hill College (Mars Hill, NC 28754-9134)
Karen Lynn Paar (Project Director: September 2021 to present)
Leila Weinstein (Co Project Director: May 2022 to present)

Planning to repurpose an on-campus museum into a humanities hub where students will engage in humanistic inquiry in a multi-disciplinary context.

Mars Hill University is seeking an NEH Connections planning grant to reimagine its extant campus museum as an inclusive active learning hub in which students will engage in humanistic inquiry across disciplines. This learning hub will be a space where students, faculty, and other learning professionals will come together to curate museum exhibitions; design innovative curricula; engage in conversations, lectures, workshops, and learning communities; visit museum exhibitions; and explore this region in a profoundly interdisciplinary way through experiential coursework and co-curricular activities. The structure and work of the Appalachian HEART (Humanities Education Across disciplines in the Region Together) Hub will center on students and making their voices heard through exhibitions and programs, thus contributing to a sense of belonging and, therefore, retention. This work will embody the “habits of mind” used in the humanities and will engender critical thinking and empathy.

Media Coverage

"NEH Grant Funds Planning for a 'Reimagined' Museum" (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Karen Paar, Leila Weinstein
Publication: Mars Hill: The Magazine of Mars Hill University
Date: 11/4/2022
Abstract: This article gives a summary of the activities to take place as part of the Mars Hill University NEH Humanities Connections Planning Grant. It discusses the grant's overall goal of transforming MHU's Rural Heritage Museum into an active learning hub.
URL: https://www.mhu.edu/news/mars-hill-university-receives-neh-grant-to-plan-new-active-learning-center/