Building a Humanities-Centered Interdisciplinary Curriculum to Foster Citizen Scholars

FAIN: AKB-270107-20

Vermont College (Northfield, VT 05663-1035)
Amy Woodbury Tease (Project Director: September 2019 to present)
Tara Kulkarni (Co Project Director: March 2020 to present)

A three-year project to implement a new team-taught curriculum integrating humanities with the sciences and professional fields.

The Norwich Humanities Initiative (NHI) is a multi-year project at Norwich University to support a new team-taught curriculum focused on the integration of the humanities with the sciences and professional fields. The NHI was created with funding from a NEH Humanities Connections Planning Grant with the goal to expand opportunities for students to engage in interdisciplinary conversations and activities that demonstrate the impact of the humanities across disciplines. Our project will expand the NHI curriculum through new course development with embedded undergraduate research and experiential learning opportunities and cultivate the development of citizen scholars, or people who bring a critically informed understanding of the world to their life and work through humanistic practices of teamwork, leadership, creativity, and critical thinking. In short, this project will centralize the role of the humanities at Norwich University and prepare our students for life, work, and citizenship.

Associated Products

Norwich Humanities Initiative website (Web Resource)
Title: Norwich Humanities Initiative website
Author: Norwich University
Abstract: This is the outward facing website describing the Norwich Humanities Initiative, its goals and outcomes, as well as our current course offerings. We also have links to our webinars and articles/blog posts linked on this site.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/humanities
Primary URL Description: This is the Norwich Humanities Initiative website.

NEH Grant Announcement (Blog Post)
Title: NEH Grant Announcement
Author: Norwich University Office of Communications
Abstract: Norwich University has been awarded a $100,000 Humanities Connections Implementation Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to continue work on the Norwich Humanities Initiative, an interdisciplinary curriculum project which was launched in 2018 with the support of a $35,000 NEH Humanities Connections Planning Grant.
Date: 05/05/2020
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/news/2471-norwich-university-receives-100k-grant-from-national-endowment-for-the-humanities-for-norwich-humanities-initiative
Primary URL Description: This blog post announces Norwich University's $100,000 Humanities Connections Implementation Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Blog Title: Norwich Newsroom
Website: Norwich Newsroom Blog

Center for Global Resilience and Security website (Web Resource)
Title: Center for Global Resilience and Security website
Author: Norwich University
Abstract: The Norwich Humanities Initiative partners with the Center for Global Resilience and Security (CGRS) at Norwich University. This website includes a link to the NHI website as part of the CGRS Initiatives.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/cgrs/cgrs-programs
Primary URL Description: This is the link to the programming section of Center for Global Resilience and Security (CGRS) at Norwich, where the NHI is featured as a partnered initiative.

Norwich Humanities Initiative Poster (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Norwich Humanities Initiative Poster
Author: Lea Williams
Author: Amy Woodbury Tease
Abstract: The Norwich Humanities Initiative (NHI) is a university-wide General Education curriculum and programming initiative developed to increase the visibility and engagement with the Humanities at Norwich University, a goal that aligns with the university’s 200-year-old vision of fostering citizen scholars. This initiative was founded in 2018 with support of a $35,000 Humanities Connections planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). In Spring 2020, we received two three-year Implementation Grants from the NEH and the Davis Educational Foundation totaling $240,000 to expand and institutionalize the initiative. Our poster presentation will provide examples of how the NHI supports inclusive and collaborative interdisciplinary student learning opportunities, professional development opportunities for faculty, and programming with internal and external partners with specific emphasis on the Humanities. We will highlight the development and success of our team-taught “Topics in Interdisciplinary Humanities” courses, including Narrative Medicine, Geoarchaeology of Lost Cities, and True Crime, developed to fulfill General Education Humanities requirements. We will also offer examples of pedagogical workshops, student research fellowships, and experiential learning opportunities currently under development. Finally, we will share assessment results from our partnership with the National Humanities Alliance (NHA) to demonstrate how the initiative has produced significant learning outcomes, enhanced students' capacity to make connections across distinct areas of study, and increased students’ appreciation of liberal education and its professional, social, and civic value.
Date: 01/06/2022
Primary URL: https://www.maps.mla.org/Resources/Innovation-Room-A-Digital-Repository
Primary URL Description: Digital Repository that houses our slide presentation of the "Norwich Humanities Initiative" poster presented.
Conference Name: Modern Language Association Conference

Drawing out the narrative (Blog Post)
Title: Drawing out the narrative
Author: Matthew Crowley
Abstract: Cartoonist and artist Marek Bennett helps Spanish language students tap the power of draftsmanship
Date: 02/14/2020
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/news/2161-norwich-university-kailtin-thomas-marek-bennett-spanish-language-graphic-novels-cartooning
Primary URL Description: Norwich University News Room blog.
Website: Norwich University News

New Department of Global Humanities will open chances for intellectual innovation (Blog Post)
Title: New Department of Global Humanities will open chances for intellectual innovation
Author: Matthew Crowley
Abstract: Merging of Modern Language and English and Communications departments will promote interdisciplinary learning, dean says
Date: 05/26/2022
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/news/3831-norwich-university-office-global-humanities
Primary URL Description: News blog for Norwich University
Website: Norwich University Newsroom

Norwich University presents Stephan Wolfert in “Cry Havoc!” (Blog Post)
Title: Norwich University presents Stephan Wolfert in “Cry Havoc!”
Author: Matthew Crowley
Abstract: Norwich University will host artists in residence Wolfert and Dawn Stern, co-directors of DE-CRUIT, for a 10-day residency on campus.
Date: 02/01/2022
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/news/3605-norwich-university-presents-stephan-wolfert-in-cry-havoc
Primary URL Description: Norwich University Newsroom
Website: Norwich University Newsroom

Humanities and the power of integrated learning (Blog Post)
Title: Humanities and the power of integrated learning
Author: Amy Woodbury Tease
Abstract: Want to foster relevant, effective scholarship? Gather diverse thinkers with different skill sets
Date: 09/01/2019
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/record/1877-norwich-university-amy-woodbury-tease-humanities-initiative
Primary URL Description: Website for digital edition archive of the Norwich Record magazine.
Website: Norwich University Record

Telling medicine’s stories (Blog Post)
Title: Telling medicine’s stories
Author: Matthew Crowley
Abstract: In Narrative Medicine, the Norwich Humanities Initiative’s first course, English professor Patricia Ferreira and Nursing Director Paulette Thabault will help students examine the nexus of practice, poetry and prose.
Date: 08/12/2019
Primary URL: https://www.norwich.edu/news/1765-narrative-medicine-course-will-help-students-see-stories-behind-health
Primary URL Description: Norwich University's news blog.
Website: Norwich Newsroom

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