Restoring a Vision Interrupted: Renewing the Humanities through Strategic Initiatives and a New Core Curriculum

FAIN: ZED-284195-22

Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4301)
Benita Wolters-Fredlund (Project Director: May 2021 to November 2024)

Strategic initiatives to reenergize the humanities across campus, including a foundational humanities course in a new core curriculum and programs for new learners.

Amid tremendous disruption, Calvin University seeks to move creatively and generatively. NEH funds will provide faculty with time to envision and implement strategic initiatives to reenergize the humanities across campus in three areas: 1) Communities of Practice (CoP) to develop scholarship frameworks, scholarly products, and connect learning to areas of strategic and long-term significance; 2) Engaging New Learning Communities to reach new learners through programs at or pathways to Calvin; and 3) Community and Commitments, a foundational humanities course in Calvin’s new core curriculum that introduces students to a liberal arts education and to three areas we consider essential to foster engaged citizenship: diversity and difference, environmental sustainability, and global regions and cultures. The proposed investment will retain tenure-track faculty positions in the humanities (3.2 FTE) and staff who support humanities programming (.5 FTE), regaining momentum for renewal.