Reflections on the State of the Humanities in Colleges and Universities

Academy members joined Jonathan Holloway, incoming president of Rutgers University, and Melissa Nobles, MIT’s Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, for a discussion of current trends in the humanities and how they might change as a result of our current crisis. The American Academy recently released its latest data from our Humanities Indicators Project, showing trends related to teaching, enrollments, and degrees granted in the humanities departments at colleges and universities across the country. The discussion began with a brief overview of the report’s highlights from Rob Townsend, Director of the Humanities Indicators, followed by remarks by Holloway and Nobles and Q&A moderated by Academy President David Oxtoby.