Download the Summary Report (PDF). 

The academic humanities have been beset by challenges over the past fifteen years: degrees awarded in most disciplines fell by more than 25%, colleges and universities shuttered departments and programs, and faculty hiring dropped to historically low levels.2 A new humanities department survey (HDS) demonstrates both the challenges the field faces today and the resilience of many departments in the face of those difficulties.

The American Academy’s Humanities Indicators (HI) developed the HDS in 2007 to fill gaps in the available data about the health of the field—particularly about course enrollments, the use of adjunct faculty, and departmental practices related to preparing students for future careers. The Academy has conducted four rounds of the survey, collecting data for the academic years (AY) 2007–08, 2012–13, 2017–18, and now 2023–24. Taken together, the surveys provide a better understanding of recent changes in the field and supply the data necessary for a substantive conversation about the humanities in four-year colleges and universities.

This round of the survey examined trends in 14 disciplines: American studies; anthropology; art history; classical studies; communication; English; history; languages and literatures other than English (LOTE); linguistics; musicology; philosophy; race/ethnic studies; religion; and women’s/gender studies. Starting in early 2023, the HI staff worked with the leaders of the scholarly societies representing these disciplines to review and update the survey instrument, trying to balance ongoing interest in key benchmarks for each discipline—such as the number of enrolled students, recent graduates, and faculty of different types—while adding new questions to probe issues that had emerged in the years since the pandemic. Staff tested the revised survey instrument in a series of focus groups comprising chairs from a diverse set of disciplines and institutions. The survey was then administered to a sample of degree-granting departments at four-year colleges and universities in each discipline by AIP Research at the American Institute of Physics. AIP Research also performed the statistical weighting and analyses necessary to produce nationally representative estimates for each discipline and, where possible, make comparisons to earlier rounds of the survey.

The following report focuses on six areas of interest to the field:

1. the number of institutions and departments granting degrees in each discipline;
2. the composition of the professoriate teaching in humanities departments;
3. the level of undergraduate enrollment and degrees granted;
4. the numbers of graduate students, graduate course enrollments, and new doctoral students;
5. policies and practices related to students; and
6. attitudes about the current and future health of the discipline.

In addition to this analytical overview, the associated website for this round of the survey provides separate summaries of findings for each surveyed discipline. AIP Research’s technical report is also available on the site, which includes the data tables that serve as the basis for the present report’s narrative and figures; additional tables disaggregating the findings for each discipline by Carnegie type, highest degree, and control; and information about the survey methodology.

Special thanks are due to the Mellon Foundation, which funded the extensive work necessary to develop, prepare, administer, analyze, and publish the results of the survey. Please note that the analysis that follows does not reflect the views or opinions of either the Mellon Foundation or the officers and members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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