New center to connect SAS faculty

A humanities center that is currently in the planning stages will eventually draw together the School of Arts and Sciences's distinguished humanities faculty, increase research with an international focus and integrate diverse humanistic activities across the University. The center will be located on the sixth floor of Van Pelt Library and is scheduled to be completed by the year 2000. Construction will begin in 1999. Associate SAS Dean Eugene Narmour proposed establishing the center in response to a strategic goal outlined in the "Agenda for Excellence." Narmour explained that the center is essential to the University since "we live in a time period in which there is considerable confusion about the humanities." He hopes the establishment of the center will help the public view subjects in the humanities as a "set of systematic disciplines." Narmour said the center will also seek to bridge the traditional barriers that have been set up in the humanities by fostering interdisciplinary activity. "The humanities center is very important for curriculum reform," he added. "The ultimate aim is to open new areas of thought." University officials estimate that the center will cost approximately $10 million. SAS already has $1 million for the project, and officials hope to raise the remainder of the center's cost through private donations. College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Rescorla noted that the center will bring all the University's humanities departments together -- a key step towards achieving an interdisciplinary curriculum. "The idea is to provide a central facility to integrate the humanities departments," Rescorla said. Rescorla added that the center will bring in scholars and "provide a venue for faculty to interact and think about the humanities." And Narmour stressed that the center will coordinate academic studies, extra-curricular activities and city and cultural events. The University has several nationally ranked departments in the humanities -- including English, Spanish and History -- which will benefit from the center, according to Narmour. The center will also encourage interdisciplinary study in such areas as Ethnohistory, Comparative Literature, Ancient Studies and Judaic Studies. Narmour said the increased activity will provide new insights into how the humanities will function in the culture of the 21st century. Penn is currently the only school in the Ivy League without a humanities center. "SAS needs and deserves its own [humanities center] in order to increase its national and international visibility and thus make our humanities departments more competitive," Narmour said.