Event kicks off Humanities Forum

Several distinguished scholars spoke as grants were awarded for research in the humanities. It may not totally erase Penn's reputation as a university for pre-professionals, but the new Penn Humanities Forum could at least guarantee an increased emphasis on the liberal arts across the campus. The presentation of six different research fellowships and eight speakers -- including University President Judith Rodin, National Endowment for the Humanities Chairperson William Ferris and History Professor Sheldon Hackney, who preceded Rodin and Ferris in their respective positions -- highlighted the Forum's opening ceremony yesterday. Around 200 students, faculty members and administrators attended the event in College Hall. The Humanities Forum is a research center for undergraduates interested in the humanities. In addition, the Forum intends to facilitate intellectual exchange between faculty members of different academic departments and involve the Philadelphia community in humanities-related activities and discussion. Operating out of Bennett Hall, the Forum will also host several visiting scholars next year. Ferris, who received his doctorate from Penn and was appointed the NEH's chairperson in 1997, was the event's keynote speaker. Ferris told the audience that he was "here to preach the humanities out loud." He praised Penn for its continued emphasis on providing a strong liberal arts education to its students. "You are delivering the humanities message where it belongs," Ferris said. And he advised the audience to pay no heed to the popular belief that a liberal arts education isn't practical in the workplace or good preparation for post-college life. "We can narrow the gap between academic life and what we call 'real life,'" Ferris said. "Our job is to make Huckleberry Finn and King Lear relevant to kids on the street in West Philadelphia and to adults on Wall Street," Ferris explained. Finally, Ferris surprised the crowd by temporarily leaving the microphone and picking up a guitar on the left side of the stage. A scholar of the American South, Ferris proceeded to entertain the audience with a soulful rendition of the blues classic "Baby Please Don't Go." Rebecca Bushnell, an English Professor and associate dean for arts and letters, began the ceremony by specifying some of the Humanities Forum's ultimate goals. "Such a forum would allow us to connect what we do in the humanities with other disciplines in the school, but also with the world at large," Bushnell said. Rodin spoke next, praising the Forum's creators for their "extraordinary vision" in developing the program. "Nothing is more fundamental to the life of a great academic institution than the humanities," Rodin said, citing the Humanities Forum as an effective initiative that "combines theory and practice." According to Rodin, while acquiring practical "skills" is certainly an integral part of a well-rounded education, "we also must try to always ask 'why' if we're going to find the meaning of life." Rodin also noted that next year's topic for undergraduate research will be "Human Nature." Those students who applied for fellowships were required to submit a research proposal based on that general topic. English Department Chairperson and Forum Director Wendy Steiner announced that she would be one of several professors teaching a course on Human Nature next year, although the research topics will change annually. College sophomore Sara Nasuti, the program manager for Perspectives in Humanities -- an undergraduate living-learning program located in Harrison College House and Kings Court/English College House -- announced the winners of the six different undergraduate research fellowships. Nasuti is also a Daily Pennsylvanian staff photographer. Jed Gross, a College freshman, received a $1,500 grant for winning the Undergraduate Research Prize with his proposal -- which he described as an "intellectual history of work and play." And College juniors Jane Hill, Andrew Zitcer and Tamara Walker, along with College sophomores David Muir and Sharese Bullock, each won $300 fellowships for their respective proposals. In her address to the crowd following Rodin, Steiner claimed that Penn "is and must remain at heart a liberal-arts institute," refuting the notion that the humanities, as a discipline, are currently "in trouble." Other speakers for the event included Joseph Farrell, professor of Classical Studies, Sheldon Hackney, former Penn president and former NEH chairman, Gary Tomlinson, Annenberg professor of Music, Nancy Vickers, president of Bryn Mawr College.