As part of its goals for institutionalization and to contribute to the general debate of the role and challenges of humanities in higher education, the Humanities Alliance hosted and participated in various events. These spaces often shared a spirit of bringing together different institutions, offering opportunities to communicate lessons learned across the professional spectrum, while generating opportunities for new relationships and partnerships.

HA Symposium (February 28, 2025)

At the start of the HA program’s final semester, we hosted a symposium about the present and future of the humanities at CUNY. Invited guests came together from across CUNY’s campuses and shared ideas, experiences, resources, and strategies to support and strengthen the humanities. Every day, CUNY faculty, students, and staff demonstrate the transformative potential of the humanities. We believe that CUNY has a story to tell, and this symposium was organized with the goal of strengthening this story by forging deeper connections within and across the university around this work.

The day began with a keynote address from Ariana González Stokas, author of Reparative Universities: Why Diversity Alone Won’t Solve Racism in Higher Ed. The afternoon featured a panel discussion on the state of humanities at CUNY featuring Renata Kobetts Miller, Dean of the Division of Humanities and the Arts at CCNY; Roxanne Shirazi, Head of Archives and Special Collections at the Graduate Center’s Mina Rees Library and Director of the CUNY Digital History Archive; José Higuera López, Director of the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute at Lehman College; Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez, Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, and Jason Hendrickson, Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College. Throughout the day, attendees shared their projects and initiatives, learned about each others’, and discussed how to chart a hopeful, just, and sustainable future through the work of the humanities at CUNY. The symposium also served as a celebration of the HA’s work through its partnerships, and an opportunity to think with colleagues about what the future of the humanities at CUNY can – and will – be. Participants came away with a wider understanding of innovative work in the humanities across CUNY, examples of the fruits of intercampus programmatic structures, ideas for future collaborations, and affirming narratives and strategies to advocate for the indispensable role of a humanities education at CUNY and beyond.

HA Conference (October 18 & 19, 2018)

This conference provided an opportunity to explore humanities teaching in community colleges and how the humanities affects the daily lives and career choices of the “new majority” students enrolled in community colleges. The conference focused on the critical importance of community colleges in the landscape of higher education, and examined the human, structural, and institutional barriers faced by community college students and faculty. We further explored the possible connections between graduate education and community college teaching. Given that more than 50% of undergraduate students attend community colleges, doctoral students stand to benefit from preparation for careers at community colleges and other teaching-intensive institutions. The CUNY Humanities Alliance and other similarly-focused programs supported by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation serve as case studies of innovative partnerships between research institutions and community colleges committed to providing the next generation of scholars and educators with a grounded understanding of the theory and practice of student-centered pedagogies. The conference included keynote addresses and interactive workshops in which participants shared their experiences with, approaches to, and ideas about topics such as innovative pedagogies, pathways between community and four-year colleges, diversity and inclusion, the value of the humanities, and research and professional pathways.

HA Retreats (Spring 2023 & 2024)

In the spring semesters of 2023 and 2024, the Humanities Alliance (HA) organized all-alliance retreats in-person at the Graduate Center. These day-long gatherings were open to HA graduate fellows, faculty coordinators and mentors, directors and staff, and select CUNY Peer Leaders (CPL). The retreats provided needed space for reflecting on the past year’s work, discussing and addressing program needs, setting goals for the following year, and for forging and strengthening relationships across the program. Retreats included brief presentations from faculty coordinators and fellows at each of the four partner campuses, as well as from CPL directors and students, updating the group on their program activities, successes and challenges over the course of the year. Retreats also included small-group discussion activities meant to facilitate conversations between participants positioned differently at the university, who otherwise may not encounter each other, to share their diverse viewpoints on the program and to build bonds between them. Participants were encouraged to take notes in their small groups, which were then shared after the retreat with the wider group and the Humanities Alliance more broadly. Finally, retreats also provided opportunities for informal conversation and community building over lunch, which we found to be particularly crucial and valuable in a post-pandemic context.

Academic Conferences

American Association of Colleges and Universities Annual Meeting: Reaffirming Higher Education’s Public Purpose (Washington DC; January 22-24, 2025)

• Panel: CUNY Peer Leaders: Students Building Bridges from College Education to Public Purpose

Humanities Mellon Scholars Conference: Humanizing Education (San Francisco, CA; October 5-6, 2023)

• Roundtable: Doctoral Education and Community Colleges: The Experiences of the City University of New York (CUNY) Humanities Alliance Inside and Beyond the Classroom

Comparative and International Education Society Annual Meeting: Improving Education for a More Equitable World (Washington DC; February 14-22, 2023)

• Panel: Reimagining Professional Development of Critical Pedagogy and Humanizing Teaching and Learning in the Humanities