Nazareth receives a $35,000 National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
Showing students the importance of the humanities and how they connect to other majors and careers is why Nazareth College has received a $35,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Connections planning grant. The funding will allow the College to re-envision part of its core curriculum through the creation of team-taught, integrated, multidisciplinary upper-level courses that combine the humanities with the sciences, arts, and professional fields.
“As students experience more coursework in which concepts are integrated, they can better transfer their knowledge between fields, develop multiple perspectives, and synthesize knowledge,” said Kelly Hutchinson-Anderson, director of Nazareth’s core curriculum and associate professor of chemistry and education. “We believe that the connections made between students and faculty from across the disciplines to humanities topics and humanities faculty will enhance the student experience and lead to more students engaging with humanities areas, topics, and questions at deeper levels.”
Justice and Religions (fall 2021) is one example of a course created by faculty from the humanities and legal studies collaborating to integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives. The class, co-taught by three Nazareth professors, will study and explore social, religious, and legal teachings and practices through the lenses of Catholic, Islam, and Jewish traditions, and prepare students for engaging in civil discourse and planning that moves the needle towards justice and equity regarding race, gender, religion, and law. The professors enhance student learning through projects and experiential learning, including visits to interfaith Abrahamic dialogue commissions and conversations with local religious and legal leaders who are committed to effecting social change.
A second course, Challenging Normalcy: Disability Studies, Neurodiversity and Activism (spring 2022), explores disability studies and specifically neurodiversity as it relates to individuals with different abilities (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, social/emotional differences, behavioral differences, anxiety, and other differences). Three professors — from history, education, and communication sciences and disorders — will guide students in examining the lived experiences of individuals with different abilities and societal expectations of “normalcy.” Students will explore the history of disability studies and its relationship with the civil rights movement and other areas of activism that have shaped current professional practice and challenged what we think we know about disability and inclusion.
Hutchinson believes the students will be interested and excited to the new team-taught, integrated courses to fulfill their integrative studies requirement of the core. “By creating interdisciplinary, integrated, team-taught courses with humanities and experiential learning components, Nazareth College will foster student learning by intentionally modeling the ways in which multiple disciplinary methods enhance academic collaboration. This will help students grasp the necessity of multiple disciplinary lenses to comprehend proficiently and address effectively the complexity of issues in their chosen fields of study as well as in their life's work.”
Nazareth University is an inclusive community of inspired learners, educators, and changemakers who for nearly 100 years have been driven by a bold commitment to action, empathy, equity, and leading innovation for the common good. Impact experiences are at the heart of a Nazareth education, preparing each student to discover within themselves the potential to cultivate positive change in their life's work, in any career field, and in a world that is constantly evolving and infinitely interconnected.
Our broad academic offerings present a range of study options typical of larger universities, yet achieved in our supportive campus culture. Nearly 2,100 undergrad and 600 graduate students enroll in degree and certificate programs and engage in collaborative, transformative learning experiences, preparing for the professions and society of today and tomorrow. In a learning community that purposefully integrates liberal arts and professional programs, Nazareth University graduates are able to launch a lifetime of impactful leadership in communities and workplaces near and far.
