Cyrus C. Taylor. Photo by Daniel Milner.
When I became dean of the college 11 years ago, I felt that a major part of my task was to support our outstanding humanities departments and programs and to promote recognition of their importance to our mission as a comprehensive research university.
It wasn’t long, however, before I realized that the humanities had a public relations problem. I noticed, for instance, that discussions about the role of the humanities in education and society often began with long lists of the humanistic disciplines. Although I could see the value of explaining what we mean by “the humanities,” I lamented the absence of words to stir the soul.
Fortunately, the website of our Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities presents a more invigorating definition: “The humanities are the avenue through which scholars contemplate and explore enduring questions of meaning and value facing society. At the core of the humanities is the richness of human cultures and creativity. Case Western Reserve University’s location amongst the world-class arts and culture institutions that make up University Circle offers a distinctive environment for the study of the humanities.”
This issue of art/sci amply illustrates the truth of these assertions. It offers, for example, a sustained look at the partnership between our Department of Art History and Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art, which fosters exploration of “the richness of human cultures and creativity” through analysis of objects from the museum’s extraordinary collections. In a series of stories, you will see faculty members and students engaged in two complementary pursuits: producing rigorous scholarship and deepening the general public’s understanding and appreciation of works of art.
What I think of as the public face of the humanities is also on view each spring at the Cleveland Humanities Festival, an event initiated by the Baker-Nord Center’s director, Peter Knox. The theme of this year’s festival, immigration, inspired a profusion of lectures and readings as well as theatrical performances, film screenings, tours and exhibitions. Several of the festival’s events attracted capacity crowds, including the keynote address by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at the Maltz Performing Arts Center.
I believe the humanities matter deeply to the life of the university, and I am proud of our diverse contributions to humanistic studies. We have joined forces with Cuyahoga Community College to create the Cleveland Humanities Collaborative, which encourages Tri-C students who might never have considered pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the humanities to do so on our campus. Two junior members of our art history faculty were awarded fellowships this year from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)—a remarkable achievement, given the intensity of the competition for these prestigious grants. Historian of medicine Jonathan Sadowsky has recently published a book about the long-standing controversy surrounding electroconvulsive therapy—a controversy that reflects, he says, conflicting notions of “who we are as humans.”
The scholarly and educational initiatives I have described were made possible by private and public benefactors, including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the NEH, Ohio Humanities, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, and the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation. I am profoundly grateful to these donors and to the members of our academic community who continually enhance the vitality and significance of the humanities at CWRU.
Cyrus C. Taylor
Dean and Albert A. Michelson Professor in Physics