Located at the heart of the campus’s academics in the Academic Center, the HRC houses offices for the inaugural director, Andrew Leiter, Ph.D., professor of English, and Lycoming’s arts and humanities career advisor, Shanin Dougherty. The HRC offers a casual space for students and faculty to socialize and work, as well as a place to host student and faculty research presentations, professional workshops for students, reading series, guest speakers, seminars, research receptions, honors induction ceremonies, and much more. “At a time when many institutes of higher education are eliminating humanities programs, the 2021 Strategic Plan commits Lycoming to the innovative strategy of creating a Humanities Research Center to celebrate and invigorate the humanities,” says President Kent Trachte, Ph.D. “The HRC will benefit enrolled students by expanding experiential learning opportunities, instituting an undergraduate humanities research conference, and publishing a student-edited undergraduate research journal. This design is expected to raise awareness of Lycoming’s excellence among our peer institutions, provide a highly marketable model that attracts more top-ranked students, and engage the Williamsport, Lycoming County, and Pennsylvania communities to exchange expertise, expand educational opportunities, and promote cultural literacy.” Combined with a liberal arts and sciences education, students studying the humanities (English, history, modern languages, philosophy, religion) and related disciplines at the College have long enjoyed impressive achievements and experiential learning opportunities in terms of collaborative student-faculty research, internships, guided scholarship, study abroad opportunities, education certification, digital humanities, graduate school placement, scholarships, and fellowships. “The HRC will provide a physical space and administrative support to celebrate these achievements and expand similar and new opportunities,” says Dougherty. “The humanities prepares our graduates for a variety of successful careers and advanced degrees. A center devoted to the humanities on campus will not only benefit our students, but it will serve as a powerful recruitment tool, while simultaneously promoting institutional goals of community engagement and experiential learning.” Plans for introducing a new interdisciplinary humanities conference focusing on undergraduate research is a top priority for the HRC, and such a conference will target the humanities programs of colleges and universities in the region. In addition to participating in research panels, Lycoming students will be involved with several aspects of the conference planning, such as initiating calls for papers, evaluating submissions, establishing panels, and organizing the events. Additionally, the HRC plans to institute and publish a new journal for undergraduate humanities research as an extension of the conference. The articles for the journal would be solicited from the best research presentations of the conference. “As with the conference, the journal would feature further professional opportunities for Lycoming students as editors and publishers,” explains Leiter. “For both the conference and the journal, we anticipate student internships as important components. In conjunction with the conference and journal, we are considering the possibility of a new editing and publishing course that would appeal to students working on the new research journal or The Tributary, as well as anyone interested in professional writing in various disciplines.” “We believe the unique nature of the HRC at a liberal arts college, combined with an undergraduate conference, the research journal, and outreach efforts, will help to raise awareness of Lycoming’s excellence among our peer institutions, an important component in college rankings,” Leiter adds. At a time when many institutes of higher education are eliminating humanities programs, the 2021 Strategic Plan commits Lycoming to the innovative strategy of creating a Humanities Research Center to celebrate and invigorate the humanities.” A center devoted to the humanities on campus will not only benefit our students, but it will serve as a powerful recruitment tool, while simultaneously promoting institutional goals of community engagement and experiential learning.” Launching a Humanities Conference and Journal - President Kent Trachte - Shanin Dougherty 11 www.lycoming.edu
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