Event attendee writing with a pencil in a notebook

The Institute for the Humanities at the University of Illinois Chicago seeks to foster an intellectually vital, interdisciplinary community of scholars working at one of the nation’s most exciting urban research centers. As the hub of humanities scholarship on campus, the Institute provides a forum for intellectual exchange among faculty and students at UIC and other colleges and universities in the region. At its base, the Institute for the Humanities highlights the importance of public higher education. It provides a space for vigorous debate and exchange, so crucial in a democratic society.

The UIC Institute for the Humanities celebrated its forty years of operation in 2022. It is one of the oldest humanities centers in the United States. Over the years, the Institute has become the major hub for all humanities activities on campus, creating an intellectual space in which faculty and graduate students can broaden their perspectives, conduct original research, and engage with scholars and communities both in and outside the university.

Jul 21 2025

Black Midwest Initiative (BMI) Summer Institute

Monday 21st, 9:00 am–Friday 25th, 5:00 pm
Institute for the Humanities, 153 Behavioral Sciences Building
Sep 24 2025

Faculty Fellow Lecture Series: Johari Jabir, Associate Professor, Black Studies, "No Ways Tired: The Life Legacy and Making of the King of Gospel, Rev. James Cleveland"

Wednesday, 4:00 pm–6:00 pm
Institute for the Humanities, 153 Behavioral Sciences Building
Oct 30 2025

Faculty Fellow Lecture Series: Kaitlin Forcier, Assistant Professor, English, "The Infinite Aesthetic"

Thursday, 4:00 pm–6:00 pm
Institute for the Humanities, 153 Behavioral Sciences Building
Jan 6 2026

Faculty Fellow Lecture Series: Soledad Álvarez Velasco, Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Latin American & Latino Studies, "Inhabiting the Transit: Migrant Spatial Struggles from Global South America to the U.S."

Tuesday, 4:00 pm–6:00 pm
Institute for the Humanities, 153 Behavioral Sciences Building
Feb 19 2026

Faculty Fellow Lecture Series: Justin Quang Nguyen Phan, Assistant Professor, Global Asian Studies, "Embodied Nonalignment: Vietnamese Diasporic Aesthetics and Cold War Mediations"

Thursday, 4:00 pm–6:00 pm
Institute for the Humanities, 153 Behavioral Sciences Building
Mar 18 2026

Faculty Fellow Lecture Series: Will Small, Associate Professor, Philosophy, "Skill as Practical Knowledge"

Wednesday, 4:00 pm–6:00 pm
Institute for the Humanities, 153 Behavioral Sciences Building
Apr 8 2026

Faculty Fellow Lecture Series: Zachary Davis Cuyler, Assistant Professor, History, "Fossil Lebanon: Oil and the Making of the Lebanese State"

Wednesday, 4:00 pm–6:00 pm
Institute for the Humanities, 153 Behavioral Sciences Building