Conferences Archive (2006-2007)

The Institute for the Humanities, University of Illinois at Chicago
and
The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign
present

THE HUMANITIES AND THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY :

THE VIEW FROM ILLINOIS

This initiative will treat the University of Illinois as a paradigmatic public university in the United States today. Serving multicultural populations that are both urban and rural, the University of Illinois brings the local and global resources of a leading research university to the social and cultural communities that characterize the modern world. Bringing together leading humanists, the initiative will take the form of two day-long conferences, one on October 20, 2006 at UIUC; and the second on March 9, 2007 at UIC. The first will thematize the teaching of the humanities. The second will focus on the politics and culture of the humanities. The goal is to explore the ways in which the public university can maintain and embrace its critical role in modeling and disseminating humanistic knowledge in the twenty-first century.

These programs are free and open to the public.

OCTOBER 20, 2006

TEACHING THE HUMANITIES AT THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
Levis Faculty Center Third Floor,
919 West Illinois Street, UIUC, Urbana

10:00 A.M. Welcoming and Opening Remarks 
Richard Herman, Chancellor, UIUC

10:15 A.M. Keynote Address 
Gerald Graff, English, UIC
Cathy Birkenstein-Graff , English, UIC
Demystifying Academia

1:15 P.M. Panel I Between Intellectual and Multicultural Diversity 
Chair: Dale Bauer, English, UIUC
Panelists:
James Anderson , Educational Policy Studies, UIUC
Madhu Dubey, English and African American Studies, UIC
Walter Benn Michaels, English, UIC
James Treat, Native American House, UIUC

3:15 P.M. Panel II The Humanities in an Age of Fundamentalism 
Chair: Vernon Burton, History, UIUC
Panelists:
Antoinette Burton, History, UIUC and Sundiata Cha-Jua , African American Studies, UIUC
Paul Griffiths, Catholic Studies and Classics and Mediterranean Studies, UIC
Stephen Hartnett, Speech Communication, UIUC
Rachel Havrelock , Jewish Studies and English, UIC

MARCH 9, 2007

THE POLITICS AND CULTURE OF THE HUMANITIES
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO 
Institute for the Humanities, Lower level, Stevenson Hall
701 South Morgan Street, UIC, Chicago

10:00 A.M. Welcoming Remarks: 
Sylvia Manning, Chancellor, UIC

10:15 A.M. Keynote Address 
Cary Nelson, English, UIUC
The End of Education

1:15 P.M. Panel I The Future of Humanistic Labor 
Chair: John D’Emilio , History and Gender and Women’s Studies, UIC
Panelists:
Leon Fink, History, UIC
Barbara Ransby, African American Studies and History, UIC
Michael Rothberg, English and Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, UIUC
Arlene Torres, Latina/Latino Studies and Anthropology, UIUC

3:15 P.M. Panel II Humanistic Literacy in an Anti-Intellectual Culture 
Chair: Astrida Tantillo, Germanic Studies, UIC
Panelists:
Lennard Davis, English and Disability Studies, UIC
William Maxwell, English, UIUC
Charles Mills, Philosophy, UIC
Catherine Prendergast, English, UIUC

To request disability accommodations, please contact:
At UIC: Linda Vavra, 312-996-6354, lvavra@uic.edu
At UIUC: Christine Catanzarite, 217-244-7913, catanzar@uiuc.edu