College of Humanities

2022 Graduation Information
Updates and Information for 2021 Graduation, Convocation and Commencement

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Coronavirus COVID-19 Updates
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The humanities teach us to question the world around us in order to better understand our place within it. In the humanities, we seek to understand the nuances of cultural issues, to interpret human experience, and to appreciate the power of words and ideas. By studying humanities, we broaden our historical, ethical, social and international perspectives while enhancing ourselves intellectually and creatively.

Majors and Minors

Perspectives 2020 - 2021

The disciplines of the humanities provide tools for understanding, contextualizing and coping with powerful cultural and social transitions. This issue of Perspectives highlights some of the ways students and faculty are reflecting on the topic of change. Click below to read the Perspectives articles online and be on the lookout for a physical copy in mailboxes soon.

READ PERSPECTIVES 2020 - 2021

Why Humanities with Doug Bowser

Doug Bowser majored in the humanities at the U knowing the skills he would obtain – writing, communication, creative thinking and problem solving – would benefit him in any career path. He has leveraged these skills to take him from marketing at Proctor and Gamble to being President of one of the most recognized brands in the world. He was named president of Nintendo of America in April 2019, overseeing the company’s business operations throughout the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Humanities Radio Latest Episode

Season 4, Episode 16: Anthropocene with Carlos Gray Santana

In recognition of Earth Day, Carlos Gray Santana, associate professor of philosophy, discusses the proposed next geologic time unit, the “Anthropocene” which means “human new epoch.” Recently, professor Santana has been researching and teaching the two-way interaction between how science classifies the world and how we as a species see ourselves in relation to non-human nature. Read the Transcript

News

The U Establishes Edna Anderson-Taylor Communication Institute

The Communication Institute, housed in the College of Humanities’ Department of Communication at the University of Utah, received a generous donation of $1 million – the largest in the history of the department – from alumna Edna Anderson-Taylor (class of 1959) and her husband, Jerry Taylor, to secure the institute’s long-term impact and success. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, the institute will be renamed in tribute to her legacy.
President of Nintendo America to Address Humanities Students at 2022 Convocation

Students graduating from the University of Utah’s College of Humanities will have two opportunities to hear from Doug Bowser, President of Nintendo America, during the 2022 graduation ceremonies. As a graduate from the Department of Communication (class of 1984), Bowser will address the college about the importance of the humanities during convocation on Friday, May 6 at 7 p.m. in the Jon M. Huntsman Center, where he will be presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award. The evening prior, he will speak at the general campus-wide commencement ceremony, Thursday, May 5 at 6 p.m. in the Huntsman Center.

Awards

Ben Cohen Announced as AIIS Fellowship Recipient

Ben Cohen, professor of history and chair of the Department of History at the University of Utah, has received a senior fellowship award from the American Institute of Indian Studies to carry out his project, “Beyond Forests: Teak and the Making of Modern India c. 1700-2000.”
French Professor Wins Malcolm Bowie Prize

Vanessa Brutsche, assistant professor of French at the University of Utah, has been awarded the Malcolm Bowie Prize by the Society for French Studies for the most outstanding article published by an early-career researcher. Her winning article, “Duras’s Aurélia Steiner and the Ethics of Cinematic Form,” appeared in the journal French Studies (published by Oxford University Press) in July 2020.