Warren Wilson College Receives Grant for the Humanities

Todd May | September 18, 2024


Warren Wilson College (WWC) has been the beneficiary of a generous $1.5 million grant from Helmar Nielsen dedicated to promoting the humanities and important ideas on campus. I am working on this grant and want to let the community know about a few upcoming activities as well as invite input for future involvements.

There are four different kinds of activities funded by the grant. The first is inviting outside speakers. This fall, Chenjerai Kumanyika will be speaking at 7:00 p.m. on Oct. 10, 2024 in Canon Lounge. His topic is “Police, Podcasts, and Politics.” Chenjerai is a Peabody Award winner for his podcast “Uncivil,” and has a new podcast, “Empire City: The Untold Story of the NYPD,” that will be appearing beginning on Sept. 9, 2024, on Crooked Media. In the spring we will host Meghan Sullivan, a well-known philosopher from the University of Notre Dame and an advocate for public philosophy, scheduled for Feb. 6, 2024, in Kittredge Theater. Her topic will be effective altruism, the moral view that advises us that we should sacrifice ourselves for the greater good in the most “effective” way possible.

The second type of activity is faculty/student forums. Our initial one, on Sept. 26, 2024, at 5:30 p.m. at the library mezzanine, is on “What is Democracy?” Each forum (one a semester) will host a panel of two faculty members and two students addressing the question, followed by community discussion.

Third, we are sponsoring faculty lunch presentations. A faculty or staff member will present an important current idea in their area of expertise over lunch, followed by open discussion.  Everyone in the community will be invited, and the lunch is free!

Finally, there is funding for faculty/student collaborative research. Jay Miller is coordinating that, and more information will be available soon. He will be soliciting faculty for input about student-faculty research opportunities.
If you have any questions about any of this, or would like to make suggestions for future faculty/student forums, or are a faculty or staff member interested in presenting at a luncheon, do not hesitate to contact me at todd-may@warren-wilson.edu. This will be an exciting year to kick off the Nielsen grant!

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