Welcome

In 2015, the Office of Academic Affairs announced the establishment of the Humanities & Arts Discovery Theme (H&ADT) as the University’s fourth Discovery Theme. The Provost declared three purposes of the H&ADT:

  • To deepen student engagement in the humanities and the arts
  • To build intellectual community and collaboration among the faculty with the College of Arts and Sciences and across the university; and
  • To increase Ohio State’s national recognition and distinction in the humanities and the arts.

The provost allocated $2.5 million in permanent base funding to be invested in new initiatives that advance these purposes across the university, clarifying that funds may be used for the hiring of new faculty or for other ongoing programmatic purposes as long as they are matched on a 1:1 basis by the hiring unit of academic program. The initial administration of the H&ADT was assigned to Vice Provost Mike Boehm, who oversees Discovery Themes across the university, and ASC Vice Dean Susan Williams.

Since 2015, discussions have ensued and are continuing university-wide on allocations of the permanent base funding. The H&ADT has also launched some initial programs and grants (see http://discovery.osu.edu/focus-areas/humanities-and-arts/). In January 2016, Susan and Mike awarded a $1.1 million grant to the Division of Arts & Humanities (1) to advance the three purposes originally articulated by the Provost within the division; and (2) to illuminate and strengthen potential ideas for future investments at Ohio State in the Arts & Humanities.

 

H&ADT Steering Committee

  • Peter Hahn, Professor, History and Divisional Dean of Arts & Humanities
  • Simone Drake, Associate Professor, African American & African Studies
  • Lisa Florman, Professor and Department Chair, History of Art
  • Rebecca Harvey, Professor and Department Chair, Art
  • Robert Holub, Professor and Department Chair, Germanic Languages & Literatures
  • Lynn Itagaki, Assistant Professor, English and Women’s Gender, & Sexuality Studies
  • Dorry Noyes, Professor, English and Comparative Studies
  • Janet Parrot, Associate Professor, Theatre