Humanities

Man stands on stage and performs during a theatre play.

 

 

The departments and programs of the Humanities Division are committed to the study of human meaning as it is expressed in diverse languages, explained in diverse literatures, and reflected upon from diverse philosophical and religious perspectives. Students seek to understand the values and purposes that make practices and systems worthwhile. In an increasingly interconnected world, the ability to critically consider how individuals and communities make sense of their world is an essential skill. Explore majors, minors, concentrations, and academic programs in the humanities.

 


News from Humanities

The Judaic Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences recently acquired some important materials in Yiddish, including a complete and pristine set of the Soviet Yiddish journal, “Sovetish Heymland." Yiddish is a language originally spoken by Jews from Central and Eastern Europe and their descendants and combines elements of German, Hebrew, Aramaic and various Slavic and Romance languages.
THEATRE ARTS – At the North Pole, Victor Frankenstein has finally caught up with his Creature with the intent of killing him to right his wrong of creating him in the first place. Before he can, the Creature asks, “Why did you make me?” This simple question is the premise of the University Theatre's production of "Frankenstein: Playing with Fire," which opens Nov. 8 and plays for three weekends.
LINGUISTICS – A group of students in the University of Oregon's Department of Linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences spent nine months in 2024 developing a unique set of open educational resources for language learning, available to the public for free. The book is in use in Linguistics 144 Learning How to Learn.

All news »

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Your Gift Changes Lives

Gifts to the College of Arts and Sciences can help our students make the most of their college careers. To do this, CAS needs your support. Your contributions help us ensure that teaching, research, advising, mentoring, and support services are fully available to every student. Thank you!

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World-Class Faculty in the Humanities

headshot of Stephen Shoemaker

Stephen Shoemaker

Professor of Religious Studies

Stephen Shoemaker teaches courses about Christian traditions and is a prolific contributor to research related to ancient and early medieval Christian traditions in early Byzantine and Near Eastern Christianity. 

Shoemaker has received research fellowships over the years and received two in 2024 to complete the translation of the earliest surviving Christian hymnal from sixth-century Jerusalem, which is in Old Georgian. The fellowships include one from the National Endowment for the Humanities for 2024–2025 and a Senior Fellowship funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation).  

He recently published The Quest of the Historical Muhammad and Other Studies on Formative Islam (2024) and is the co-author of The Capture of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614 CE (2024).

Portrait image of Stacy Alaimo

Stacey Alaimo

Professor of English

Stacey Alaimo’s research explores the intersections between literary, artistic, political, and philosophical approaches to environmentalism. She has published three books and more than 60 scholarly articles, on such topics as toxins, gender and climate change, environmental justice, queer animals, Anthropocene feminisms, marine science studies, the blue humanities, and new materialist theory. 

Her concept of trans-corporeality has been widely taken up in the arts, humanities and sciences. She has been interviewed many times in print and podcasts. Her work has been translated into at least 12 languages and has inspired several art exhibitions. 

Her fourth book, The Abyss Stares Back: Encounters with Deep Sea Life (2025), explores the science and aesthetics of deep-sea creatures since the 1930s. Alaimo currently serves as the English department’s director of graduate studies and is a core faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program.

 

Lowell Bowditch

Lowell Bowditch

Professor of Classics

Lowell Bowditch is the head of the Department of Classics. Her research explores the interface between the literature and socio-political relations of Augustan Rome. 

Her newest project addresses issues of free speech and censorship in the early imperial age. She explores this through the work of Ovid in the context of the growing authoritarianism of the Augustan regime, with the planned book to draw comparisons with the contemporary political landscape. 

Her previous work focused on love elegy and Roman imperialism from postcolonial perspectives. Along with multiple articles and research papers, she is the author of two books and a commentary, including the most recent, Roman Love Elegy and the Eros of Empire (London and New York 2023). 

Bowditch came to the UO in 1993 and particularly enjoys mentoring classics undergraduates and master’s students. 

Paris, France cityscape at night

School of Global Studies and Languages

At the School of Global Studies and Languages (GSL), UO students engage with diverse cultures, languages, histories, and lifeways across the world. Students of the humanities, from Cinema Studies to Religious Studies, will broaden and deepen their education in their field by viewing it—and experiencing it—through a global lens. GSL prepares our graduates for life after college with an interdisciplinary curriculum, innovative language teaching, abundant learning opportunities outside the classroom, and paths of study that lead to many options for real-world careers.

Explore the GSL

Research in the Humanities

Inquiry in humanities fields centers around our collective human experience. Our stories are told in many forms, be it a script, a screenplay, a religious text, in literature or in folktales. Researchers in the humanities employ tools of analysis to explore the long history and rapidly changing landscape of ideas, values and beliefs that coalesce in a different sort of knowledge about reality and human life.

Explore Other Majors and Minors in the College of Arts and Sciences

 

Meet our Dean

The departments and programs of the Humanities Division share a commitment to the study of human experience as it is expressed in diverse languages and cultures throughout history and across the world. A Humanities education encourages students to think creatively, independently, and critically about the human past, present, and future. Whether they choose to focus on cinema, classical languages, or philosophical ideas, Humanities students learn to reason, to build arguments, to write and communicate with confidence and conviction, and to view the world and its challenges from multiple perspectives.

Our College of Arts and Sciences is committed to providing students with a genuine liberal arts education, which means that we strive to expose students to more than one way of knowing. We want our students to appreciate the profound differences—and the no-less profound similarities—in the way a philosopher, a biologist, and a political scientist approach the same questions about the human condition. The unique lens provided by the Humanities departments and programs at UO is an essential part of that liberal arts education, which we believe prepares students to live meaningful lives in the world.

Harry Wonham   
Divisional Associate Dean, Humanities

harry wonham

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Nov 6
Wisconsin Postdoc Expo 2024 8:00 a.m.

This half-day FREE event will be open to all students or trainees interested in pursuing postdoctoral training in the near future. The focus of this event is to highlight the...
Wisconsin Postdoc Expo 2024
November 6
8:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

This half-day FREE event will be open to all students or trainees interested in pursuing postdoctoral training in the near future. The focus of this event is to highlight the unique experiences of being a postdoc at one of our four institutions in Milwaukee and Madison:

Medical College of Wisconsin Morgridge Institute for Research University of Wisconsin–Madison Versiti Blood Research Institute

Event Details

Navigating the transition into a postdoc position Choosing and securing the right postdoc opportunity for you Exploring the Wisconsin postdoc experience Leveraging your postdoc experience to achieve your career goals

Find out more and register at https://wipostdocexpo.org/

Nov 6
Let's Talk - Wednesdays Noon-2MP (Peterson Hall/Zoom) noon

Meet with Counseling Services Rachel Barloon at Peterson 203 or click here: https://zoom.us/j/98335445813   Let’s Talk is a service that provides easy access to...
Let's Talk - Wednesdays Noon-2MP (Peterson Hall/Zoom)
October 16–December 11
noon

Meet with Counseling Services Rachel Barloon at Peterson 203 or click here: https://zoom.us/j/98335445813

 

Let’s Talk is a service that provides easy access to free, informal, and confidential one-on-one consultation with a Counseling Services staff member. See our website for six additional Let’s Talk days/times offered throughout the week.

Let’s Talk is especially helpful for students who:

Have a specific concern and would like to consult with someone about it. Would like on-the-spot consultation rather than ongoing counseling. Would like to consult with a CS staff member about what actual therapy looks like. Would like to meet with one of our CS identity-based specialists. Have a concern about a friend or family member and would like some ideas about what to do.

How does Let’s Talk work?

Let’s Talk will be offered via Zoom and/or in satellite locations across campus. As a drop-in service, there is no need to schedule an appointment and no paperwork to be completed. Students are seen individually on a first-come, first-served basis at the times listed below. There may be a wait in the Zoom waiting room if the Let’s Talk staff member is meeting with another student. Please wait and we will be with you as soon as we can. Let’s Talk appointments are brief (usually between 15-30 minutes) and are meant to be used on an as-needed basis.

Nov 6
Let’s Talk – Wednesdays 2PM-4PM (BCC/Zoom) 2:00 p.m.

Meet with Counseling Services Cecile Gadson, who specializes in working with Black and African American students, at the Black Cultural Center. Let’s Talk is a service...
Let’s Talk – Wednesdays 2PM-4PM (BCC/Zoom)
October 16–December 11
2:00–4:00 p.m.

Meet with Counseling Services Cecile Gadson, who specializes in working with Black and African American students, at the Black Cultural Center.

Let’s Talk is a service that provides easy access to free, informal, and confidential one-on-one consultation with a Counseling Services staff member. See our website for six additional Let’s Talk days/times offered throughout the week.

Let’s Talk is especially helpful for students who:

Have a specific concern and would like to consult with someone about it. Would like on-the-spot consultation rather than ongoing counseling. Would like to consult with a CS staff member about what actual therapy looks like. Would like to meet with one of our CS identity-based specialists. Have a concern about a friend or family member and would like some ideas about what to do.

 

How does Let’s Talk work?

Let’s Talk will be offered via Zoom and/or in satellite locations across campus. As a drop-in service, there is no need to schedule an appointment and no paperwork to be completed. Students are seen individually on a first-come, first-served basis at the times listed below. There may be a wait in the Zoom waiting room if the Let’s Talk staff member is meeting with another student. Please wait and we will be with you as soon as we can. Let’s Talk appointments are brief (usually between 15-30 minutes) and are meant to be used on an as-needed basis.

Nov 7
Courageous Civility with Shola Richards 2:00 p.m.

Open and free to all faculty and staff at the University of Oregon with valid UO ID. Best-selling author Shola Richards, founder and CEO of Go Together Global, is leading...
Courageous Civility with Shola Richards
November 7
2:00–4:00 p.m.
Erb Memorial Union (EMU) Ballroom

Open and free to all faculty and staff at the University of Oregon with valid UO ID.

Best-selling author Shola Richards, founder and CEO of Go Together Global, is leading a worldwide movement to change the world based on how we treat each other at work. He has shared his transformative message with Fortune 50 companies, top universities, leading healthcare organizations, Silicon Valley, the motion picture industry, on the TEDx stage, and with Congress.

At this event, Richards will share insights from his three books—Go Together, Making Work Work, and Civil Unity—and provide the audience with tools, strategies, and information necessary to create a culture of equity, diversity, and belonging.

This keynote is ideal for individual contributors, leaders, and teams who are:

Ready to create a culture of equity, diversity and belonging, but don’t know where to begin. Concerned about the current climate of divisiveness in America, and its impact on marginalized communities’ mental health, safety and overall well-being. Unaware of how to effectively engage in difficult conversations with colleagues and others about bias and inequities.

The audience will leave with:

Strategies to recognize bias, prejudice, and/or microaggressions in the workplace, and how to address it immediately and strategically. Powerful data that shows that diverse teams are better at making decisions, more attractive to potential clients, consistently outperform competitors (and more!) The education and the inspiration to stay committed to the ongoing work of equity, diversity and belonging.

More about Shola

Shola Richards is an in-demand workplace civility expert and a prolific writer with a passionate worldwide following. His articles and wildly popular Monday morning "Go Together Movement" email series have impacted people in more than 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Complete Wellbeing India, Business Insider Australia, and in numerous other outlets all over the world who recognize him as an authority on workplace happiness and engagement.

He is also a father, husband, identical twin, and a self-professed “kindness extremist,” who says he will not rest until bullying and incivility are extinct from the American workplace.

Event sponsored by the Lundquist College of Business, School of Journalism and Communication, College of Design, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Law, School of Music and Dance, Clark Honors College, and the Central Business Services Office (Office of the Provost).