University of Massachusetts Amherst: Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures Professors Receive Grant to Create Pathways to Humanities for STEM, Business Majors

Professor Moira Inghilleri and Associate Professor Patrick Mensah from the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures have been awarded a $25,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities to lay the groundwork for humanities faculty professional development and curricular reform. The goal is to create a more focused pathway to the humanities through the general education requirements with particular attention to STEM and Isenberg School of Management majors.

During the planning grant period of one year, the duo will establish criteria for the inclusion of primary texts in the humanities and generate a consensus list of transformative texts with an eye to creating a common intellectual experience for faculty and students. They will also develop themed pathways through general education; lay the curricular groundwork for the proposed program, which includes a 15-credit certificate; seek the necessary approvals by the appropriate academic governance committees; and engage the leadership and faculty of professional schools to support the initiative as part of their majors’ degree plans.