Wyoming Humanities Council to Host Conference

Oct. 13, 2009 -- The Wyoming Humanities Council will host the Humanities Matter! conference Friday, Oct. 23-Saturday, Oct. 24, at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.

The conference is for representatives of community organizations, interested community members and humanities faculty from across Wyoming to create courses and public programming addressing relevant-related issues.

The council created a Humanities Matter! grant initiative to encourage collaboration between humanities scholars and community organizations. The grant will fund new projects in which college faculty work with museums, libraries, and other community organizations. David Berry, winner of the National Humanities Medal and director of the Community College Humanities Association will deliver the keynote address.

Another conference highlight is a workshop led by four representatives from the Art of Regional Change (ARC) program at the University of California, Davis. After the workshop, ARC representatives will be available to guide conference participants as they begin to put together their own community projects for the Humanities Matter! grant initiative.

Other workshop topics include creating courses and public humanities programming for specific audiences such as nurses or veterans; combining humanities courses and programming with the sciences or the arts; incorporating American Indian content in courses and programs; and implementing service learning, which integrates community service with instruction, into colleges and their communities.

Additional support is provided by the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, the Wyoming Community College Commission, the University of Wyoming American Studies Program and the UW Foundation. The conference also is made possible by the "We the People" initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Photo:
Keynote speaker David Berry, winner of the National Humanities Medal.

Posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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