Possibilities Abound:

Possibilities Abound:

OSU’s revived Center for the Humanities and the upcoming Center for Material Cultures Research present an infusion of new opportunities in humanities.

By Georgia Gibbons

In the short span of six months, OSU’s Center for the Humanities has featured discussions and talks with historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin; playwright and performer Priyanka Shetty; journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones; and an exciting calendar of events showcasing artists, writers, musicians, and scholars. A marquis lineup, and it’s only the beginning of revived humanities initiatives at OSU.

This lineup of events, and the expansion of art and culture into interconnected performances, exhibits, and talks, marks the inaugural year of OSU’s recently revived Center for the Humanities, which relaunched in 2024 as part of PRAx. Fall 2025 will kick off year two of a new era in humanities for OSU that includes enriching new arts and humanities collaborations between PRAx, the Center for the Humanities, and the upcoming Center for Material Cultures Research (CMCR).

This eye toward innovation and collaboration was showcased earlier this year. The Center for the Humanities and PRAx partnered with Portland-based nonprofit The Immigrant Story to create an evening of art, music, and stories in a live presentation of writer and journalist Elizabeth Mehren’s book I Lived to Tell the World, a moving testament to human resilience. A series of community events surrounding I Lived to Tell the World evolved into an integrated weekend of art and culture including a Book Club discussion with Elizabeth Mehren at the Corvallis Public Library, a multimedia exhibit at PRAx, a pre-show talk with The Immigrant Story founder Sankar Raman, and a PRAxPRELUDE event with food, drinks, and conversation.

“There’s so much possibility right now,” says Megan Ward, Associate Professor of Literature in SWLF who also oversees the Center for the Humanities and the Center for Material Cultures Research in her role as Director of Humanities Initiatives. “There’s a real openness to what the Center can be and do—we’re building on our traditional offerings and reimagining how we can advance our mission in innovative ways.”

One of these ways is to bring humanities insights to existing performances and events. The I Lived to Tell the World series highlights this innovative content development. A recent event in Portland is another example of this new approach and the openness Ward talks about in experimenting with new ideas and opportunities. New York City-based artist and scholar Leah DeVun was exhibiting her new photo series Remembrance at Portland’s Blue Sky Gallery. Remembrance depicts DeVun’s partner, a transgender father, and their son, in

a photography series asking us to “rethink masculinity and vulnerability, as well as what makes a family.” Megan Ward approached DeVun to give a talk at OSU’s Portland Center, as an interconnected event with her Portland exhibit. This talk, sponsored by OSU’s Center for the Humanities, is the result of the forward-thinking and vision the revived Center for the Humanities has for bringing arts and culture to OSU and surrounding Oregon communities.

Fellowship opportunities have long been a cornerstone of the Center for the Humanities. A former Center for the Humanities Fellow herself, Megan Ward is excited about preserving fellowships and extending the offerings in new ways. Two SWLF faculty members, Sindya Bhanoo and Tekla Bude, are current Center for the Humanities Research Fellows. Sindya has been working on “Doctors of Arch Street,” a historical novel based on research she completed in the archives at Philadelphia Women’s College of Medicine, which was the first medical school in the country that accepted women — including international students — in the 19th century. Tekla has been working on a project called “Bad futures / Lotteries / Sea Experiments.” She argues that medieval sea journeys created one of the earliest recorded forms of risk assessment. The literary historical work at the heart of this project has expanded to include scholars across disciplines who are thinking about the concept of risk assessment and how it can impact work in ecological spaces, climate change, and elsewhere.

Summer Research Fellowships are an opportunity for humanities faculty to work on research and writing projects and receive feedback through participation in a series of summer writing workshops. The Teaching Innovation Fellowship also supports humanities faculty through community-engaged, object-based, field-based, or experiential student learning opportunities. It’s a way to reimage courses, and link areas of study not historically paired as a way of opening new doors to humanities education for teachers and students. Nature and philosophy courses are one example, and religion and marine studies. “Instructors who are maybe teaching a lot of the same courses can get the opportunity to do more research, expand their courses and methodology,” says Ward.

Beyond expanded opportunity for fellowships, the Center also envisions supporting faculty research and innovation in day-to-day ways. Humanities research clusters are one example, and helping to support ideas from faculty in an ongoing collaboration to build intellectual community on campus.

Looking ahead at 2026, the upcoming Center for Materials Cultures Research (CMCR) presents another expansion of arts and humanities programming. This 6,400-square-foot facility will provide new infrastructure for student coursework, faculty research, and public engagement in archeology, art, and indigenous studies.

With an expected opening of spring 2026, this innovative space will be dedicated to hands-on learning and cultural heritage storytelling around objects. There will be an archeology-focused room, a lab and suite of courses that teach students how to use it, office space for humanities fellows, community space, indigenous studies space to develop the collection, and more.

Through the new learning infrastructure of the CMCR, faculty will be developing programs around object based cultural heritage, and how to root those studies across disciplines. “We’re exploring questions like, ‘what does working with material objects look like in a classroom,’ and ‘how do we root those studies across disciplines,’” says Ward. Manuscript studies and handcrafts like basket weaving are examples of the object-based cultural research the Center for Materials Cultures Research is designed for.

The revived Center for the Humanities and the upcoming Center for Materials Cultures Research reflect OSU’s expansive vision of humanities programming that brings in all humanities faculty, and increases access to the humanities for all researchers, learners, and community members.

Megan Ward emphasizes possibilities, and the vision of a shared intellectual home for humanities. The humanities initiatives, through the Center for Humanities and CMCR, are driven by faculty, and grassroots engagement among faculty to indicate what would be supportive and constructive. “Faculty will bring ideas, speakers, and concepts to the table, and the Center exists to support efforts that come from the faculty,” Ward says. In the near future, she’s excited about a panel at PRAx where current fellows Kathryn McIntosh, Sindya Bhanoo, and Tekla Bude will share their research projects, and the 2026 Center for Humanities Fellows will be announced. Megan looks forward to continuing to grow and evolve arts and humanities at OSU.

“It can be easy to think that a shared intellectual home exists more in sciences, but we have this humanities tradition that’s decades old,” she says. It’s exciting to imagine the possibilities this era will bring.