The Wake Forest University Humanities Institute establishes programs and provides funding for university faculty in the humanities and other fields of study engaging in humanistic inquiry and scholarship. We are a member of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) and the National Humanities Alliance (NHA). The Institute fosters collaboration among faculty, and between faculty and students, to generate new scholarship and creative work, inspire new directions in teaching, and create vibrant university-wide networks in interdisciplinary humanities, digital humanities, narrative medicine, and the engaged humanities. Since its founding in 2010, the Institute has collaborated with university faculty across disciplines in the humanities, arts, social sciences, sciences, and the schools of law, medicine, divinity, and business. | |
Congratulations to Recipients of Summer 2026 and AY 2026-2027 Humanities Institute Grants | |
Congratulations to Humanities Institute Summer 2026 and AY 2026-2027 Grant Recipients!
The Humanities Institute congratulates all faculty recipients in each of the following grant categories:
Summer New Course Planning Grants
Disability Studies:
Elena Makarion (Writing Program/English): "Deviance" and The Rhetoric of Bodies
Summer Writing Grants
Rosy Kandathil (Study of Religions): Seriously Funny: Violence and Humor in the Hebrew and Greek Stories of Esther
Kevin MacDonnell (English): The Fury of Innovation: Creative Destruction in Eighteenth-century British Literature
Kaitlin Moore (English): Foreshore Cosmologies: Poetics of Matter and Māoritanga in the Coastlines of Keri Hulme
Rianka Roy (Sociology): Ambivalent Activists: Indian Tech Workers Organizing in India and the United States
Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminars
The Arts, the Humanities, and Health Care in Action (continuing)
Aimee Mepham (HI/BHM) and Christina Soriano (Dance/WTA), Conveners
Can Machines Mean?
Kit Pribble (German & Russian), Convener
Plant Humanities
Amanda Vincent (French), Convener
Faculty Workshop Seminar
Care Work in Social and Historical Context
Amanda Gengler (Sociology), Convener
Interdisciplinary Humanities Lab Pilot
Environmental Humanities Co-Lab
Conveners: Francisco Gallegos (Philosophy)
Samanta Ordóñez-Robles (Spanish)
Julie Velásquez Runk (Environment and Sustainability Studies)
Co-Sponsored Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar
Teaching Neuroscience and Humanities
Melissa Maffeo (Psychology/Neuroscience), Convener
Co-Sponsored by the Center for Neuroscience and Society
and the Program for Leadership and Character
This seminar is actively seeking participants. Click here to apply or contact Dr. Maffeo at masicaml@wfu.edu with questions.
**If you are interested in participating in a particular interdisciplinary faculty seminar or faculty workshop seminar, please contact Aimee Mepham, HI Associate Director, ASAP, and she will put you in touch with the conveners whose seminars have openings.**
| Reminder: Proposals Close for Summer | |
This is a reminder that the Humanities Institute does not review funding proposals over the summer break. Proposal forms will open again for the 2026-2027 Academic Year for grants with rolling deadlines on Monday, August 17th.
If you have any questions, contact Aimee Mepham, HI Associate Director, at mephamam@wfu.edu.
HAVE A LOVELY SUMMER!
| Just Write Returns for Summer 2026, Fridays, 9am-12pm | |
Just Write. returns for Summer 2026 sessions on Fridays from 9:00am-12:00pm.
Click here for the full schedule and locations.
The HI provides space, coffee, and light snacks — you do the rest. Please click here to register (or just stop by). We hope to see you there!
The next upcoming session will take place on Friday, May 29th from 9:00am-12:00pm in Reynolda Hall, Room 301.
If you have any questions, contact Aimee Mepham, HI Associate Director, at mephamam@wfu.edu.
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The Humanities Institute Celebrated Its 15th Anniversary with a
Reception on Thursday, April 30th
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The Annual Humanities Institute Spring Symposium took place this year as a two-day event, beginning with a Keynote Address from Dr. Matt Seybold on Wednesday, April 29th (see below).
The Symposium Program continued for its second day on Thursday, April 30th in Farrell Hall with the 2025 Summer Writing Grant Recipient Lunch and the 2025-2026 Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar and Faculty Workshop Seminar Round Table. The day concluded with a Reception celebrating the Humanities Institute's 15th Anniversary. The first Humanities Institute Symposium that launched the HI was held in March 2011 with talks by special guests Edward Ayers and Stanley Fish as well as faculty and student panels on the importance of the humanities at WFU.
This year's reception began with opening remarks from Jennifer Greiman, HI Director, and a special vocal musical performance of "Earthly Paradise" by Kimberly Scholl, HI Administrative Coordinator. A series of toasts were given by Mary Foskett, HI Founding Director; Aimee Mepham, HI Associate Director; Dean Franco, previous HI Director; Derek Lee, Associate Professor of English; Stephanie Koscak, Associate Professor of History and HI Faculty Executive Committee Member; and Teresa Sanhueza, Associate Professor of Spanish (read by Jennifer Greiman).
The venue was decorated with reproductions of book covers of publications that the HI has supported over the years.
The celebration was a wonderful tribute to the first fifteen years of the HI. Here's to 15 more and beyond!
| Prompting Meaning: Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI | |
The digital essay collection, Prompting Meaning: Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI, is now available on the WFU Humanities Institute website! This collection features essays by members of the Language, Theory, and Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Faculty Seminar: Erin Branch (Writing Program/English), Tobias Flattery (Philosophy), Erin Henslee (Engineering), Ryan D. Shirey (Writing Program/English), and Carter Smith (Writing Program/English).
The collection was also just plugged on The American Vandal podcast by host and HI Symposium Keynote Speaker Matt Seybold.
CLICK HERE to read the collection!
Click here to listen to the episode of The American Vandal!
This work is co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the WFU Humanities Institute together. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
| "After OpenAI" Annual HI Symposium Keynote by Dr. Matt Seybold | |
On Wednesday, April 29th, Dr. Matt Seybold gave the lecture, "After Open AI" at 5:00pm in the Z. Smith Reynolds Library Auditorium (404). Matt Seybold is Associate Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, as well as Resident Scholar at the Center For Mark Twain Studies. He is also the executive producer and host of The American Vandal Podcast. Seybold's keynote at WFU was recorded as and has been posted on his website as part of the Vandal Live Series.
Here are a few comments from Dr. Jennifer Greiman, HI Director, on the event:
"I am very happy to share the latest episode of The American Vandal, one of the most popular and highly regarded podcasts on the humanities and higher education, which was recorded live at the HI’s Spring Symposium. This year’s keynote speaker, Dr. Matt Seybold, is the producer and host of Vandal. In “After OpenAI,” he offers a sharp analysis of the rise of OpenAI and places this moment in a longer history of transformations in higher education since the late 19th century. This talk is part of Matt’s current book project and his ongoing series of episodes on technology, political economy, and higher education, which he has been recording at universities across the country.
In the episode and on his web site, Matt also highlighted the work of a group of Wake Forest faculty who, as conclusion to their two-year Humanities Institute seminar on “Language, Theory, and Artificial Intelligence," just completed a series of essays now housed on our web page. Edited by Aimee Mepham and with contributions from Ryan Shirey, Erin Branch, Carter Smith, Tobias Flattery, and Erin Henslee, “Prompting Meaning: Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI” reflects on questions on teaching, learning, and being human that faculty and students are navigating with ever greater urgency."
This event was co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the WFU Humanities Institute together.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed at this event do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
| Wake Forest University Press Latest Titles | |
Looking for some summer reading? Catch up on the latest poetry titles from Wake Forest University Press:
Use discount code HIsummer for 20% off and shop the full catalog online: wfupress.wfu.edu
| Congratulations to Narrative Medicine Lunch & Learn 2026 Graduates! | |
Congratulations to Kennedy Combs (MD), Sara Putman (PA), Isabel Savine (PA), Amanda Segura (PA), Sera Stolelmyre (PA), and Isabella Waung (MD), this year's students to complete the Non-credit Narrative Medicine Certificate Program, sponsored by the Wake Forest University Humanities Institute's Story, Health, & Healing Initiative in Narrative Medicine and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The NM certificate program is open to all students enrolled in degree programs at the Wake Forest School of Medicine and provides opportunities for students to learn to integrate narrative medicine principles into their medical training and clinical practice with the goal of becoming clinicians who can care humanely for both patients and themselves.
On May 6, 2025, the six graduating students were joined by continuing certificate students and faculty mentors for the second annual Narrative Medicine Certificate Program Graduation Celebration. The evening included readings and reflections from each of the graduates as well as from faculty mentors, Dr. Richard Weinberg and Dr. Kristen Zeller, and the presentation of certificates. The evening concluded with a celebratory toast.
Congratulations again to Kennedy, Sara, Isabel, Amanda, Sera, and Isabella!
Click here to read more about the certificate program.
| Call for Applications for the 2027–28 NHC Fellowship | |
The National Humanities Center is pleased to share the timeline for its 2027–28 Fellowship competition.
The NHC invites humanities scholars from all fields to start preparing their proposals. Mark your calendars with the following dates for their next application cycle:
Applications Open: July 1, 2026
Application Deadline: October 1, 2026
Starting July 1st, you will be able to access the application portal, guidelines, and submission instructions directly on their website. In the meantime, you are encouraged to begin considering your project proposal and identifying your three letter writers.
Ruiying Gao, WFU Assistant Professor of Art History, received a 2025-2026 NHC Fellowship for her project exploring the social history of materia medica images in China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
Check the NHC website for more details and the official application link this summer!
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