Letter from the Interim Director
Center for the Humanities & the
Public Sphere
University of Florida
Last Spring - with little fuss or fanfare - the nascent Center
for the Humanities came quietly into the world. Since then, thanks
to the labor of others, the transition to academic life - a ruff & tumble
world of existing budgets, emerging policies, and deferred decisions -
has been relatively painless. As Interim Director, my task since
last October has been to take stock of sundry budget and endowment accounts
and to plot a path through an imposing paper trail. That paper trail -
a surprisingly good read - told a telling tale about institutional
tenacity, vision, and success. Like a sprawling tapestry, it showed
how different departments criss-crossed budgets, shared costs and benefits,
how they worked together to defy disciplinary boundaries - both
intellectual and institutional. The principal pattern was cooperation.
By design, the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere aims to
assist faculty in achieving excellence in research and teaching, and to
take the humanities to wider audiences. Leaving issues of curriculum
to Departments, Centers, and other university units, the Center for the
Humanities aims to facilitate research, teaching, and public outreach through
collaboration, specifically by means of sponsored Lecturers, Symposia,
Conferences, and not least, by extending scholarly initiatives through
grants and endowments. Sharing a common vision, faculty assist each
other through disciplinary and cross-disciplinary work. Our goal
is to achieve academic excellence and gain wider recognition through sponsored
events.
We are excited about future developments. In mid-April, following
earlier traditions, a Call for Proposals was
sent out, and shortly thereafter, the present website went live. During
the next academic year, faculty, students, alumni, and the broader public
will benefit from a number of innovative Symposia stretching across the
full range of the humanities. It is an exciting time.
While much remains to be done, we are confident that the Center for the
Humanities and the Public Sphere will achieve its early promise. I
welcome your comments, participation, and support.
Bob Hatch
Interim Director
Center for the Humanities
University of Florida
25 April 2006
ufhatch@ufl.edu
