Humanities Communication Convening

The Center for Humanities Communication’s “Humanities Communication Convening” on September 6, 2024, in Cambridge, MA, was a by-invitation, in-person summit meeting of organizational, advocacy, and other leaders of the humanities with experts in science communication, journalism, social media, strategic advocacy, public relations, and related fields occurring on September 6, 2024. Funded by a NEH Chair’s Grant from Shelly C. Lowe, Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).¹ Partnering with the CHC in organizing the event was the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, which co-sponsored and hosted the convening at its headquarters, and the American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), which acts as the CHC’s fiscal sponsor.

The Humanities Communication Convening was a first-of-its-kind sit-down between humanities leaders and leaders in public communications in science and other areas. The goal is to help the humanities learn from those engaged in effective public engagement how best to develop robust, structured, and professionally recognized training and resources for “humanities communicators.” As stated in CHC and AAC&U’s grant proposal to the NEH, the event’s mission is as follows:

Humanities scholars and advocates are aware of the urgent need today to communicate both the substance and value of the humanities to society–including to such sectors crucial to the future of the humanities as young people from diverse backgrounds, and audiences of all ages absorbing their most meaningful cultural experiences from new media, social media, and other non-traditional forms. But humanities scholars and advocates also recognize with humility how much they do not know professionally about other fields that effectively address society such as science communication, journalism, social media content creation, public relations, and design. For example, though the Center for Humanities Communication has begun researching the traditions, methods, organizations, curricula, and scholarship of science communication (see CHC Bibliography under Related: Science Communication) and has included on its team a scholar (Professor Anke Finger, U. Connecticut–Storrs) serving as liaison to the science-communication research and teaching community, it knows how much it has to learn simply from meeting and talking directly to people experienced in science communication and other fields. A NEH Chair’s Grant for a “Humanities Communication Convening” will be foundational not just for the AAC&U and CHC but also the humanities broadly in advancing the ideas and strategies needed to better communicate the humanities.

One of the main goals of the convening is intellectual. With the aid of invited outside experts across fields, the convening will formulate a well-defined concept of “humanities communication” in relation to other areas of public communication assisted by professional communicators such as science communication. Humanities communication, we know, is not just the same as scholarship or teaching. Nor need it be exactly the same as science communication, journalism, public relations, or social media content creation per se. So what conceptually should humanities communication be and do? Who can be effective “humanities communicators” in society today? What are specific audiences in society that the humanities need to communicate with? And for those audiences, how can the humanities communicate its work in the most effective media and forms?

The other main goal of the “Humanities Communication Convening” is to apply the combined expertise of humanities advocates and those from other public-facing fields to strategize the training programs, shared resources, and professional recognition needed to develop and support effective humanities communicators (including humanities students and early-career scholars who would benefit from an additional professionalization and job placement pipeline similar to that which science-communication programs provide for scientists in training). This goal is in essence to create a high-level “five-year plan” for intellectual, professional, and technical next steps in building a support structure for humanities communicators. Such a plan benefits not only the AAC&U and CHC but other humanities organizations in guiding their future development. In concrete terms, such a plan will guide the AAC&U, CHC, and other humanities organizations or initiatives in seeking next-stage seed grants and implementation grants to develop effective public humanities communication.

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Convening Agenda

Thursday Sept. 5,2024 – Optional Pre-event Dinner

6:30 pm Optional pre-event dinner at the hotel (Le Meridien) where participants have been booked by the American Academy

Friday Sept. 6, 2024 – Humanities Communication Convening

Participants in the convening will receive in advance a “Briefing Kit” framing the need to develop professional training and resources for “humanities communication”; providing background portfolios of resources in science communication and the humanities; and outlining the Center for Humanities Communication’s initial plans for creating training programs  and an interchange of resources for humanities communication.

At the event, participants will be asked to give a 4-minute response to these materials, concentrating on sharing their main ideas about humanities communication, including at least one high-priority recommendation for a near-term goal. Ideas from participants, refined in breakout working groups during the event, will help the CHC prepare a white paper on humanities communication for the NEH. This white paper will effectively become our CHC’s five-year plan for developing programs (and seeking funding support to train, professionalize, recognize, and provide shared resources for) humanities communicators. It will also create a general blueprint for other humanities organizations, programs, and initiatives for bridging from humanities scholarship, creative arts, teaching, and projects to impactful public communication about why and how the humanities matter. In essence, this event will serve to launch “humanities communication” as a potential field.

 8:15 Shuttle from hotel to American Academy — 8:30-9:00  Breakfast

 9:00-9:30  Event Introduction & Overview. (by CHC leadership team).

 9:30-10:30  Ideas from Presenters (Part 1) Short 4-minute presentations focused on making at least one important recommendation. Half the presenters will talk in this session in the following order determined by a randomizing algorithm (also see participant bios):

1. Lynn Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U); former President of Mount Holyoke College, Provost at the University of Hartford, and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Rhode Island
2. A’Lelia Bundles, former network television news executive and producer at ABC News and NBC News; former chair of the National Archives Foundation; and author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker
3. Tamara Poles, Founder and CEO of SciCom Consulting, LLC; Accessibility Director for the Association of Science Communicators; member of the Artistic Advisory Board for Story Collider
4. Theresa Miller, Director of Research, FrameWorks Institute
5. Michelle Hudgins, Vice President of Communications, Pew Research Foundation
6. Michelle May-Curry, Curator of Washington D.C.’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities; core faculty for Georgetown University’s Masters program in the Engaged and Public Humanities; and research affiliate at the National Humanities Alliance
7. Sudip S. Parikh, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Executive Publisher of the Science family of journals
8. Kirsten Ellenbogen, President & CEO, Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH
9. Karen North, Clinical Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California; founder and former director of USC Annenberg’s Digital Social Media program
10. James Shulman, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
11. Jacqueline Kellish, Director of Humanities Public Engagement and Programming, National Humanities Center
12. Joseph W. Palca, freelance science writer; science correspondent for NPR from 1992-2022; former senior correspondent for Science Magazine, and Washington news editor of Nature

 10:30-11:00  Discussion

11:00-11:15  Coffee break

 11:15-12:15  Ideas from Presenters (Part 2) Short 4-minute presentations focused on making at least one important recommendation. The other half of the presenters will talk in this session in the following order determined by a randomizing algorithm (also see participant bios):

13. Guillaume Ratel, Executive Director, Consortium of Humanities Centers & Institutes (CHCI)
14. Brian Lin, Director of Editorial Content Strategy, EurekAlert!, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
15. Bruce Lewenstein, Professor of Science Communication in the Departments of Communication and of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University
16. Andrew Delbanco, Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University; President of the Teagle Foundation
17. Phoebe Stein, President, Federation of State Humanities Councils; former executive director for Maryland Humanities from 2008 to 2020
18. Zoe Wake Hyde, Community Development Manager, Knowledge Commons (formerly Humanities Commons)
19. Robert B. Townsend, Director of Humanities, Arts, and Culture Programs, American Academy of Arts & Sciences; co-director of the Humanities Indicators; former director of research and publications a the American Historical Association
20. Stephen Kidd, Executive Director, National Humanities Alliance (NHA)
21. Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
22. Kaelyn Grace Apple, Founder and CEO, Accepted Society, and Ph.D. candidate in History and African American Studies at Yale U.
23. Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque, Communications Manager for the Humanities, U. Maryland, Baltimore County
24. Michelle Ciula Lipkin, Executive Director, National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)

 12:15-12:45  Discussion

 12:45-1:45 Lunch

 1:45- 2:00  Orientation for Breakout Groups (by CHC leaders)

 2:00- 3:00  Breakout Groups 

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Breakout Group A: Tasked with defining the concept of humanities communication.
      (facilitated by Anke Finger) — North Dining Room

• The contemporary humanities understand their mission in terms of such activities as research, curation, interpretation, critique, engagement, reflection, and education. In this group, we will consider the relation between those activities and “communication” to gather inputs for developing a definition of “humanities communication” from a wide array of perspectives. We will pose questions including, but not limited to, the following:
• Who are, or should be, the best communicators of humanities communication? Who should be the audiences of humanities communicators?
• What can humanities communicators learn from those engaged in science communication, journalism, social media influencing, and other areas of effective communication with the public? But also: what by contrast should be different about the approach, methods, media, and forms of humanities communication?
• What can we learn from the field of communication studies that will help classify our definition as being with, for, and by the humanities?

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Breakout Group B: Tasked with strategizing training in humanities communication.        (facilitated by Kath Burton)– Council Room

Currently, there are relatively few designed or structured programs, courses, or methods for training those working in the humanities to communicate in publicly effective ways. In this group, we will consider how the humanities can develop training and professionalization opportunities for public communication similar to those for science communication. We will pose questions including, but not limited to, the following:

• Which groups among youth, students, scholars, early career professionals, established professionals and administrators, retirees, and others could most benefit from what kind of training in humanities communication? 
• What kind of training, tools and techniques do you think are needed, are vital, and are distinct for the communication of the humanities? 
• Who are the professionals and organizations in fields such as art and design, music, media, journalism, education, and other fields who can best assist in developing, delivering, and managing training for humanities communication?
• How can training opportunities connect with, reach out to and benefit more diverse groups of potential humanities communicators? 
• If we were to think along the edges of what is possible, what kind of training could help to engage different groups of communicators differently, break through the noise of information and disinformation, and reframe current conversations about the humanities?
• For undergraduates, graduate students, and early-career humanities scholars (and those interested in careers in associated areas such as publishing, libraries, archives, and museums) how can humanities communication training best be developed inside or outside universities to complement B.A., M.A., or Ph.D. programs?
• How can training in the humanities attract, involve and work with groups from the interdisciplinary humanities and from outside the humanities, such as individuals and organizations in the for- and non-profit sectors, government, foundations outside the humanities, or in fields like the arts, business, environmental studies, the health professions, etc.? 
• What can we learn from other fields, especially from science communication, in terms of their successes, challenges, and failures?
• What are effective ways to develop a sustainable structure for training of humanities communicators, and to help place them in professionally recognized roles in organizations, media, and other areas of society, that could serve as a blueprint, foundation, or beginning framework for a broader field of humanities communication. 

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Breakout Group C: Tasked with strategizing the development of shared resources, tools, outputs, and a digital interchange for humanities communication.      (facilitated by Alan Liu) — Boardroom

Organizations, scholars, and others working or training in the humanities create many materials (primarily textual) for research, teaching, and events that can potentially be engaging for public audiences. But identifying, extracting, and rewriting the hidden gold of the humanities for the public, as well as designing multimedia or social media to enhance communication, requires talent, skills, and work. This group will explore how the humanities can collaborate to develop robust shared resources, tools, outputs, and a digital interchange for humanities communication:

• What ideas, examples, data, evidence, talking points, stories, multimedia, metaphors, and other resources can be collaboratively curated and shared by humanities organizations and others as input for enhanced public communication of the humanities?
• What open tools and platforms for ➤collaborative content and media design, ➤ team communication, ➤ project management, ➤and AI assistance can boost the work of creating effective humanities communication? (i.e., tools and platforms similar to widely-used proprietary platforms in the commercial and start-up sectors but customized and affordable for the humanities.
• What are the highest-value kinds of output for humanities communication that should be developed using the above resources and tools?
• What is a practical roadmap for designing, prototyping, and implementing a shared digital interchange of resources, tools, and outputs supporting humanities communication?
• (For more background, see this page on the CHC website.)

 3:00-3:15 Coffee Break

3:15- 4:30  Reports from breakout groups, followed by general discussion. This discussion will be to block out the main points of a CHC white paper on humanities communication outlining a “roadmap” – goals and strategies – for the development of training and resources in humanities communication. Such a roadmap will serve not only the CHC in creating a five-year plan (including seeking implementation funding) but any humanities organization or program wishing to boost humanities communication.

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Convening Participant List (also see bios)

Presenters (and Breakout Group Participants)

• Kaelyn Grace Apple, Founder and CEO, Accepted Society, and Ph.D. candidate in History and African American Studies at Yale U.
• A’Lelia Bundles, former network television news executive and producer at ABC News and NBC News; former chair of the National Archives Foundation; and author of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker.
• Andrew Delbanco, Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University; President of the Teagle Foundation.
• Catalina Sofia Dansberger Duque, Communications Manager for the Humanities, U. Maryland, Baltimore County.
• Kirsten Ellenbogen, President & CEO, Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, OH.
• Michelle Hudgins, Vice President of Communications, Pew Research Foundation.
• Jacqueline Kellish, Director of Humanities Public Engagement and Programming, National Humanities Center.
• Stephen Kidd, Executive Director, National Humanities Alliance (NHA).
• Bruce Lewenstein, Professor of Science Communication in the Departments of Communication and of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University.
• Brian Lin, Director of Editorial Content Strategy, EurekAlert!, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
• Michelle Ciula Lipkin, Executive Director, National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).
• Michelle May-Curry, Curator of Washington D.C.’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities; core faculty for Georgetown University’s Masters program in the Engaged and Public Humanities; and research affiliate at the National Humanities Alliance.
• Theresa Miller, Director of Research, FrameWorks Institute.
• Karen North, Clinical Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California; founder and former director of USC Annenberg’s Digital Social Media program.
• Joseph W. Palca, freelance science writer; science correspondent for NPR from 1992-2022; former senior correspondent for Science Magazine, and Washington news editor of Nature.
• Sudip S. Parikh, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Executive Publisher of the Science family of journals.
• Lynn Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U); former President of Mount Holyoke College, Provost at the University of Hartford, and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Rhode Island.
• Tamara Poles, Founder and CEO of SciCom Consulting, LLC; Accessibility Director for the Association of Science Communicators; member of the Artistic Advisory Board for Story Collider.
• Guillaume Ratel, Executive Director, Consortium of Humanities Centers & Institutes (CHCI).
• James Shulman, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).
• Phoebe Stein, President, Federation of State Humanities Councils; former executive director for Maryland Humanities from 2008 to 2020.
• Robert B. Townsend, Director of Humanities, Arts, and Culture Programs, American Academy of Arts & Sciences; co-director of the Humanities Indicators; former director of research and publications a the American Historical Association.
• Zoe Wake Hyde, Community Development Manager, Knowledge Commons (formerly Humanities Commons).
• Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Observers (and Breakout Group Participants)

• Phillip Brian Harper, Program Director for Higher Learning, Mellon Foundation.
• Maysan Haydar, 2022-2024 Pforzheimer Foundation Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
• Patricia Hswe, Program Director for Public Knowledge, Mellon Foundation.
• Christopher P. Thornton, Director, Division of Research, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); former acting head of the Grants Program at the National Geographic Society.

CHC Organizers (and Breakout Group Facilitators)

• Alan Liu, Distinguished Professor, Department of English, UC Santa Barbara; co-President of CHC; Director of CHC Humanities Communication Interchange.
• Christine Henseler, Professor, Spanish and Hispanic Studies, Union College; co-President of CHC & co-Director of CHC Social Media Internship Program.
• Kath Burton, Humanities Development Director for Routledge, Taylor & Francis; co-Director of CHC Scholars Communication Program.
• Anke Finger, Professor of German Studies, Media Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut, Storrs; co-Director of CHC Scholars Communication Program.

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Convening Briefing Kit

• Briefing Kit for Participants
  • Appendices to Briefing Kit
    • Background on Science Communication (abridged version) (full version)
    • Background on the Humanities (& Humanities Communication)

The CHC thanks the following for support in the planning, organization, and arrangements for this event:

• American Academy of Arts & Sciences
  • Robert B. Townsend, Director of Humanities, Arts, and Culture Programs
  • Maysan Haydar, Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellow
  • Kristin Josti, Events Manager
  • Morganna Becker, Events Coordinator
• American Association of Colleges & Universities
  • Shelly Jackson, Director of Finance
  • Chiffon Haggins, Finance Director
• National Endowment for the Humanities
  • Christopher P. Thornton, Director, Division of Research, National Endowment for the Humanities

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1. The NEH Chair’s Grant was awarded to the AAC&U acting as the CHC’s fiscal sponsor and partner. As per the NEH’s policy, “any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations [to be] expressed in the event to be organized do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.” The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. ↩︎