Humanities Division


A Report Suggested Big Changes to the Arts & Humanities. The Division’s New Dean Is Taking It Slow.

Harvard’s Arts and Humanities division will centralize its administrative services and develop new introductory courses, Sean D. Kelly announced on Tuesday in his email as the division’s new dean.​​​​​​​


As Many Mourn the ‘Death of the Humanities,’ Harvard Profs. Say It’s Not That Simple

To many, the humanities appear incongruent with a university increasingly focused on preparation for professional life, instead existing primarily for their own sake. But many professors in the Arts & Humanities division say that’s exactly how it should be.


Harvard Says It Wants to Boost Interdisciplinary Research. Its Professors Have Questions.

“Interdisciplinarity” has become something of a buzzword among Harvard professors. But in interviews with The Crimson, seven professors from the Arts and Humanities division said that the term, as it is popularly used, may raise more questions than it does answers.


Ten Stories That Shaped 2023

In 2023, Harvard had a tumultuous year. Claudine Gay’s first semester ended amid a leadership crisis as she came under fire for her response to tensions on a campus divided by the Israel-Hamas war and faced allegations of plagiarism. Harvard’s legacy and donor preferences in admissions also faced national scrutiny following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling striking down the University’s affirmative action policy. Across campus, scandal after scandal hit parts of the University. Here, The Crimson looks back at the 10 stories that shaped 2023 at Harvard.


Michael Pollan Talks Future of Psychedelics Research at Harvard Mahindra Humanities Center

Author Michael K. Pollan, a Harvard lecturer in English and professor of the practice in non-fiction, spoke about the future of research into the societal and cultural aspects of psychedelics during a Mahindra Humanities Center talk on Wednesday.


Dean of Arts and Humanities Robin Kelsey To Step Down At End of Academic Year

Robin E. Kelsey, Harvard’s dean of Arts and Humanities, will step down from his post at the end of the 2023-24 academic year, according to a Monday afternoon email to divisional faculty from Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra obtained by The Crimson.


Author Alma Guillermoprieto Talks Language and Cultural Identity at Harvard Writers Speak Conversation

Authors Alma Guillermoprieto and Valeria Luiselli discussed cultural identity, language, and portrayals of violence in literature and journalism at a Thursday speaker event hosted by the Harvard Mahindra Humanities Center.


A Proposal to Merge Harvard’s Small Language Programs Has Fallen Flat. What’s Next for the Humanities?

An internal document and interviews with professors and Arts and Humanities Dean Robin E. Kelsey suggest new directions for Harvard’s humanities. But a proposal that would combine four language programs has faced resistance from some faculty.


Who the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Want as Harvard’s Most Powerful Dean

As Claudine Gay prepares to move from her station in University Hall to the president’s office across Harvard Yard, one of her most important tasks will be to select her own successor as the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. With the search now in motion, several FAS professors spoke with The Crimson about their hopes for the successor to Harvard’s most powerful dean.


Elif Batuman ’99 Talks ‘The Idiot’ and Writing Process at Humanities Event

Hundreds gathered in Emerson Hall Thursday to hear American author Elif Batuman ’99, an award-winning novelist whose Pulitzer Prize-finalist novel "The Idiot" was based off her experience as a freshman at Harvard.


Following Harvard Report on ‘Unsustainable’ Faculty Workload, FAS Dean Gay Solicits Professors’ Feedback

After a report found that Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences faces an “increasing and unsustainable” amount of non-research work, the school is holding discussions to collect feedback on the report’s recommendations.


Harvard FAS Dean to Release Plans on Implementing Tenure Process Changes

Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Claudine Gay said in an interview last Wednesday she hopes to release plans in the coming weeks on how to implement recommendations issued last fall by a committee that reviewed Harvard's tenure process.


Shelly Lowe

Harvard University Native American Program Executive Director Shelly C. Lowe was nominated by President Joe Biden Tuesday to serve as Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. If confirmed, she will be the first Native American to serve in the role.


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