This is an exciting year for the Center. Eight Fellows, three Faculty, three Mellon Post-Doctoral and two Graduate will move into offices in the Center in the fall. Each Fellow will deliver a talk on aspects of his or her research in a seminar to be held on the third Tuesday of every month during the academic year. In the spring we will host our first two Visiting Fellows, the distinguished scholar Professor Susannah Heschel from Dartmouth College, a Carnegie Foundation Fellow, whose current research focuses on the history of Jewish scholarship on Islam, and the eminent literary critic James Wood. Our symposia for 2008-2009 are “The Humanities and Human Rights” in the fall: the speakers include novelist Francisco Goldman and Professor Ian Buruma, and “The Role of the Public Intellectual: Writing about Literature and Music” in the spring with Alex Ross, music critic of the New Yorker and James Wood. The symposia are central to our breadth of purpose. We promote innovative, collaborative study in the humanities and arts, and encourage conversation and debate in an effort to reach beyond the borders of a given discipline.

We will continue our alumnae lecture series in November, a week after the election, with Carol Anne Riddell and Melissa Russo of WNBC on “Covering New York.” Other speakers and guests at the Center this coming year include news and film producer Marc Kusnetz who will show and discuss his video “Ticking Timebomb, Torture and TV;” the Arab Palestinian-Israeli artists Buthina Millhem and Hoda Jamal, whose work will be on display at both the Aidekman Arts Center and the Center for the Humanities, and author Adina Hoffman who will discuss her new biography of the poet Taha Muhammad Ali. We look forward to seeing members of the Tufts community and beyond at all our scheduled events.

Visit our Events page for dates & more info >