Interested parties are invited to attend a discussion about the role of the humanities in our current social, cultural and political moment. Literature, art, music, history, and the other disciplines within the humanities offer students of all ages valuable tools for understanding, connection, and empathy. Whether it’s discussing a movie, reading a novel, or listening to a favorite tune, our appreciation for the humanities occurs daily yet too often passes unnoticed.
Brian Naylor, the veteran National Public Radio correspondent, will interview and discuss the future of the humanities with Dr. Heather Cox Richardson. As part of Homecoming, 2022, this celebration of the culmination of the McGillicuddy Humanities Center’s first decade will offer some ideas for the next decade — and beyond — for the future of the humanities.
About the speakers:
Heather Cox Richardson teaches nineteenth-century American history at Boston College. She is one of the foremost interpreters of our current political environment through historical context. In recognition of her prominent role as a public intellectual, on February 25, 2022, Richardson was invited to interview President Biden “in the China Room of the White House to talk about American democracy and the struggles we face.”
Brian Naylor is a 1978 graduate of the University of Maine. Naylor recently retired from National Public Radio where he worked for nearly 40 years as a Washington DC-based reporter covering politics, Congress, and federal agencies such as transportation and homeland security. During his NPR career, Naylor has covered many major world events, including political conventions, the Olympics, the White House, Congress, and the mid-Atlantic region. Naylor reported from Tokyo in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, from New Orleans following the BP oil spill, and from West Virginia after the deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine.
This event is a part of the University of Maine’s 2022 Homecoming celebration, produced in collaboration with the University of Maine Alumni Association, the University of Maine College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center. The event is free and open to the public.
For additional information and a full schedule of Homecoming events, visit the website
