2006 - Present

The Public Humanities Project

The Public Humanities Project is a long-term strategic plan to augment, strengthen, and grow a curriculum in public humanities that will directly benefit both our students and the communities and organizations surrounding the Marshall University Graduate College. Some of the seminars taught in this initiative since 2006 include: Seminar in Public Humanities, Public Relations for Nonprofits, Grant Writing in the Humanities, Museum Studies and Exhibit Design, Social Memory and Oral History, and Exhibits for/in Local Communities. Several of the projects and partnerships highlighted below have grown out of this initiative. Read more here. Contact the Director for more information.

2006 - Present

The Glenwood Project

The Glenwood Project is a Graduate Humanities Program initiative to facilitate public engagement with the rich and complicated history of Charleston and the Kanawha Valley through the lens of the Glenwood Estate in West Charleston, now owned and maintained by the Historic Glenwood Foundation (formerly the Marshall University Graduate College Foundation). The project is funded through a partnership with the West Virginia Humanities Council,Council for West Virginia Archaeology, Kanawha Valley Historical & Preservation Society, Historic Glenwood Foundation (formerly the Marshall University Graduate College Foundation), Graduate School of Education and Professional Development, and College of Liberal Arts. The Program has now finished the Project's Phase II (of three), which includes a traveling exhibit of the Estate and its impact on the region. More about the Project can be found on the The Glenwood Project website, which includes photos and videos; updates about the project's progress; as well as links to papers, reports, a blog, and several of other items of interest. Contact Drs. Luke Eric Lassiter, Robert Maslowski, Billy Joe Peyton and/or Mr. Mark Tobin Moore for more information about the Project.

2006 - Present

Oral History Initiative (and the Center for Ethnographic and Oral History Research)

Partnering with other units at Marshall University -- including the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Department of History, the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia, the Appalachian Studies Association, and Marshall University Libraries -- the Graduate Humanities Program has for the last several years been closely involved in university-wide discussions to expand and build on the Oral History of Appalachia Collection and to boost its role in the university and community. As part of the Public Humanities Project (see above), the Graduate Humanities Program began in 2006 its Oral History Initiative, a project to actualize new graduate-level curriculum, projects, and partnerships in oral history. The Graduate Humanities established a new ethnographic lab at the Marshall University Graduate College Library in South Charleston (pictured to the left) and began instruction in several new seminars with significant oral history components. To date, faculty and students have developed several experimental Special Topics courses including Social Memory and Oral History; Folklore; Reading and Creating Appalachia; Writing Culture, Writing Ethnography; and Appalachian Folklore. As an outgrowth of the Oral History Initiative, in 2008 the Graduate Humanities Program put forth a plan sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and designed in partnership with the Departments of Sociology/Anthropology and History that engendered The Center for Ethnographic and Oral History, with Dr. Brian A. Hoey of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology appointed as its Director. See the Center website for more information.

2006 - Present

Projects in Museum Studies and Exhibit Design

Due to student interest and the extensive knowledge and expertise of Mark Tobin Moore (see, for example, here), the Program began offering occasional seminars in museum studies and exhibit design, which have engendered several local exhibits. An example is Museum Studies and Exhibit Design, a seminar that produced two local exhibits, "The Other Charleston" (a Good News Mountaineer Garage Gallery photography exhibition) and "They Are Still With Us" (an installment of the Clay Center's "Lightscapes for the Holidays"). Moore and his students have produced several exhibits along these lines, both as independent research projects (such as the Drawing Hope exhibition) and as collaboratives (such as the 20th Century Collage exhibition and Glenwood: Window to the West Side). Contact Moore for more information.

2006 - Present

West Virginia Project Archaeology Partnership

The Marshall University Graduate College is a full partner of West Virginia Project Archaeology, a program of the Council for West Virginia Archaeology whose mission is "to promote cultural awareness, appreciation, and stewardship of the state's cultural heritage" and "to educate children and youth . . . so that are equipped to make wise decisions concerning the use of and protection of archaeological sites and cultural material." The Graduate Humanities Program is involved with this initiative through graduate course offerings, teacher training, professional development, programs and workshops. Experimental Special Topics Seminars have included: The Glenwood Estate , West Virginia Archaeology for K-12 Classroom Use (Professional Development Series), Archaeology of Appalachia..  Current Projects include augmenting the Glenwood Project (Phase I & II), and Project Archaeology Facilitator Training and State Handbook Project (a statewide curriculum project funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council). Contact Dr. Robert Maslowski for more information.

2007 - 2009

Partnership with Project TEACH II: The Constitution in Historical Context

As part of the Program's larger partnership with the Graduate School of Education and Professional Development (GSEPD)--see our history and mission--the Program is closely involved with several of GSEPD's ongoing partnerships in outreach and engagement. One of these is Project TEACH II, a Professional Development Program for K-12 teachers funded by the United States Department of Education through a Teaching American History grant. Representing the Marshall University Graduate College as one of the project's partners, the Graduate Humanities Program provides project consultation; graduate-level course offerings for participants; instruction in American studies and oral history; and conducts evaluation research as needed. Contact the Director for more information.

2007 - Present

Collaborative Anthropologies

The Graduate Humanities Program houses the Editorial Office of Collaborative Anthropologies, a journal edited by the Program's Director, Luke Eric Lassiter. Published annually by the University of Nebraska Press, the journal is meant to engage the growing and ever-widening discussion of collaborative research and practice in anthropology and in closely related fields--especially that concerning the complex collaborations between and among researchers and research participants and interlocutors. Contact Dr. Luke Eric Lassiter or the Editorial Assistant Katie Santiago for more information or visit the annual's website here.

2008 - Present

Friends of the Humanities

Friends of the Humanities is an initiative spearheaded by a partnership of alumni and current students to form a group of Marshall University Graduate College faculty, staff, student, and local community members interested in expanding project options for students and augmenting public and applied outreach and engagement. Contact Carolyn Quinlan or alumna Trish Hatfield for more information.

2009

30th Anniversary Graduate Humanities Anthology

Coming in November 2009, the Graduate Humanities Program will publish its 30th Anniversary Graduate Humanities Anthology. A celebration of the Program and its many accomplishments, it will feature work by faculty and students involved with the Program over the past thirty years. Check back here soon for details, or contact the Editor of the volume, Katie Santiago.

 

 

 

2009 - Present

West Virginia Prevention Resource Center Partnership

As part of a larger West Virginia state initiative in community development and capacity building, the West Virginia Prevention Resource Center and the Graduate Humanities Program have recently partnered to create new curricula, certificate, and graduate degree-level training that combines Appalachian Studies, ethnographic and evaluation research, public and applied humanities. Check back here for updates as the partnership unfolds.