There is a kind of paradox inherent in starting a humanities center. It would be nice to just hang out a shingle and say that we're open for business, but no one will fund a center that has such a vague mandate. So, it makes sense to try to start some projects first, but of course if there is no humanities center these projects must be started as free-standing, and only once there is a critical mass can they be grouped under a humanities center.
I have been working on specific projects that would eventually come under the general heading of the humanities center. I am interested in more such projects. This is what is in process to this point:
1. Leslie Lieberman (in the Women's Resource Center) has been working on ways to bridge the gap between humanities faculty and the research office on campus. She believes that humanities faculty would have more success in applying for grants if they were working with someone who understood the humanities.
2. Theo Lotz (in the Art Department) has been working on a public space in downtown Winter Park. Theo was previously at Rollins College, and recognizes the significance of having a public presence in Winter Park. He has worked with his department, a member of the board of trustees, and the administration on this. A space has been identified, but there is a long way to go before it could open. Theo and I have discussed this, and agree that such a space could be used as gallery space and also for humanities activities of various sorts.
3. I have been working with Kathleen Bell in English on an interdisciplinary course that would travel to Italy next summer. Originally we had planned on making this a regular interdisciplinary course (or rather, that both of us would teach connected courses at the same time). It is more likely now that we will offer this as a non-credit course, and advertise it to both students and people within the community. The general subject of the course is "Landscape and Memory" (after Simon Schama's book of the same name), and we would work on ways in which Italy from the Renaissance to the present forms our sense of place through the imagination of landscape. Kathleen is a creative writer, and both she and I work on the ways in which places are represented.
4. I have sent a notice out to a number of faculty to establish a research "node". Several people around campus work on place and space, in one way or another. I believe that together we could support each other, perhaps find ways to apply for joint grants.
5. The Philosophy Department, with the dean's support, has allocated space in the new Psychology building for a humanities center office. The Philosophy Department expects to move into those offices in the spring of 2006.
Much more could be done. I am interested in ideas. But there is another thing which must be realized - there was a day when you could just start a generic "humanities center", with an umbrella broad enough to cover any project. The reality these days is that, short of a private endowment, most federally funded centers need to be more focussed. So this is another tension - how do we build a center that truly encompasses humanities activity on campus, and yet has an identity?