New Web Pages Celebrate Humanities Students' Projects, Research, and Accomplishments

In the fall, Wellesley announced a focused effort to spread the word—on campus and beyond—about the crucial place of the Humanities in a liberal arts education. Last semester, the community was invited to discuss and explore the Humanities, and was also introduced to a new online online space designed to showcase Wellesley's Humanities' riches. That website recently got a little richer with the addition of student-focused pages.

"The new web pages seek to shine a light on the fascinating and original work that humanities students are doing in a wide array of fields—literature, art, music, philosophy, history, religion, language, and so on," said Thomas Hodge, professor of Russian and faculty building director of Founders Hall and Green Hall. "Frequently, humanists do what they do in solitude, so I'm delighted about this new window into the intellectual and artistic endeavors that mean so much to our students."

New content on the site invites visitors to learn about student projects, research and achievements: Among the first projects profiled are a film score by Betty Wallingford '16 and artwork by Jayne Yan '16; the first research profiles include work by Refilwe Kotane '17 who "investigated the role of the government in the public sphere, particularly with regards public health policy creation" and Mika Morikawa '17, who is conducting "a long-term oral history research project on the Japanese Alumnae of Wellesley College;" and highlighted achievements include Chandler Cummings '17's internship with the Trentino Music Festival and Beba Cibralic '16's experience as a presenter at the Northern New England Philosophical Association 2015.

Hodge said, "Pushkin called translators 'the post-horses of civilization.' These new pages perform that same noble service of translating the rich undertakings of our humanities students into another, more accessible medium."

Content on the site will be rotated every few weeks. Faculty members are encouraged to nominate students' work. Students are also encouraged to submit work, but are asked to get approval from faculty before passing along information. Please submit nominations directly to Professor Thomas Hodge and the site webmaster, Zoe Swarzenski '17.

"I hope that the projects, research, and achievements of Wellesley undergraduates showcased here will in turn give both students and faculty new ideas for related humanistic pursuits," Hodge said. "I also hope the pages will constitute a celebration of—a cyberspatial 'Hurray!' for—the intellectual insight and devotion to craft that lie at the heart of the humanities."