The University of California is holding a year-long celebration of the humanities to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Humanities Initiative, an effort that has provided more than $20 million in funding for humanities programs and fellows throughout the system.

The UC Office of the President, the President's Advisory Committee on Research in the Humanities and campus groups have organized more than 20 special anniversary events to showcase the humanities, including a day-long UCSF program, titled “Intimate Portraits: Body Imaging Technologies in Medicine and Culture,” on Saturday, April 4, at Millberry Union. The program, one of a series of events celebrating the anniversary at each of the nine UC campuses, is sponsored at UCSF by the department of history of health sciences.

President Richard Atkinson said the initiative has attracted top scholars and students to UC and reflects the deep and abiding value of humanities education and scholarship to the intellectual life of the university.

"Creativity, vision, and critical thinking are at the heart of the humanities," Atkinson said. "Many of our best and brightest thinkers in all varieties of careers, including scientists, doctors, lawyers and engineers, have benefitted from the humanities, as have all the university's graduates. We take great pride in this extraordinary program and UC's achievements in the humanities over the past 10 years."

The initiative, begun in 1987, was developed by then-UC President David P. Gardner as a call to strengthen the humanities and its disciplines throughout the university. The initiative is a four-part program which has provided funding for faculty research fellowships, graduate student fellowships, campus-based organized research, and the Humanities Research Institute, located on the UC Irvine campus. It has benefitted more than 200 faculty members and 300 students and resulted in the creation of numerous publications and community projects.

UC humanities programs have flourished because of the initiative. In its last report, the National Research Council ranked 33 UC humanities graduate degree programs among the nation's top 20 programs by discipline for quality of faculty; of these, 17 ranked in the top 10.

1st appeared 12/09/97

RETURN TO TOP