Humanities+

Those educated in the Humanities are bridge builders. Not civil engineers, but civic engineers, they bridge past and present, foreign and familiar, high and low, building an infrastructure of ideas that makes possible the democratic human conversation. We are proud of that role, and rightfully celebrate a Humanities education as a non-vocational pursuit of destinations, people, and ideas that is transcendent ("L. tran(s)scend-re to climb over or beyond"; in other words, bridge-like). Yet, the perpetual pilgrimage is not possible (or desirable) for most people. Indeed, some two-thirds of Humanities graduates work in fields not directly related to their courses of study (such as businessmen and women, attorneys, health care professionals, civil servants, and parents). It is only superficially paradoxical to insist that we are justified in promoting the disinterested nature of the Humanities as we help our students build bridges that connect their studies in language, literature, art, and philosophy to the vocations that will demand most of their time and labor. Our students must understand that the skills, knowledge, and dispositions they have cultivated in our classrooms do not stand in defiance of the world of economic obligation, but rather that these attributes qualify them to make unique contributions. The major initiative for the Deans Office in 2009 is to do a better job helping students conceptualize, articulate, and leverage their uniqueness. Humanities faculty play an important role in this process, but it is the alumni living and working beyond campus who are best equipped to build bridges between our current students' dreams and the tangible experiences and opportunities that will make those dreams possible. We need your expertise. We need your stories. We need your connections. We need your words. We need you to be bridges. To find out how to help, please contact us at bridges@byu.edu.