Making a Case for the Humanities

PITTSBURGH—In recent years, liberal arts degree programs within America’s higher education institutions have faced increased scrutiny from state lawmakers. Arguing that graduates with such degrees are not as marketable in America’s workplace, elected officials have openly questioned the practicality of humanities-based disciplines and the levels of support they require. Their concerns have led to significant cuts in state-sponsored support for certain programs, as well as the permanent dissolution of others, within some of the nation’s most respected public institutions.

The University of Pittsburgh will host journalist Fareed Zakaria alongside Arthur S. Levine, dean of Pitt’s School of Medicine, and three distinguished academic professionals for a discussion on the importance of the humanities. The discussion, titled “The Humanities: Can you afford to leave college without them?” will begin at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 in Ballroom B of Pitt’s University Club, 123 University Pl., Oakland. The event is free and open to the public; registration is recommended.

In addition to Zakaria and Levine, the panel will feature Regina Barreca, a satirist and professor of English literature at the University of Connecticut; Hunter R. Rawlings III, president of the Association of American Universities; and Helen Small, a professor of English literature at the University of Oxford. David Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, will moderate the panel.

Brief biographical information for the panelists, in alphabetical order, follows:

A noted public speaker, Regina Barreca has provided commentary for a variety of national radio and television news networks, most notably the BBC, CNN, and NPR. She is a columnist for the Hartford Courant and a blogger for The Chronicle of Higher Education and Psychology Today. Barreca’s books on social commentary include the critically acclaimed They Used to Call Me Snow White…But I Drifted: Women’s Strategic Use of Humor (University Press of New England, 2013).

Barreca has taught in the University of Connecticut’s Department of English since 1987. Her scholarly research interests include feminist literary theory, satire, 20th-century British novels, and Victorian literature.

Arthur S. Levine is Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and the John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine. He also is a professor of medicine and molecular genetics. Before arriving at Pitt in 1998, Levine worked within the National Institutes of Health for more than 30 years.

A recipient of a liberal arts education, Levine majored in comparative literature at Columbia University—where he edited The Columbia Review—before pursuing his medical degree at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, formerly the Chicago Medical School.

Hunter R. Rawlings III became president of the Association of American Universities in June 2011. He also served as president of the University of Iowa from 1988 to 1995 as well as president of Cornell University from 1995 to 2003 and Cornell’s interim president from 2005 to 2006.

Throughout his career, Rawlings has been a staunch supporter of the humanities, prioritizing support for liberal arts programs throughout his tenure at Cornell. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves on the board of the American School of Classical Studies.

Helen Small is the author of the book The Value of the Humanities (Oxford University Press, 2012), which examines arguments for the liberal arts from a professional-marketability and life-enrichment perspective. An outspoken advocate for the liberal arts, she has spoken frequently on the importance of well-supported humanities programs at conferences and meetings around the world.

In addition to Oxford, Small has taught courses in the humanities fields at the University of Bristol and New York University. She is a member of the Modern Languages Association of America as well as the editorial board of the Journal of Victorian Culture.

Fareed Zakaria hosts CNN’s international affairs program Fareed Zakaria GPS and is a weekly foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Post. Lauded as one of the most influential foreign affairs journalists of his generation, Zakaria contributes frequently to the BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek, among others.

Zakaria’s latest book In Defense of a Liberal Education (Norton, 2015) calls on higher education administrators and elected officials to take a stand against the steady decline in support for the liberal arts. Weaving personal narrative with national statistics, Zakaria credits his own liberal arts education with much of his success as an author and a journalist.

The panel discussion is sponsored by Pitt’s University Honors College and Humanities Center. The event is a part of the University’s ongoing Year of the Humanities in the University. For more information, visit www.humanities.pitt.edu.

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