Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI)

Established in 1988, the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes serves as a site for the discussion of issues germane to the fostering of crossdisciplinary activity

Crossdisciplinarity

Crossdisciplinarity describes any method, project and research activity that examines a subject outside the scope of its own discipline without cooperation or integration from other relevant disciplines...

and as a network for the circulation of information and the sharing of resources within the humanities

Humanities

The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

and interpretive social sciences. CHCI has a membership of over 180 centers and institutes that are remarkably diverse in size and scope and are located in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and other countries.

Mission and History

Established in 1988, the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) serves as an arena for the discussion of issues germane to crossdisciplinary activity in the humanities and as a network for the circulation of information and best practice

Best practice

A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is used as a benchmark...

s related to the organizational and management dimensions of humanities centers and institutes. Including Organizational and Individual Affiliate members, CHCI currently has a membership of 183 organizations in the US, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

, and Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim

The Pacific Rim refers to places around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The term "Pacific Basin" includes the Pacific Rim and islands in the Pacific Ocean...

. CHCI produces a major Annual Meeting of its membership, maintains a content-rich website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

, produces an annual print directory, and serves as a re-circulator for information about its members via listservs

LISTSERV

LISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people...

and its website. Members of the Consortium also assist one another with ideas, evaluation, and other forms of service. The organization is headed by a President, and is governed by an International Advisory Board of member directors and other leaders in the humanities.

CHCI was established in 1988 as the product of two meetings: The Institutional Impact of Institutes at the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI, now based at the University of California, Irvine

University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...

), convened by Murray Krieger

Murray Krieger

Murray Krieger was an American literary critic and theorist. He was a professor at the University of Iowa from 1963, and then the University of California, Irvine.He was born in Newark, New Jersey...

, and an organizational meeting at the 1988 meeting of the American Council of Learned Societies

American Council of Learned Societies

The American Council of Learned Societies , founded in 1919, is a private nonprofit federation of seventy scholarly organizations.ACLS is best known as a funder of humanities research through fellowships and grants awards. ACLS Fellowships are designed to permit scholars holding the Ph.D...

(ACLS), convened by E. Ann Kaplan of the Humanities Institute at Stony Brook University. These gatherings were the first moments at which directors of humanities research organizations had come together to discuss issues of mutual concern, and the major product of the meetings was a unanimous sense that it was essential to establish a consortium

Consortium

A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....

to continue these dialogues. Ralph Cohen of the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

served from 1988-1995 as the organization’s first Chair, while CHCI administration was based at UCHRI. In its early years, the CHCI membership included over 70 members from the US and four other countries.

In 1995 CHCI operations and leadership moved to the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, at that time directed by Kathleen Woodward, currently Director of the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

. During CHCI’s term at UW-Milwaukee, the membership grew to over 125 organizations as new centers were opened and existing members began to expand their programs and operations. This period of time also saw the dramatic expansion of CHCI’s Annual Meetings, the development of the organization’s first website

Website

, and two major grants

Grant (money)

Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...

from the Rockefeller Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...

for organizational development and network-building.

In 2001 CHCI moved to the auspices of the Humanities Center at Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, where Director Marjorie Garber

Marjorie Garber

Marjorie B. Garber is a professor at Harvard University and the author of a wide variety of books, most notably ones about William Shakespeare and aspects of popular culture including sexuality....

served a six-year term as President of CHCI. During Professor Garber’s term, membership continued to grow, and CHCI’s annual meetings grew markedly in terms of depth, scale and impact.

In 2007, CHCI operations moved to the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

, under the leadership of current CHCI President Srinivas Aravamudan. Since moving to Duke, CHCI has begun developing programs for the membership, such as a partnership with the American Council of Learned Societies, and other initiatives now in progress, including further internationalization

Internationalization

In economics, internationalization has been viewed as a process of increasing involvement of enterprises in international markets, although there is no agreed definition of internationalization or international entrepreneurship...

. Significantly, the CHCI membership continues to grow and to become truly international in scope. The newly enhanced website you are now browsing is also a product of CHCI’s term at Duke.

Looking to the future, it is one of the major goals of CHCI to become an increasingly international organization, and our international membership has grown 25% since 2007 alone. To that end, the International Advisory Board has begun discussions with humanities leaders in various parts of the world to identify affinities and shared concerns, and to explore opportunities for collaboration

Collaboration

Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...

.

CHCI is an affiliate

Affiliate

An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...

member of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Annual Meetings

CHCI’s Annual Meetings provide an opportunity for member directors and administrators to engage in stimulating intellectual dialogues about broadly defined, current issues in the humanities. Each Annual Meeting includes useful and lively workshops focused on management

Management

Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

issues, programming ideas and structures, fundraising

Fundraising

Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...

, facilities, staffing

Human resources

Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...

, and other operational challenges facing member directors and their staffs. Perhaps most importantly, each CHCI Annual Meeting provides invaluable opportunities to meet, network, and collaborate with peers and counterparts at humanities centers and institutes from around the world. Each CHCI Annual Meeting is each constructed around a broadly defined intellectual theme, and is hosted by a member center or institute. Upcoming and recent Annual Meetings include:

Recent CHCI Annual Meetings

Whose Global Humanities?

June-14-15, 2010

Cogut Center for the Humanities, Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

Dialogues of Enlightenment

June 11–13, 2009

The Institute for Advanced Research in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh

University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

The Humanities in an Age of Science

March 14–15, 2008

The Center for the Humanities, Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

Regional Logics

April 2007

The Huntington Library

The Huntington Library

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is an educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington in San Marino, in the San Rafael Hills near Pasadena, California in the United States...

, Art Collections, and Botanic Gardens

The Fate of Disciplines

April 28–29, 2006

Franke Institute for the Humanities

Franke Institute for the Humanities

The Franke Institute for the Humanities is located in Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago. It promotes sharp, rigorous scholarship in the humanities and social sciences by sponsoring research fellows, organizing talks, workshops, and conferences, and attracting participants from the...

, University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

Open to the Public?

June 17–18, 2005

Research Institute for Culture and History, Utrecht University

Utrecht University

Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....

After the Past

April 16–17, 2004

Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

International Advisory Board

Srinivas Aravamudan, President

Dean of Humanities

Duke University

Duke University

Victor Bailey

Director, Hall Center for the Humanities

University of Kansas

University of Kansas

The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...

Ian Baucom

Director, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute

Duke University

Duke University

Rosi Braidotti
Rosi Braidotti
Rosi Braidotti is a contemporary philosopher and feminist theoretician.-Biography:Braidotti, who holds Italian and Australian citizenship, was born in Italy and grew up in Australia, where she received degrees from the Australian National University in Canberra in 1977 and was awarded the...

Director, Centre for the Humanities

Utrecht University

Utrecht University

Sarah Buie

Director, Higgins School of Humanities

Clark University

Clark University

Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...

Anthony Cascardi

Director, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities

University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

James Chandler
James Chandler
James Chandler is the director of the Franke Institute for the Humanities and holds the Barbara E. & Richard J. Franke Professorship in English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago....

Director, Franke Institute for the Humanities

University of Chicago

Debjani Ganguly

Director, Humanities Research Center

The Australian National University

Marjorie Garber

Director, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts

Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts is the only building actually built by Le Corbusier in the United States, and one of only two in the Americas...

Harvard University

Robert Gibbs

Director, Jackman Humanities Institute

University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

Daniel Herwitz

Director, Institute for the Humanities

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Hsiung Ping-chen

Dean of Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Mary Jacobus
Mary Jacobus
Mary Jacobus was an executive with The New York Times Company, serving as president and general manager of The Boston Globe from January through September 2006, and then, until her death in February 2009, heading the company's Regional Media Group, overseeing 15 daily newspapers and several other...

Director, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities

The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities is an interdisciplinary research centre within the University of Cambridge for collaboration between researchers from the arts, social sciences and humanities...

(CRASSH)

University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

Caroline Levander

Director, Humanities Research Center

Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

Susan Manning

Director, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities

University of Edinburgh

Iain McCalman
Iain McCalman
Iain McCalman is an Australian historian, and research professor at the University of Sydney. He is a specialist in eighteenth-century and early-nineteenth British and European history and has a particular interest in popular culture and low life...

Director, Digital Innovation Unit for the Humanities & Social Sciences

University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

Diana Mishkova
Director, Centre for Advanced Study Sofia

Timothy Murray

Director, Society for the Humanities

Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

James Rosenheim

Director, Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

Michael Steinberg

Director, Cogut Center for the Humanities

Brown University

Wiljan van den Akker

Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Utrecht University

Utrecht University

Ann Waltner

Director, Institute for Advanced Study at University of Minnesota

Institute for Advanced Study at University of Minnesota

The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is one of six University-wide centers at the University of Minnesota. The Institute for Advanced Study supports and encourages interdisciplinary and collaborative research and creative work across the University and fosters...

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

Kathleen Woodward

Director, Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities

University of Washington, Seattle

Links to Selected CHCI Members, Partners, and Affiliates

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