Working Groups (WGs) seek to advance interdisciplinary research, teaching and/or best practices in the humanities. The UF Humanities Center liaises with different WGs to help foster dynamic partnerships between faculty from diverse fields, students, and community members. Through collaborative work, WGs reach across and beyond individual disciplines to produce outcomes that broadly further the mission of the humanities, including but not limited to publications, digital projects, creative works, teaching resources, professional development, public programming, grant applications, and/or certificate programs.
Please note, the Humanities Center does not offer funding for WGs. However, WGs may apply for internal funding for support. WGs are expected to organize their own meetings and events. For information about how you can get involved with an existing WG, please email the group’s contact directly or visit their website. If you are interested in sharing information about your group on our page, please contact humanities-center@ufl.edu. If you wish to start a new WG, please contact Jamie Ahlberg, the Rothman Chair and Director for the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere.
Collective for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medicine and Culture (CISMaC)
The CISMaC facilitates projects that transcend disciplinary barriers and connect medical study with other fields, promoting work on the history of medicine, literature and medicine, medicine and the arts, health and ethics, intersections of health and gender, ethnicities and race, and, ideally, new inquiries not yet imaginable.
Coasts, Climates, the Humanities, and the Environment Consortium
Professors Barbara Mennel of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Ken Sassaman of the Department of Anthropology, Jack Davis of the Department of History, Terry Harpold of the Department of English, and Cynthia Barnett of the College of Journalism and Communications, and MA student Ryan Lester in Mass Communication are participating in the Coasts, Climates, the Humanities, and the Environment Consortium (CCHEC) funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Nicholas Allen, Abraham Baldwin Professor in Humanities and Director of the Willson Center for Humanities and Art at the University of Georgia, leads the partnership of the University of Georgia, Louisiana State University, the University of Florida, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as an alliance of regional stakeholders. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $150,000 two-year grant and extended it for one year because of Covid-19 to pilot This consortium of research institutions and their public partners study coasts, climates, and the environmental humanities. This award acknowledges the importance of collaboration for addressing urgent issues in environmental humanities, particularly as they pertain to the South-East region of the United States.
Digital Humanities Working Group (DHWG)
The DHWG is an interdisciplinary group of faculty, staff, and graduate students who meet monthly to discuss specific projects and opportunities for the humanities in a digital age.
Ethics in the Public Sphere
Ethics in the Public Sphere is an interdisciplinary, collaborative project that explores how to engage the moral dimensions of contemporary social and political issues. Our coordinating committee include Jaime Ahlberg (Philosophy), April Hines (Libraries), Anna Peterson (Religion), and Kim Walsh-Childers (Journalism). We provide resources for faculty, students, and the broader community through individual courses, teaching resources, and a variety of campus and community events, including panel discussions, “Ethics Cafés,” and public “Ethics on Tap” events focused on current social and political quandaries. Our three “pillars” are ethical reflection, information literacy, and active engagement in the public sphere.
Impact of Materials on Society (IMOS)
The IMOS working group is a partnership of UF faculty from engineering, liberal arts and sciences, and education with the national Materials Research Society (MRS) to develop an introductory level course that combine studies in materials engineering with material culture. This team-taught introductory course is aimed at college freshman and teaches students that engineering shapes and is shaped by social and cultural variables, and that a career in engineering is not only about math and science, but also about social problem-solving.
Science Fiction Working Group
SFWG is an interdisciplinary scholarly alliance of University of Florida faculty, researchers, and graduate students working in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and utopian studies. Through collaboration in research, teaching, and the organization of symposia, conferences, lectures, and film screenings, we promote sf studies at the University of Florida and work to raise the University’s profile in this important field.