Center for Humanities

In the first decade of the century, a few professors at Eastern Illinois University began to consider the possibility of forming a Humanities Center that would advocate for the role of the humanities in higher education in general and at EIU in particular. Under the steady hand of our founding director, Jan Marquardt, we transitioned from an idea to a functioning Center, with a modest curriculum and a speaker series. With the appointment of C.C. Wharram as director in 2014, we were granted an office, located in 1343 Doudna Fine Arts Center (next to the building’s famous “red bridge”). We continue to expand our role on campus through a Digital Humanities Initiative and student internship programs.