Humanities at Work

Roosevelt Montás, Ph.D.
“Liberal Education: Why, How, and For Whom”

Thursday, February 2, 2023
5 p.m.

Dr. Montás, senior lecturer in American Studies and English at Columbia, is the author of several works including Rescuing Socrates: How the Great Books Changed My Life and Why They Matter for a New Generation (Princeton, 2021).

Dr. Montás was director of the Center for the Core Curriculum at Columbia College from 2008 to 2018. He specializes in antebellum American literature and culture, with a particular interest in American citizenship.  His dissertation, Rethinking America: Abolitionism and the Antebellum Transformation of the Discourse of National Identity, won Columbia University’s 2004 Bancroft Award. In 2000, he received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student. 

This event is co-sponsored by the Vincent J. Rosivach Lecture Series in Ancient Mediterranean Studies, the Humanities Institute, and the Magis Core.

Alice Weaver Flaherty, PhD
The Midnight Disease

Wednesday, October 30, 2019
6 p.m.

Dr. Flaherty (MD, Harvard; Mass General Hospital) is a prominent neurologist who studies the neural basis of creativity. She has authored widely popular books on the topic, including The Midnight Disease, which focuses on the compulsion to write and the experience of writer’s block. She is also an eloquent public voice in defense of the role of arts and creativity in medicine. Her talk will draw from The Midnight Disease as well as new, unpublished work on the intersections between empathy, affect, art, and medicine.

This event is sponsored in part by the College of Arts and Sciences Office of the Dean, the Health Studies program, the MFA in Creative Writing program, and the Core Writing program.

Alumni Panel on the Humanities and Careers

Tuesday, March 26, 2019
6 p.m.
Barone Campus Center Oak Room

Join four Fairfield University alumni for a panel discussion and Q&A showcasing the profound impact that humanities education has on careers and society.

Featured Panelists

• Jason Mancini, PhD, (History ’94), Executive Director of Connecticut Humanities
• Courtney Darts, Esq (Art History/ English ’01), Legal Director, Pro Bono Partnership, NYC
• Matt Pecoraro, MSW (Philosophy; Classical Studies ’11), Public Policy Associate at Harvard Medical School’s Judge Baker Children's Center
• Carolyn Marino (English; Spanish & Religious Studies minor ’11), MSc International Relations (Univ. of Edinburgh), Program Coordinator, the Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University

Christopher Schaberg, PhD
“No Ideas but in Phones: Inventing the Cellular Humanities”

Thursday, November 1, 2018
6 p.m.
Kelley Center Presentation Room

Dr. Christopher Schaberg, author of The Work of Literature in an Age of Post-Truth, reflects on the increasing pervasiveness of smartphones in a range of academic, social, and economic contexts with a look at how critical humanities approaches can help us bracket and reconsider these ubiquitous, hyper-textual devices.

Dr. Schaberg is a Dorothy Harrell Brown Distinguished Professor of English at Loyola University of New Orleans and author of multiple books on postmodern cultural studies. His lecture is free and open to the public.

Christian Madsbjerg
Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm

Tuesday, November 14, 2017
7 p.m.
Dolan School of Business Dining Room

Acclaimed author and famed business strategist Christian Madsbjerg emphasizes the imperative role the humanities play in today’s data-driven marketplace in his latest book Sensemaking: The Power of Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm. Madsbjerg draws on his work with some of the world’s largest companies — Ford, Adidas, and Chanel — to address society’s overwhelming reliance on big data and prove that “sensemaking,” a holistic humanities-based approach to problem solving, is equally if not more important in running a successful business.

Madsbjerg is the founder and senior partner at ReD Associates, a strategy consulting company based in the human sciences that guides companies toward smarter strategy using the principles of anthropology and phenomenology.

This event is free and open to the public and is presented by the Humanities Institute of the College of Arts & Sciences and the Dolan School of Business.