CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities has been formally recognized for its leading role in fostering humanities research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved the program for institute status, and it is now known as the Humanities Research Institute.
The elevation to an institute better reflects the campus-level collaborations it fosters and the depth and vibrancy of its programs, according to the proposal for the change in status. It also formally provides the structural equivalence to the other interdisciplinary research centers on campus such as the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, and the Prairie Research Institute, among others.
“The Humanities Research Institute brings together scholars from disciplines across campus to examine the most urgent issues facing our society, from race to education to the environment,” Chancellor Robert Jones said. “This change signifies the important work in humanities research being done on our campus. We look forward to how they will help to explore these complex topics and generate new ideas and solutions in the years to come.”
“It is the center for humanities research on a really diverse, complex campus that skews toward STEM. In the institute portfolio, it is the only unit dedicated to the humanities,” said Antoinette Burton, who has served as the IPRH director since 2015. “It’s really important to remind people that humanists do research that contributes to the national and international standing of a Research 1 institution.”
The campus strategic plan called for upgrading the status of the program to an institute. The change required approval by the campus Senate, the Board of Trustees and the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
IPRH was established in 1997 to promote interdisciplinary study in the humanities, arts and social sciences. It was originally housed within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. To reflect its status as a campuswide asset and the involvement of faculty members from across campus, the program moved in 2015 to report to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, which also oversees the other campus research institutes.
Burton has been a strong voice for the humanities within that group, and she’s raised the profile of the institute by seeking out partnerships with researchers throughout campus, said Susan Martinis, the vice chancellor for research and innovation.
Burton also has developed strong relationships with the The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The American Council of Learned Societies, giving national recognition to Illinois research and successfully securing competitive grant funding, Martinis said. Since receiving its first Mellon grant for $1.25 million in 2009, the institute has been awarded $12 million in external grants.
The Mellon Foundation provides grant funding for the Humanities Without Walls consortium of 15 institutions led by Illinois that promotes collaborative research and teaching and leads national conversations about the future of collaborative research and career diversity in the humanities.
The elevation to institute status will add significant campus funding to the Humanities Research Institute, which will allow more staffing for research initiatives, project management and communication. The biggest impact has been the expansion of graduate student fellowships, which are now more than doubled, Burton said.
The institute hosts conferences, readings, lectures and panel discussions, and it provides fellowships to faculty members and doctoral students, research prizes, events grants and undergraduate research opportunities. It supports outreach such as the Odyssey Project, which offers income-eligible adult learners a series of discussion-focused core humanities courses, with critical support from LAS.
The institute has fostered research and undergraduate curriculum development in three emerging interdisciplinary areas – the biohumanities, the environmental humanities and, to launch this fall, the legal humanities.
“The Humanities Research Institute is coming into being when the world needs the humanities more than ever,” Burton said. “Scientists are really good at demonstrating how their technologies and discoveries are indispensable to crises like COVID-19. Humanists have insights and knowledge that are equally important for shaping things like public health, education and taking on the structural inequalities at the heart of social, cultural and political systems. These are the kinds of issues that humanists bring to the fore, and which are critical for tackling the new world we see being demanded in response to COVID-19 and deep legacies of violence and oppression against black people and other racialized communities.
“We have a lot to say about how we got here and a lot of thinking to do about how we can drive the future,” she said. “I’m ready to forge new solidarities and to join the work ahead. And the Humanities Research Institute is open to all those who want that challenge, too.”