The event provides a unique opportunity for more than 100 individuals representing a diverse range of organizations and institutions across the country to speak with a unified voice to Congress.
Ron Krabill (Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell) will represent the Simpson Center and the UW at Humanities Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2014. Humanities Advocacy Day was established in 2000 by the National Humanities Alliance (NHA)—an advocacy coalition dedicated to the advancement of humanities education, research, preservation, and public programs—to increase public support for the humanities.
As part of this event, Krabill will travel to Capitol Hill with other advocates as part of state delegations to urge Congressional representatives to increase funding for key humanities programs, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities. Timed to correspond with the Congressional appropriations process, the event provides a unique opportunity for more than 100 individuals representing a diverse range of organizations and institutions across the country to speak with a unified voice to Congress and other key stakeholders.
Over the last twelve years, the NHA—of which the Simpson Center is a member— has helped train, inform, and engage nearly one thousand individuals through this event, including many first-time advocates to Capitol Hill.
Krabill, who serves on the Simpson Center’s Executive Board, is Associate Dean for Graduate Education of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at UW Bothell. His research explores mass media and its impact on social life and action, teaching and learning, and the digital and public humanities. He is the author of Starring Mandela & Cosby: Media and the End(s) of Apartheid (2010) and is also a faculty advisor for the graduate Certificate in Public Scholarship program, housed at the Simpson Center.
Humanities Advocacy Day coincides with the NHA’s Annual Meeting, at which Krabill will represent the Simpson Center. This meeting gives NHA members and other leaders from around the country an opportunity to connect, assess the state of the humanities, discuss current policy issues, and explore various strategies to promote the humanities. The Annual Meetings bring together scholarly society representatives, higher education leaders, college and university faculty, independent scholars, state humanities council representatives, federal agency officials, and Members of Congress and their staff.