Undergraduate Programs

The Simpson Center for the Humanities is involved in a number of programs that support undergraduates doing independent and collaborative research in the humanities. Most prominently among our programs is the Summer Institute in the Arts & Humanities (SIAH), established in 2002 through a partnership with the Undergraduate Research Program (URP). SIAH offers undergraduates an intensive humanities research opportunity to engage in scholarly research with accomplished scholars and peers while earning full-time academic credit during the summer quarter. The Katz Scholars in the Humanities program is a Simpson Center initiative launched in 2019 to engage undergraduates in the scholarship of the annual Katz Distinguished Lecturers. Humanities First a new first-year experience program for incoming students who want to think broadly about human life, from the Humanities Division of the University of Washington College of Arts & Sciences, generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, resides in the Simpson Center suite of offices and conference rooms. Undergraduate research and learning are also the focus of several large-scale faculty-led projects, such as Pedagogies of Reciprocity and the Abolitionist Futures week-long undergraduate institute. Learn more about these programs, resources, projects, and partnerships through the links and web pages below.

Program Pages
SIAH offers a research opportunity for undergraduates to engage in scholarly research with accomplished scholars and peers while earning full-time academic credit. This scholarly experience occurs in the context of seminars and tutorial-style lessons with faculty who offer expertise from disciplinary and interdisciplinary points of view in a space that encourages mutual learning with peers as well as independent thought.
Katz Undergraduate Scholars are invited to join a diverse cohort of their peers, in the humanities and humanistic social sciences to engage with the scholarly work of our Katz Distinguished Lecturers. The Katz Distinguished Lecturers are speakers whose research in the humanities and humanistic social sciences is recognized as significant and ground-breaking at the highest levels of achievement.
In addition to these current and emerging programs, the Simpson Center has a long history of work in undergraduate education in the humanities. Many of our initiatives in this area have been supported and made possible by generous institutional and private donors. These programs include the Danz Courses in the Humanities (2001-2009) and Difficult Dialogues (2006-2008), with support from the Ford Foundation and Frederic Danz.
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