Structures of Communication

Establishing and running an active HCI requires a set of external and internal communication systems across multiple platforms and timelines. The sections below address some of the major structures of communication commonly found around CHCI members as well as some of the important content of those communications. In addition, it also suggests ways to create content that serve both short and long term functions.

A Web Presence

Among the many projects involved in starting a humanities center or institute, the most public-facing project will be a website. This will likely be the first place where campus and community partners will learn about the leadership and staff, the values central to the organization, and the past and current projects. When putting together a website, reflect on the following questions:

  • Who are you?
  • Who are your audiences?
  • What do you value?
  • What would you like to accomplish?

In answering these questions, organizations around CHCI use both a single page and multiple pages to succinctly explain to an unfamiliar audience the who, what, where, how, and why of their HCI. Beyond leadership and contact information, some centers, such as the Center for the Humanities at Wesleyan University, provide a brief history of the HCI, its inaugural projects/events, or a description of its setting. All of these pieces provide important context and points of connection to campus and the community at large.

As the website will likely be the first place many people will look, make sure it is clear where visitors can find:

  • Leadership
  • Contact information

As with all humanities projects, take time early in the process to think about the intended audiences and the communities served. To this end, some CHCI member organizations use their websites to highlight and connect to their campus and community partners. The Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere at the University of Florida list not only their memberships and campus partners, but also their connections to their local community (in Gainesville and Alacuah County, Florida). More commonly, organizations--like the Dalhem Humanities Center at Freie University Berlin—list all the affiliated humanities faculty. Both show in clear ways to whom the center is connected.

  • Affiliated Organizations – Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere – University of Florida
  • Members – Dahlem Humanities Center – Freie University Berlin

There are many approaches to explaining the work of an HCI, as attested by the webpages of CHCI’s member organizations. The International Center for Critical Studies at National Chiao Tung University (Taiwan) uses the form of the “Director’s Message” to highlight their guiding principles. In contrast, the Critical Global Studies Institute at Sogang University (S. Korea) separates out the director’s message from its vision statement. The Centre for Humanities Research at the University of Western Cape (S. Africa) bundles them all together. Finally, others have found that a listing of their objectives is more suitable to their institutional identity, like the Humanities Research Centre at Australia National University.

  • Director’s Message – International Center for Critical Studies
  • Vision – Critical Global Studies Institute – Sogang University
  • About – Centre for Humanities Research – University of the Western Cape
  • Objectives – Humanities Research Centre – Australia National University

Beyond simply stating intended projects, consider a public statement of the values that are critical to the humanistic inquiries underway. Explicating values provides an organizing framework for the types of activities to be coordinated, a thematic through-line for invited speakers, and a common language for leadership, staff, and stakeholders. The Centro de Estudos Comparatistas and the Folger Institute go a step further in creating codes of conduct for their affiliates. The Newberry Library’s website features a Land Acknowledge statement, highlighting the indigenous communities displaced from the region.

Examples of About pages from around CHCI:

  • About – CRASSH
  • About – Bucknell University
  • About Us – University of Michigan
  • Mission – University of Washington Simpson Center
  • About – Humanities Studio - Pomona College
  • Mission – International Institute
  • About – Center for the Humanities – Wesleyan University
  • About – Institute of Advanced Study – University of Ghana
  • About – Institute of Philosophy, Zagreb
  • About – Dr. Constance M. Carroll Humanities Institute - San Diego Mesa College

UMBC Drescher Center

Aligning Budgets with Values

Values statements also provide a framework for analyzing financial dimensions of an HCI. When writing an annual budget, consider whether the projects supported are ultimately speaking to values at the heart of the organization. If not, consider ways to reshape programs and spending such that the money leaving the HCI is supporting causes and communities in need.

Aligning budget with values does not necessarily mean increasing the money spent or shifting funding. It can also mean adding no-cost partnerships, providing support, or actively listening to campus and community members.

Archiving, Assessments, and Reporting

Institutional Knowledge

Often, institutional knowledge is often carried forward by a single individual. Whether starting or taking over a center, consider a long-term project of centralizing all the institutional knowledge spread out across staff. A protocol manual that serves as a repository of procedures, processes, and contacts will help smooth over disruptions in staff and provide continuity across turnover. As with any such text, regular updates will be helpful.

  • When creating a digital manual, make sure that the document is password protected, especially if it contains sensitive personal and institutional information.

Archiving

An established archiving practice will be invaluable not only for staff, but also for the HCI’s internal and external stakeholders. As early as possible, consider the afterlife of events and programs:

  • Will events live on after completion?
  • Is it possible record audio or video? Are facilities and personnel available to edit audio or video content?
  • Have participants been alerted about the possibility of recording?
  • Who will write a summary for your website or social media?
  • Will someone take pictures?
  • Finally, how would you explain this event in a report to stakeholders?

One way to create synergy is to appoint an individual to provide brief, public summaries of events that will live online. The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities does this and, as a result, they have assembled a vast archive of materials highlighting the vibrancy of their activities. The Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and Humanities Institute provides both audio and video content of many of their events and their staff break out clips that are circulated on their social media. While not all HCIs have these resources, such online content creates visibility for campus and community partners.

  • Resources – The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities – University of Oxford
  • Media – Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute - Trinity College Dublin

Consolidating all the materials of an event in a single place will also make reporting and grant applications much smoother. Keeping as much detailed information about your events and programs—especially attendance, tangible outcomes, completed projects, and the like—will prove invaluable when making the case for the value of your HCI to your institution’s administrators. As an example, the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University whose archive webpage features every event, grant, and project undertaken at the institute since 1983. Another option is to provide a comprehensive review of larger events, as the Ateliers de le Pensee does for their workshops.

Some members of CHCI have also maintained a practice of profiling partners. The Texas Tech Humanities Center regularly posts question-and-answer format profiles with affiliated faculty members in their “Humanities Featured Scholars” series. The UCLA Humanities College interviews graduate and undergraduate students working in departments across the university. At the Penn State Center for Humanities and Information, past and current fellows are featured in online profiles.

UK Gaines Center for the Humanities

Program Assessments

A periodic program assessment is encouraged to better understand successful projects, places for improvement, and whether programming is meeting the center’s goals and values. That said, event evaluation and program assessment can become time-consuming and overwhelming projects. Rather than just assessing all events at all times, develop an assessment project that is time-bound and focused on specific ends.

  • What specifically do you want to learn about your events and programs?
  • What do you intend to do with that information when you have it?

If time, staff, and interest permits, conduct event evaluations for each part of your programs. For high response rates, evaluations are best conducted anonymously, in person, in writing, and at end of the event with a mix of multiple choice (especially a Likert scale [strongly disagree, disagree, agree, etc.]) and open-ended questions. Logging evaluations will provide data that can be used in annual reports or grant applications. Online evaluations are another option, though there is a tendency for these to yield low response rates and capture only the extremes of participant experience. The Arts & Humanities Research Institute (AHRI) at King’s College London provides a brief introduction to event evaluation that offers some valuable framing questions and considerations.

Another strategy is to invite individuals for open discussion on their experiences and engagement. Once a year or once a semester, invite humanities chairs for a non-agenda lunch to brainstorm or get feedback on what they would like to see or explore how the HCI can help their program, faculty, and students. When approached with open-mindedness, such informal interviews can build affinity between HCIs and students, faculty, and community members.

UMBC Drescher Center

Reporting

Reports are inevitable part of the granting process and a feature of higher education. To ease the reporting process, collect information on programs and projects from the beginning.

Common metrics that end up in reports:

  • Events held
  • Event attendance (individual and collective)
  • Grant applications
    • Applications by department/field
    • Applications by faculty rank
    • Applications by gender, demographic information
  • Alumni placement
  • Projects started or completed during affiliation

Try to keep yourselves accountable and make equity, inclusion, and antiracism a feature of your annual report or intermittent assessment.

The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures provides 9 “Impact case studies” that explore the broad influence of humanities research on campus and in the wider community. Each case study describes the projects and highlights the projects or outcomes that it delivered. HCIs with publishing capacity keep public display of the publications emerging from their centers, such as the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia. The Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison provides a selected list of publications from former fellows.

  • Annual Report - Calgary Institute for the Humanities - University of Calgary