Director
Richard
Neer
Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke Distinguished Service Professor in Art History, Cinema & Media Studies, and the College
Interim Director, July 2024-June 2025
Michèle
Lowrie
Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Service Professor in Classics and in the College
Associate Director
Margot
Browning
Assistant Director
Mai
Vukcevich
Manager, Finance and Events
Vee
Bonney
About
The Franke Institute (formerly the Chicago Humanities Institute) was founded in 1990 to establish both a dedicated physical place for humanistic thinkers to do their work and a catalytic initiative to bring together for examination and discussion the best current ideas on humanities topics. It is at once a research center - a space for developing ideas and setting up the basis for intellectual engagements and confrontations - and a public venue where challenge takes place and where results are performed and tested. Current initiatives include the Center for Disciplinary Innovation, the Algorithms, Models, and Formalisms Project, and the Big Problems curriculum in the College.