The 2026 cohort of HumanitiesX fellows includes four teams, each comprised of one or two faculty members from DePaul's College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, a community partner from a Chicago-area nonprofit organization, and one Student Fellow, who is selected through a competitive application process and joins the collaborative in April.
Each team collaboratively develops a HumanitiesX course on one of the three HumanitiesX themes (Immigration and Migration, The Environment: Crisis and Action, or Democracy and Rights) to be offered to DePaul students in Autumn Quarter 2026.
Team Chicago Immigrant Orchestra
Music and Chicago Immigrant Communities
Drawing on the methods of applied anthropology and ethnography, students will partner with the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra to conduct ethnographic observation and interviews with ensemble members, exploring how music, migration, and intercultural performance shape community. Students will share their work at a public performance co-curated with the ensemble.
Team Chicago Parks Foundation
Searching for Democracy in Chicago's Public Sculpture
In partnership with the Chicago Parks Foundation, students will explore how Chicago's public art and monuments engage ideas about democracy and rights. Special emphasis will be on sculptures of Abraham Lincoln. The course culminates in a student created public event and tour in one of the city's parks.
Team Indo-American Center
Finding Home: Narratives as Tools of Belonging
Personal histories of migration and displacement are powerful tools for belonging. In partnership with the Indo-American Center, students will interview first-generation South Asian immigrants about their experiences with migration, displacement, and belonging. From these interviews, students will craft short hybrid films that combine documentary with creative elements. The films will be screened at a community event.
Team John Howard Association
Finding Home: Exploring Migrant Housing Challenges and Solutions via Interactive Storytelling
This course examines prisons as critical sites for testing the strength of democracy, accountability, and human rights. Students will evaluate the roles of courts, government agencies, advocacy groups, and impacted communities in overseeing prisons. In partnership with the John Howard Association, the class engages with the lived experiences of those incarcerated and will culminate in a public event.