Teaching the Publicly Engaged Humanities to Undergraduates Workshop Series

HumanitiesX, DePaul University's Experiential Humanities Collaborative, and the University of Arizona's Department of Public and Applied Humanities have partnered since 2024 to host the annual Teaching the Publicly Engaged Humanities to Undergraduates Workshop Series.

Held each summer, these workshops connect faculty across disciplines and institutions to each other and with community practitioners, to share and discuss approaches to teaching project-based, applied, public, or community-engaged humanities.

Each workshop features three or four presenters who give short (15-minute) presentations. Presentations are followed by a Q&A and a guided activity and/or discussion for participants, related to the workshop's theme. All workshop presenters also share a takeaway resource (e.g., a sample syllabus, an assignment sheet and grading rubric, a recommended reading(s), etc.).

Since its inception, the series has brought together attendees from more than 30 institutions across 18 states and three countries. Faculty presenters represent a range of humanities disciplines, and community practitioners have included community archivists and museum professionals.

Their work bridges theoretical research with applied, community-engaged pedagogy, transforming traditional humanities inquiry into tangible public projects, including the development of mobile walking tour applications for urban history, the curation of digital archives and physical museum exhibitions, the production of ethnographic theater, and public art installations.

2026 Summer Workshop Series

Panel and Conversation
DIY Media-Making and the Public Humanities
Tuesday, July 14, 2026  |  3:00pm-4:30pm CST on Zoom
DIY media forms are low-cost, accessible by design, and produced and circulated with a grassroots ethos. This session brings together educators and practitioners who have integrated DIY media-making into their humanities classrooms, engaging students in making audio stories for community radio, fieldwork-based comics, zines, and artists’ books. These genres encourage creativity and collaboration, and can serve as both modes of inquiry and tools for advocacy and knowledge sharing. The session concludes with a 30-minute facilitated conversation focused on integrating DIY media-making into attendees' own courses.

This event is free, but registration is required.

Register today!
Yoalli Rodríguez Aguilera

M. Yoalli Rodriguez Aguilera

Sonic Humanities: Community Public Radio, Storytelling, and Community Engagement as Pedagogy

<div class="ck-content"><p>DePaul University</p></div>

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Dr. Kishauna Soljour

Visualizing Environmental Justice: Public Humanities, Comics, and Community Collaboration

<div class="ck-content"><p>San Diego State University</p></div>

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Anjelika Deogirikar Grossman

Teaching with Artists' Books and Zines

<div class="ck-content"><p>Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program</p></div>

Panel and Conversation
Building and Benefiting from Collaborative Infrastructures in the Publicly Engaged Humanities
Thursday, July 16, 2026  |  11:00am-12:30pm CST on Zoom
In “Building and Benefiting from Collaborative Infrastructures in the Publicly Engaged Humanities,” leading educators will highlight different ways humanities faculty can draw on or build collaborative infrastructures to marshal the resources necessary for reciprocal partnerships and successful courses. The workshop highlights three tactics—cross-course collaboration, connecting a class with an existing national project, and building and sustaining a regional network of faculty, community partner organizations, and students—sharing how these infrastructures were leveraged and what they helped achieve.  Attendees will also have the opportunity to discuss these tactics with panelists.

This event is free, but registration is required.

Register today!
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Megan Moran & John Soboslai

Mapping Foodways Together: Cross-Course Collaboration in the Digital Humanities

<div class="ck-content"><p>Humanities+ Lab, Montclair State University</p></div>

Carolina Villalba.png

Carolina Villalba

From Local to Trans-Local Storytelling: Sustaining Public Humanities Through Community Partnerships

<div class="ck-content"><p>Florida International University, MMC</p></div>

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Brice Nordquist

Sustaining Publicly Engaged Humanities: Building Networks, Partnerships, and Pathways

<div class="ck-content"><p>Engaged Humanities Network, Syracuse University</p></div>

Past Workshop Themes

Centering Embodied Experience in Public Humanities Projects 
Designing Exhibits and Tours for the Public 
Collaboration in Public Humanities Courses and Partnerships 
Studio and Design-Thinking Methods in Public Humanities Courses 
Creative Arts with and for Partners in Public Humanities Courses 

You can learn more about the presenters and topics covered in past workshops by reading our annual series recaps. If you would like to be notified when our next Call for Proposals becomes available (typically in May), please fill out this brief form.

For additional pedagogical readings and resources, check out the HumanitiesX Resources Page and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for information about future events and workshops.