After more than a year of preparation and anticipation, the inaugural HumanitiesX (HX) courses have launched!
DePaul’s spring quarter – and along with it, three HumanitiesX courses – began on Monday, March 28, 2022. The three HX courses engage the 2021-2022 shared theme of “Immigration and Migration” and draw from a diverse array of disciplines, including art, documentary filmmaking, history, literature, religion, and social work. Each course works closely with a community partner to apply humanities methods to tackle pressing social issues of our time. This year's courses are as follows:
In these community-engaged courses, students take their studies beyond the traditional classroom through field trips, direct interactions with community organizations and their stakeholders, and immersion in a broad range of project-based work. The courses conclude with group projects that directly benefit the nonprofit partner and the communities they serve. This year's projects include art exhibits, oral histories, videos, and website content. 
The courses are a result of a year-long fellowship program with the HumanitiesX Collaborative in which
Faculty Fellows and Community Fellows worked together to design community-engaged courses with a group-project component. Through consultation with HumanitiesX staff and regular professional development training sessions, in topics ranging from project-based learning to team teaching, these Fellows quickly became collaborators, building on each other’s strengths and laying the groundwork for successful spring courses.
In more recent weeks, the Faculty Fellows have engaged our Student Fellows, Community Partners, and HumanitiesX staff to strengthen their course syllabi and develop collaborative co-teaching practices for the classroom. Working on course development through the winter quarter gave faculty the rare opportunity to solicit feedback from students and peers and incorporate these lessons into their course planning.
Two HumanitiesX
Student Fellows will continue to contribute to each course as student assistants, providing support with class discussions, project oversight, and group facilitation.
We wish the course teams well and can’t wait to see what unfolds!