The Higgins School of Humanities affirms the centrality of the arts and humanities to our lives and the values of a liberal arts education.
Founded in 1986, the Higgins School of Humanities works to enhance the intellectual and cultural life of Clark University by fostering connection between the humanities disciplines (English, Foreign Languages, Visual and Performing Arts, Philosophy, and History). We support teaching and research through grant programs, public events and campus-wide initiatives.
At Clark, we believe that humanistic inquiries and practices are crucial to our development as intellectually curious, socially engaged, and ethically oriented beings. In cultivating the ability to read great texts and artistic forms, to frame analyses and arguments on the most important questions, to speak and listen with open intensity, and to examine our own deepest assumptions, the humanities bring the large questions of value and purpose to life for undergraduates. Learning through the humanities and arts grounds an individual's capacity to engage with societal complexities — by developing historical, cultural, literary, linguistic, and philosophical consciousness, and encouraging empathic and aesthetic ways of knowing.
