Penn Humanities Forum Programs

At the inaugural ceremony of the Penn Humanities Forum in February 1999, William Ferris, then Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, called the humanities “the intellectual air we breathe, the cultural sea we swim in. It is where humankind’s best insights into our values, traditions, and ideals can be found.”

The Penn Humanities Forum is charged with taking a fresh look at ideas that touch on the human experience. The Forum's goal is to demonstrate the importance of humanistic thought across the arts, sciences, and professions, and to invite the public and the university to discover their common stake in the "thinking arts."

Annual Topics
Addressing a different topic each year, the Forum supports an integrated program of research, teaching, and interchange with the community.

Public Events
Our annual calendar of public lectures, performances, and exhibitions, many of them free, feature renowned artists, writers, historians, scientists, philosophers, and others whose contributions have helped to shape and reshape the human experience.

Fellowships
Each year, the Forum also offers Andrew W. Mellon fellowships to students, faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and directors and curators of area cultural organizations interested in conducting research on the Forum's theme.