UC advocates champion the role of humanities
April 2, 2024 •
On March 12, 2024, the UC Federal Government Relations (FGR) team helped organize a robust California contingent of advocates for the National Humanities Alliances’ humanities advocacy day in Washington, D.C. The annual event brings hundreds of advocates together from across the country to call for strong, sustained federal investments in the humanities.
UC FGR team members and advocates, which included students, faculty, staff and alumni from UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and San Jose State met with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and several lawmakers and their staff to share stories about how humanities have impacted their lives and discuss the need for continued federal support for humanities research and scholarship.
“The humanities are literally all around us, improving people’s daily lives by helping us better understand who we are as a society,” said UC advocate Evelyn Homan, a UC Riverside College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences student who participated in the event, and also authored a LinkedIn article for the UC Advocacy Network about why she advocates for the humanities.
To kick things off, the evening prior, advocates attended a reception with humanities leaders, including NEH Chair Shelly Lowe, which provided an opportunity for networking and exchanging ideas about humanities advocacy in higher ed – creating excitement for the day ahead.
The UC coalition began their advocacy day at the NEH, a federal agency that supports research, preservation, public programs and education in the humanities, where they met with four division directors and discussed areas of opportunties for NEH and UC to work together.
They then visited the offices of California Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler as well as California Congressmen Mark Desaulnier and John Garamendi, before meeting with Anthea Hartig, the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and an alumna of both UC Riverside and UCLA.
In the afternoon they held meetings with the staff of California Representatives Ken Calvert, Mark Takano, Barbara Lee, Mike Garcia, Julia Brownley, Eric Swalwell, Doris Matsui, Linda Sanchez and Adam Schiff.
Learn more about the UC Advocacy Network!
National Humanities Advocacy Day photos
NEH Chair Shelly Lowe with Jeremy Geffen, executive and artistic director of Cal Performances, UC Berkeley
UC and San Jose State humanities advocates meet with NEH staff
UC Riverside advocates meet with Anthea Hartig (second from the left), the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
UC Riverside advocates meet with Anthea Hartig (second from the left), the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
California Congressman Mark Desaulnier with Jeremy Geffen.
Tags: humanities, UC Advocacy Network, UC Federal Governmental Relations, UCAN, UCDC
