Swarthmore

BLSE Summer Institute for Engaged Humanities

Bring the humanities to life. The Institute’s interdisciplinary curriculum connects the humanities to current issues and to the stories that communities tell about the environment, human and natural history, cultural identity, social conflict and justice, and the act of storytelling itself. 

Go to town! Place-based approaches integrate the arts and humanities and provide a living context for your learning. Class trips to Philadelphia’s museums, art galleries, historical and literary archives, public spaces, monuments, performances, or other attractions extend your reading and research and give you unique opportunities to learn by doing in conversation with other stakeholders.

Embrace the collaborative nature of education. Engage with graduate and advanced undergraduate students, K-12 teachers and working professionals, and other life-long learners, and build intergenerational mentoring networks that last a lifetime. A dynamic team of scholars, artists, and community and Swarthmore College partners serve as your guides. 

Refresh your imagination. Monday through Friday, classes, labs, field trips, methodology workshops, and other on-campus and off-campus events enrich your days – inspiring you to explore, experiment, and create. A celebratory symposium of student presentations caps off the session with aplomb!

Take the experience home. Earn two units (six semester-hours) of graduate credit toward your master’s or undergraduate degree, or 60 professional development hours. Develop creative practices and projects that can transform your daily life, community, or school. And come away from the session prepared to put the humanities to work as a foundation for innovative pedagogies, community-building, public action, and creative production.

Academic Program

Requirements 

Your two-unit program of study is anchored on a single master’s-level course, with an affiliated humanities lab and an integrated independent project, all closely mentored by the same professor.

Classes (of 5-6) and the student body (of up to 50) are small and maximize opportunities for individualized and collaborative learning.

Humanities labs give you practice in using methods and resources that connect the course material to the public sphere. The labs are complemented by weekly all-school workshops that explore innovative models of humanities-based engagement.  

Independent study gives you a chance to develop your own public-facing research or action project, which may use creative, critical, or pedagogical methods. You’ll share your project’s accomplishments with Institute peers and community allies at the Institute symposium. 

Schedule

Classes and labs meet on campus daily, Monday through Friday, for a combined total of roughly 13 hours per week. You should expect to spend an additional 7-8 hours per week on your independent reading, research, writing, and revising.  

Location and Activities

Set within the Scott Arboretum and Gardens, roughly 15 miles from downtown Philadelphia, Swarthmore College provides an ideal home base – giving you easy access to a vibrant urban environment while you live and learn within a beautiful natural museum. 

The Swarthmore College campus is home to the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, which supports engaged scholarship and civic action. Campus facilities include the Lang Performing Arts Center, the Lang Music Building and Concert Hall, as well as a film and media center. The campus also houses a number of sports facilities, a rose garden, a stunning outdoor amphitheater, and endless places to walk and reflect.

Philadelphia offers a diverse array of cultural institutions and attractions to ground and inspire your work: the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Penn Museum, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell Center, the National Constitution Center, the Museum of the American Revolution, the Underground Railroad Museum, the Rare Book Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Theater of the Living Arts, and the Paul Robeson House, to name only a few.  You’ll also be able to explore the outdoors in area locations like the Rail Park, Valley Forge, Longwood Gardens, and the Schuylkill and Delaware River Trails.

The Swarthmore campus is readily accessible from Philadelphia by train, air, and car.

Lodging and Meals

You will be housed with a roommate in double-occupancy rooms in one of Swarthmore’s air-conditioned residence halls, where you’ll have access to lounges, kitchens, and free laundry facilities. Linens are provided.

On-campus students will join the board plan, which covers three meals per day and gives you the option of spending your allocated meal dollars at local restaurants.

For an additional fee, spouses or partners who will be in residence with you for the full session can be housed in your room. Off-campus rentals near Swarthmore may be expensive and difficult to find; there will, however, be limited family housing available on campus for students with children. Please reach out to Karen Browne to inquire about availability and cost.

Questions?

Please reach out to Karen Browne, Swarthmore campus coordinator, at kbrowne@middlebury.edu. 

Please note: International students who are outside the U.S. must contact ISSS to determine whether Middlebury can provide visa support for this program.