If there is one thing about which virtually all humanities professors, university administrators, and state legislators seem to agree these days, it's that the humanities are in a state of crisis, their enrollments in precipitous decline and their prestige at an ebb. Students, their parents, and policymakers still want things from our colleges; it's just that what they want, according to the current consensus, are economists, engineers, life scientists, and psychologists—not literary critics or visual artists. That, however, is where the agreement ends. When it comes to figuring out why the humanities are in crisis—and what is to be done about it—there seems to be no agreement at all. To some commentators, the humanities have gotten too impractical; our students want something more than obscurantist theories preoccupied with relativizing and "problematizing" everything. To others, however, the humanities are most in danger precisely when they get too applied; instead, they implore students to spend more time in disinterested contemplation. Which is it? Or is it possible that both critiques, and their attendant solutions, are missing the plot?
Christina Ciocca Eller, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies
With the rise of accountability in higher education, colleges and universities are sharing more data than ever before concerning their "performance"—...
Karen Brennan, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Creating opportunities for students to have choice in and control over their learning is an essential component of designing powerful and meaningful learning...
Soyoung Lee, Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator, Harvard Art Museums
The terms "curation" and "curating" have become ubiquitous expressions nearly divorced from the art world. It seems one can "curate" one's dinner table, one's daily outfit, one...
Steven Hyman, Distinguished Service Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, and Former Provost of Harvard University
Project-based classes can deeply engage students in authentic learning, but they can also be complicated...
If there is one thing about which virtually all humanities professors, university administrators, and state legislators seem to agree these days, it's that the humanities are in a state of crisis, their enrollments in precipitous decline and their prestige at an ebb. Students, their parents, and policymakers still want things from our colleges; it's just that what they want, according to the current consensus, are economists, engineers, life scientists, and psychologists—not literary critics or visual artists. That, however, is where the agreement ends. When it comes to figuring out why the humanities are in crisis—and what is to be done about it—there seems to be no agreement at all. To some commentators, the humanities have gotten too impractical; our students want something more than obscurantist theories preoccupied with relativizing and "problematizing" everything. To others, however, the humanities are most in danger precisely when they get too applied; instead, they implore students to spend more time in disinterested contemplation. Which is it? Or is it possible that both critiques, and their attendant solutions, are missing the plot?
Science is an active, hands-on discipline that involves problem solving, technical skill development, and data interpretation. Teaching science, however, is all-too-often a two-dimensional PowerPoint full of facts, equations, and diagrams to memorize. How do we transition our science education to look more like our science in practice?... 
Christina Ciocca Eller, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies
Robin Bernstein, Dillon Professor of American History; Professor of African and African American Studies and of Studies of Women, Gender, & Sexuality
Karen Brennan, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Michael Pollan, Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer and Professor of the Practice of Non-Fiction
Soyoung Lee, Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator, Harvard Art Museums
