Drawing on E. O. Wilson’s renaming of the Anthropocene as the Eremocene, or Age of Loneliness, Newman’s talk will consider the crisis of climate change as a Constitutional crisis as well as a crucial moment for the intervention of the humanities. In other words, how can we consider the role of the humanities in confronting the ecological crisis?

This talk is free and open to the public, but we ask that you RSVP. A reception will follow in the Humanities Center on the first floor of Humanities Gateway.

About the speaker

Robert Newman is the president and director of the National Humanities Center, the only independent institute for advanced study in the world dedicated exclusively to the humanities. He was previously dean of the College of Humanities, professor of English, and associate vice president for interdisciplinary studies at the University of Utah, where he was widely recognized for dramatically increasing support for the college, expanding its programs, and broadening campus diversity. In addition to establishing a new humanities building on campus, he established the country’s first graduate program in environmental humanities and led the creation of the Taft/Nicholson Center for Environmental Humanities in Centennial Valley, Montana. He also has held faculty appointments at the University of South Carolina, Texas A&M University, and the College of William and Mary.