MIT’s Comparative Global Humanities initiative (GHI) is hosting its Third Annual Conference on What is the Business of the Humanities? on November 8 & 9, 2024, at Dominican University of California. Co-hosted with the Francoise O. Lepage Center for Global Innovation at Dominican University of California, we convene scholars and leaders from Higher Education, business, and philanthropy to explore and reimagine the “Business of the Humanities” in today’s business-and-STEM-driven world. How can we expand the cognitive & creative, ethical & social, healthful & playful contributions of the humanities to our world and its pressing challenges, beyond their traditional role as producer of scholars and educators? What new leadership roles could humanities graduates and scholars play in our societies? What should the “Business of the Humanities” include today? How can we reimagine the humanities in order to create a shared future for our world’s communities? A future that realigns people’s, scholars’, and governments’ attention, intention, and agency, with tools of human making, namely the humanities, STEM, and business?
The conference will be held over two days, in hybrid fashion, to allow more colleagues, students, and partners from around the world to join on zoom. The Friday sessions are all open to the public; Saturday sessions are reserved for members of the Global Humanities Initiative.
When: Friday, Nov 8, 2024, 10:00 AM – 20:00 PM (PST)/ Saturday, Nov 9, 2024, 08:30 AM – 20:00AM (PST)
Where: The Guzman Lecture Hall at Dominican University of California (Hybrid)
Co-hosts: MIT Global Humanities Initiative & MIT Literature/ Françoise Lepage Center for Global Innovation at Dominican University of California
Program Schedule
Friday, November 8
10:00-10:40 Welcoming Remarks and Opening Pitches
Sherry Wangenheim (Vice President for Finance and Administration, Dominican University of California)
Wayne de Fremery (Professor of Information Science and Entrepreneurship, Director of the Françoise Lepage Center of Global Innovation, Dominican University of California)
Wiebke Denecke (S. C. Fang Professor of Chinese Language and Culture, Faculty Lead of Comparative Global Humanities initiative, MIT)
Keynote Address
John Silvanus Wilson (Former President of Morehouse College, Former Director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, Author: Hope and Healing: Black Colleges and the Future of American Democracy (Harvard Ed Press, 2023))
“The Unfinished Business of Higher Education”
10:40-12:25 The Business of the Humanities Lightening Talks
SESSION 1
(Moderated by Apollo Demirel, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Dominican University of California)
10:40-10:55 Otto Scharmer (MIT Sloan School of Management, Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute)
“Reimagining the 21st Century University and Business School in the Face of Our Polycrisis: How the Essence of Humanities Is Key for Creating Transformation Literacy across Disciplines”
10:55-11:10 Thomas Cavanagh (Associate Professor of Management, Dominican University of California)
“Rethinking the Business of Teaching Business”
11:10-11:25 Wayne de Fremery (Professor of Information Science and Entrepreneurship, Dominican University of California)
“Deep Learning and the Humanities”
11:25-11:40 Coffee Break
11:40-11:55 Shankar Raman (Professor in the Literature Section, MIT)
“The Busy-ness of the Humanities”
11:55-12:10 Judy Halebsky, (Director of the MFA, Professor of English, Dominican University of California)
“PoBiz: The Business of Poetry”
12:10-12:25 Michael Puett (Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology and Director of the Asia Center, Harvard University)
“How to Read the World: Working Across the Humanities, Economics, and AI”
12:25-14:00 Lunch
14:00–16:00 The Business of the Humanities Lightening Talks
SESSION 2
(Moderated by Tristan Brown, S.C. Fang Chinese Language and Culture Career Development Professor, MIT)
14:00-14:15 Hap Klopp (Former CEO of The North Face and Lecturer, Dominican University of California)
“Democratizing Access to the Deep Wilderness”
14:15-14:30 Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (Fellow, Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania)
“Asian Medicine in the World: Towards Affecting Deep Systems of Healing”
14:30-14:45 Tristan Brown (S.C. Fang Chinese Language and Culture Career Development Professor, MIT)
“Wind, Water, and Artificial Intelligence: Appraising Fengshui in Chinese Real Estate with Machine Learning”
14:45-15:00 Michaela George (Associate Professor, Global Public Health Program, Dominican University of California and Benjamin Rosenberg (Associate Professor of Psychology, Dominican University of California)
“The Local Business of Global Health”
15:00-15:15 Or Porath (Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University)
“Is there a Historical Link between Deifying Animals and Animal Welfare?”
15:15-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30-15:45 Wiebke Denecke (S. C. Fang Professor of Chinese Language and Culture, MIT)
“Mapping the Humanities’ Business Ground-up: Kyoto 800, Göttingen 1830, Boston 2024”
15:45-16:00 Xavier G. Buck (Executive Director, Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation)
“Narrative Control and the Business of Legacy”
16:00-16:15 Alexander Forte (Assistant Professor of Classics, NYU)
“Human Relations and the Relational Mind”
16:15-16:30 Alicia Stevens (PhD, Gates Cambridge Scholar, Cambridge Heritage Research Centre, University of Cambridge)
“The Other Davos: How Arts & Culture Changed the World Economic Forum and What it Means for the Future of Corporate Social Responsibility”
16:30-18:30 Dinner
18:30–20:00 Roundtable Discussion on the Business of the Humanities
(Moderated by Wayne de Fremery, Professor of Information Science and Entrepreneurship, Director of the Françoise Lepage Center of Global Innovation, Dominican University of California)
Nicola Pitchford (President, Dominican University of California)
Otto Scharmer (MIT Sloan School of Management, Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute)
Michael Puett (Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology and Director of the Asia Center, Harvard University)
Wiebke Denecke (S. C. Fang Professor of Chinese Language and Culture, MIT)
Saturday, November 9
(Closed sessions for members of the Global Humanities Initiative)
08:30-10:20 Project Working Groups
10:20-10:40 Coffee Break
10:40-11:40 Presentations of Working Groups
11:40-13:30 Working Groups Makerspace
13:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-16:30 Wine Tasting at Viansa
18:00–20:00 Dinner
Collective Conversations: MIT’s Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) and the Global Humanities Initiative (GHI)
For further information, please feel free to contact Johann Noh, the program coordinator of GHI at noh1214@mit.edu.