Supporting Humanities, Social Sciences

NC State is launching an initiative to promote the importance of the humanities and social sciences to the state and nation. Join Chancellor Randy Woodson and Jeff Braden, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, for an event titled “Heart of the Matter,” at 3 p.m. Friday, March 7, in the Hunt Library auditorium.

At the event, you’ll learn about a 2013 report of the same name produced by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and meet NC State faculty members leading a task force to advance the goals of the report in North Carolina.

Friday’s event includes a panel discussion featuring Rep. David Price; Duke University President Richard Brodhead, who co-chaired the commission that produced the report; former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, a member of the commission; and Tom Ross, president of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system.

A Stronger Society

The Heart of the Matter report was completed by the AAAS Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences at the request of a bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives, including Price.

It recommends actions that Congress, state governments, universities, foundations, educators, individual benefactors and others should take to maintain national excellence in humanities and social science scholarship and education. And it proposes ways for the United States to achieve its long-term goals for intellectual and economic well-being; build a stronger, more vibrant civil society; and ensure more successful cultural diplomacy in the 21st century.

NC State’s Heart of the Matter Task Force has been formed by political science professor Andrew Taylor and English professor Walt Wolfram. It will bring together leaders from academia, business and government to formulate strategies for implementing the report’s recommendations in the state.