Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes
Established in 1988, the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes serves as a site for the discussion of issues germane to the fostering of crossdisciplinary activity and as a network for the circulation of information and the sharing of resources within the humanities and interpretive social sciences. CHCI has a membership of over 200 centers and institutes that are remarkably diverse in size and scope and are located in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Korea, Finland, Taiwan, Ireland, United Kingdom, and other countries.
Mission and History
Established in 1988, the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes serves as an arena for the discussion of issues germane to crossdisciplinary activity in the humanities and as a network for the circulation of information and best practices related to the organizational and management dimensions of humanities centers and institutes. CHCI produces a major Annual Meeting of its membership, maintains a content-rich website, produces an annual print directory, and serves as a re-circulator for information about its members via listservs and its website. Members of the Consortium also assist one another with ideas, evaluation, and other forms of service. The organization is headed by a President, and is governed by an International Advisory Board of member directors and other leaders in the humanities.CHCI was established in 1988 as the product of two meetings: The Institutional Impact of Institutes at the University of California Humanities Research Institute, convened by Murray Krieger, and an organizational meeting at the 1988 meeting of the American Council of Learned Societies, convened by E. Ann Kaplan of the Humanities Institute at Stony Brook University. These gatherings were the first moments at which directors of humanities research organizations had come together to discuss issues of mutual concern, and the major product of the meetings was a unanimous sense that it was essential to establish a consortium to continue these dialogues. Ralph Cohen of the University of Virginia served from 1988-1995 as the organization's first Chair, while CHCI administration was based at UCHRI. In its early years, the CHCI membership included over 70 members from the US and four other countries.
In 1995 CHCI operations and leadership moved to the Center for 21st Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at that time directed by Kathleen Woodward, currently Director of The Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington. During CHCI's term at UW-Milwaukee, the membership grew to over 125 organizations as new centers were opened and existing members began to expand their programs and operations. This period of time also saw the dramatic expansion of CHCI's Annual Meetings, the development of the organization's first website, and two major grants from the Rockefeller Foundation for organizational development and network-building.
In 2001 CHCI moved to the auspices of the Humanities Center at Harvard, where Director Marjorie Garber served a six-year term as President of CHCI. During Professor Garber's term, membership continued to grow, and CHCI's annual meetings grew markedly in terms of depth, scale and impact.
In 2007, CHCI operations moved to the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University, under the leadership of ex-CHCI President Srinivas Aravamudan. At Duke, CHCI began developing new programs for membership, such as a partnership with the American Council of Learned Societies.
In 2016, CHCI moved from Duke University to the Center for the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Professor Sara Guyer took over as president. In December of the same year, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation announced their decision to fund two new CHCI initiatives: and . On January 5, 2018 it was announced that CHCI would serve as a host organization for the American Council of Learned Societies's Public Fellows program.
CHCI is an affiliate member of the American Council of Learned Societies. The organization has put out statements affirming its support of federal funding for the humanities in general and for the National Endowment for the Humanities in particular.
Annual Meetings
CHCI's Annual Meetings provide an opportunity for member directors and administrators to engage in stimulating intellectual dialogues about broadly defined, current issues in the humanities. Each Annual Meeting includes useful and lively workshops focused on management issues, programming ideas and structures, fundraising, facilities, staffing, and other operational challenges facing member directors and their staffs. Perhaps most importantly, each CHCI Annual Meeting provides invaluable opportunities to meet, network, and collaborate with peers and counterparts at humanities centers and institutes from around the world. Each CHCI Annual Meeting is each constructed around a broadly defined intellectual theme, and is hosted by a member center or institute. Upcoming and recent Annual Meetings include:Recent CHCI Annual Meetings
June 13–17, 2018
Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures, University of Virginia
August 10–13, 2017
Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape
June 28 - July 1, 2016
School of Advanced Study, University of London
June 5–7, 2015
Center for the Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison
June 5–8, 2014
Research Institute for the Humanities, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
April 25–27, 2013
Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas
June 13–16, 2012
Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University
June 12–15, 2011
Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto
June 14–15, 2010
Cogut Center for the Humanities, Brown University
June 11–13, 2009
The Institute for Advanced Research in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh
March 14–15, 2008
The Center for the Humanities, Washington University in St. Louis
April 2007
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanic Gardens
April 28–29, 2006
Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago
June 17–18, 2005
Research Institute for Culture and History, Utrecht University
April 16–17, 2004
Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University
International Advisory Board
Sara Guyer, PresidentDirector, Center for the Humanities
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jean Allman
Director, Center for the Humanities
Washington University in St. Louis
Amanda Anderson
Director, Cogut Center for the Humanities
Brown University
Ian Baucom
Director, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute
Duke University
Homi K. Bhabha
Director, Mahindra Humanities Center
Harvard University
Rosi Braidotti
Director, Centre for the Humanities
Utrecht University
Judith Buchanan
Director, Humanities Research Centre
University of York
Alan K. Chan
Dean, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Nanyang Technological University
James Chandler
Director, Franke Institute for the Humanities
University of Chicago
Javier Durán
Director, Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry
University of Arizona
Debjani Ganguly
Director, Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures
University of Virginia
Elizabeth Giorgis
Director, Modern Art Museum: Gebre Kristos Desta Center
Addis Ababa University
Simon Goldhill
Director, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
University of Cambridge
Hsiung Ping-ChenSimon Goldhill
Director, Research Institute for the Humanities
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ranjana Khanna
Director, Franklin Humanities Institute
Duke University
Premesh Lalu
Director, Centre of Humanities Research
University of the Western Cape
http://www.chrflagship.uwc.ac.za/about/staff/premesh-lalu/
Jie-Hyun Lim
Director, Critical Global Studies Institute
Sogang University
Joyce C.H. Liu
Director, International Institute for Cultural Studies
National Chiao Tiung University
Lydia Liu
Director, Institute for Comparative Literature and Society
Columbia University
Helmut Muller-Sievers
Director, Center for the Humanities and the Arts
University of Colorado at Boulder
Kerill O'Neill
Director, Center for the Arts and Humanities
Colby College
Juan Obarrio
Director, Programa Sur Global
Universidad de San Martin; Johns Hopkins University
Jane Ohlmeyer
Director, Trinity Long Room Hub
Trinity College, Dublin
Robert Phiddian
Founding Director, Flinders Institute for Research in the Humanities
Flinders University
Shalini Randeria
Rector, Institute for Human Sciences ; Director, Albert Hirschman Center on Democracy
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies
Gary Tomlinson
Director, Whitney Humanities Center
Yale University
Bin Wong
Director, UCLA Asia Institute
University of California at Los Angeles
Kathleen Woodward
Director,
University of Washington, Seattle