Project History
The Legacies of the Enlightenment Project was designed and created by Michigan State University professor, Valentina Denzel, and Penn State University professor, Tracy Rutler, in 2016 in response to a call for projects from the Humanities Without Walls consortium. The call from HWW invited groups of faculty and graduate students to propose research projects that responded to a central question: “What is the role of the Humanities in a changing climate?” Professors Denzel and Rutler worked to assemble an international team of scholars and students with two major goals:
First, to create a large-scale website that would assemble research and teaching materials for academics and non-academics alike organized around the theme of the legacies of the Enlightenment that have shaped our world from the 18th century to the present day.
Second, to create a symposium that will gather professors, graduate students, and undergraduate students, giving students a space to meet others who share their interests and to receive feedback that will help them to revise an article, chapter, or artistic project for publication/presentation. The first symposium took place on the Michigan State Campus in the fall of 2018.
This project was awarded a Humanities Without Walls grant to fund the first two years of the project (2017-2018). We hope to receive additional funding to keep this project growing in the years to come. If you are interested in joining our team or if you have comments/suggestions please Contact Us.