Drop by McKenna Auditorium during the lunch hour as we showcase the work that our Passion Project Fellows completed over the Winter Break. After brief presentations from the fellows about their work, guests can view the projects close-up, chat with the fellows, and learn more how the Gould Center supports humanistic research at CMC. Light snacks will be provided.

2025-2026 Passion Project Fellows:

Kritika Bhandari ’27 • Lia Che ’29 • Hannah Cho ’29 • Julie Chung ’28 • Arthur Lopes Constant ’29 • Sophie Goldensohn ’29 • Alexander Knight ’27 • Ted Li ’29 • Molinaka Lim ’28 • Kennedy Mwangi ’29 • Sydney Nate ’28 • Lavanya Puri ’29 • Marcus Sato ’28 • Heena Suleman ’29 • Luke Tran ’29 • Rhiannon Worline ’28

Erich Hatala Matthes, Professor of Philosophy at Wellesley College, will explore ways that the aesthetic character of places—inviting, strange, threatening, familiar, comforting, creepy, seedy, sinister, somber, serene, etc.—can impact moral, prudential, and political norms that operate in those spaces. This will in turn lead to questions about how we should approach our power to shape the aesthetic character of places.

This Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Center for Humanities in Practice at CGU.

Register here!

Join us for our annual Summer Fellowship Showcase on Friday, January 30 at 1PM in Adams Hall Davidson where students who participated in the 2025 Creative Works Fellowship program will present their completed work.

JASMINE DUNCAN ’26 - Bridging Cultures: Black Influence and Identity in K-Pop

CAROL HUTCHISON ’26 - Rooted in the Land: How Stories Facillitate Our Connection to ‘Āina

ROBERT LITSCHER ’27 - Rediscovering Albania’s Lost Faith

AJ MATHESON-LIEBER ’27 - An Analysis of the State of Waterfalls and Rivers in the Pacific Northwest

DANIELLA REYES ’26 - Mucha and Me: Reviving “Art for the People” Through Advertisements for Women of Color-Owned Businesses

ETHAN WOOD ’27 - A Heart of Stone: The Craft of Sculpture

Join us for a faculty book reception at the Gould Center on January 28th, 2026 at 4:15pm celebrating Professor Jim Kreines’ most recent publication, Hegel and Spinoza. Light refreshments will be provided.

Hegel and Spinoza examines Hegel’s engagement with Spinoza’s metaphysics in three parts. First, it uses Hegel’s reading to highlight the strengths of Spinoza’s metaphysical monism. Second, it defends Hegel’s critique that Spinoza’s system ultimately dissolves all finitude into an undifferentiated “abyss.” Third, it applies these insights to interpret Hegel’s Logic, clarifying how its ambitious claims rest on explanatory reasons rather than mere assumption-unpacking.

Sharon Sliwinski, Director of the Museum of Dreams, will make a case for restoring dreaming to its proper place, as one of our most important ways of seeing. As the world becomes increasingly encircled by images of violence, dreams not only help us envision and protect those dimensions of existence that the camera cannot capture; they are also one of our most powerful schools of transformation, a critical resource for generating new worlds and new ways of being. Drawing from powerful exemplars—from Harriet Tubman to contemporary Indigenous activist Abigail Echo-Hawk—Sliwinski will provide a series of critical lessons about how dreams can serve as one of our most important tools for radically changing our world.

This event is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.

Interested? Click here to register.

Join us at the Gould Center in Kravis Lower Court on Wednesday, November 12th at 4:15pm to celebrate Professor Joseph Frigault's recently published book, Whiteness, Fair Play, and Reparation. This book examines social, psychological, and ideological resistance to reparations. Using research on white attitudes toward race-conscious policy, it argues that viewing reparations through a “fair play” lens can help whites understand their role in racial hierarchies and become more receptive to racial redress. Light refreshments provided. We look forward to seeing you there!

Join the Gould Center and the Open Academy for a Saturday Salon discussion with Alex Madva, Professor of Philosophy at Cal Poly Pomona and co-author of the new book Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change. The topic of the discussion is: Social Movements and Political Change. Professor Madva will guide participants through the main ideas of his book before opening up for a discussion on coalition building, compromise, intersectionality, identity politics, and the most effective pathways to lasting change. After the discussion, we will have a student dinner with food from Chipotle!

Questions? Contact Violet Ramanathan (vramanathan87@cmc.edu).

Interested? Sign-up here!

Join us for our annual Humanities Halloween on Thursday, October 30th from 12:15-1:15pm at the Gould Center in Kravis Lower Court. There will be music and activities, including our humanities-themed costume contest. A prize will be awarded to the best costume. We encourage you to come dressed up as your favorite artist, musician, philosophical concept, or maybe even a moment in history - the possibilities are endless! Raising Cane’s and Mac & Cheese will be provided - first come, first served.

We hope to see you there 👻

During the last fraught months of the Civil War, the fate of the United States was far from secure. Tens of thousands of Rebel troops were still in the field, the Lincoln presidency was collapsing, and a peace movement was gaining traction in the North. Using long-forgotten evidence, best-selling author and historian Scott Ellsworth P’24 unveils a startling new interpretation of the Lincoln assassination, and pays tribute to the remarkable coalition of loyal Americans—men and women, Black and white, native-born and immigrant—who defeated the Confederacy, destroyed slavery, and gave the nation a new burst of freedom.

Join the Gould Center for a film screening of A Little Family Drama with writer, producer, and actor Ramón Torres ’08. In this film, “a Mexican American family, whose lives revolve around their legendary restaurant, prepares for their annual family reunion dinner oblivious to the fact that a shattered taco truck dream is about to change everything (IMDB).” Q&A to follow the film screening. Open to all 5Cs. RSVP below by Thursday, October 16.

RSVP here!

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2025.

Joshua Cohen, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Netanyahus, will speak about fiction and its complicated relationship to history.

Joshua Cohen is the author of six novels, one collection of short fiction, and one collection of nonfiction. Called "a major American writer" by the New York Times, and "an extraordinary prose stylist, surely one of the most prodigious at work in American fiction today" by the New Yorker, Cohen was awarded Israel’s 2013 Matanel Prize, and in 2017 was named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. The Netanyahus won the 2021 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction and the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Mr. Cohen’s Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies and the Salvatori Center, both at CMC

Register for this Ath talk here!

Stop by the Gould Center in Kravis Lower Court for our Open House to learn about the many research and creative programming opportunities that are available to students throughout the academic year. From our Humanities Labs, Gould Center Fellows program, Editorial Board, Faculty RAships, Filmmaker’s Lab, Passion Projects, Creative Works Fellowships, and more - there is so much you can do in the humanities at CMC!

Chipotle provided. First come, first served!

Join us at the Campus Engagement Fair on Friday, August 29th from 11AM-1PM at Roberts Pavilion to learn more about the Gould Center’s opportunities, initiatives, and everything we have to offer. Don’t forget to grab some swag and a sweet treat!