Goucher College Receives $1.3M Grant to Support Humanities for All Times Project

Goucher College has received a $1.3 million three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation to support a Humanities for All Times project, “Curiosity, Complexity and Social Justice: Invigorating the Essential Humanities for All.” The project builds on Goucher’s community principles, rooted in respect, inclusion, service, and social justice, to support curricular and research opportunities.

By foregrounding social justice and humanistic methods in class, the grant will help establish an interdisciplinary humanities minor intended primarily for non-humanities majors. Through collaborative humanities research opportunities, faculty research, team teaching, professional development opportunities, and the development of an innovative course registration process designed to promote curiosity, the grant will impact the experience of all Goucher students.

“The grant will provide opportunities for all students to access the benefits of studying the humanities, especially in terms of how we understand, evaluate, and react to the narratives that shape our world,” said Goucher College Professor and Faculty Chair Antje M. Rauwerda. “The Mellon grant is meaningful, stimulating, and ultimately morale-boosting for all of our humanities disciplines.”

With Humanities for All Times support to develop new humanities-based curricular and research projects, Goucher will build on its commitment to a liberal arts education to help students develop critical thinking, adaptability, and a global perspective, becoming complex problem solvers.  

“A transformative higher education like the one Goucher provides prepares the next generation of students not only for future careers but also to be informed, thoughtful citizens and potential global changemakers,” said Goucher College President Kent Devereaux. “This direct support for our humanities programming reinforces our efforts and core values, and we are honored that the Mellon Foundation has chosen to support this work.”

As part of their undergraduate studies, Goucher students explore rigorous academics through an immersive global perspective, with study abroad for all students. Students participate in an internship accelerator for career experience each year of their education, and community-based learning, in which Goucher partners with numerous Maryland nonprofit organizations to serve the surrounding communities better, is also integrated into the curriculum. 

“We see this grant as an opportunity to foreground the fundamental concerns of the humanities—those broad fields of human experience that give rise to shared realities, which we continually shape and reshape over time,” said Professor Steven DeCaroli. “Human societies are built upon these shared beliefs, and this funding will enable us to create many opportunities for curious students and faculty, across all disciplines, to explore more deeply these areas of human experience.”

Programming for the “Curiosity, Complexity and Social Justice: Invigorating the Essential Humanities for All” project is set to launch in summer 2026.