Humanities Exposed (HEX)

The Humanities Exposed (HEX) Program fosters collaborative projects in the humanities connecting UW-Madison graduate students with teachers, schools, after-school programs, museums and neighborhood centers. This program was created as a pilot project in the 2004-2005 academic year, and will commence its fifth year this fall.

2008-2009 HEX Program Application

HEX Application (4.3 MB)
HEX Application (50 KB)

HEX is based on the cultivation of mutually beneficial relationships in which graduate students create projects directly related to their research, and which also provide a tangible benefit to a community partner. The graduate students, representing a cross-section of disciplines and frames of reference, use their research to engage diverse members of the public in related kinds of exploration, writing and discussion of ideas. HEX projects identify community needs and form sustainable, ongoing relationships to address those needs.

An overarching objective of HEX is to promote a more public orientation in academic research and to establish as a permanent part of the UW-Madison's campus culture a structure that will support this goal. The importance of civic engagement for the humanities has received significant national attention, and HEX represents the UW's commitment to being an active leader in this new national movement.

Drawing its inspiration from the Wisconsin Idea, HEX aims to change the culture of graduate education by providing support to humanists and humanities departments in their efforts to become citizens of the wider community. We believe that graduate students can make a real difference in addressing community needs in Madison and in the state of Wisconsin, by sharing their knowledge and talents. Many of our projects seek to raise the academic interest and achievement level of low-income students in the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Major Funding and Support

 

• The Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of The Capital Times
• The UW-Madison Graduate School / the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)
• The Dean of the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science
• The Chancellor of the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science
• The Anonymous Fund of the College of Letters and Science
• The UW-Madison English Department
• Wisconsin Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service

 

For more information, e-mail Sophia Estante (saestante@wisc.edu), or call the Center for the Humanities at 890-1146.