Message from the Dean

The University of Chicago has long been recognized for its historical excellence and global leadership in advanced humanistic research, teaching, and arts practice. The Division of the Arts & Humanities affirms the value and impact of humanistic inquiry and creative intelligence—and their foundational role in advancing and sustaining human flourishing in the twenty-first century and beyond.

The work of our remarkable faculty and students is intellectually capacious and multi-modal, engaging nothing less than the full breadth of human history, across millennia and around the globe, from the ancient world to the contemporary moment and toward our imagined futures. Our disciplines ask profound questions about the human condition, connecting us to our past by rooting our experiences in the rich and meaningful contexts of history, culture, and theory—while also teaching us possibility: the world hasn’t always been the way it is, and it doesn’t have to remain so.

In an era of rapid change in technology and the production and circulation of information, the University of Chicago is uniquely positioned to re-energize the mission, vitality, and centrality of the arts and humanities, whose vast stores of wisdom and creativity enrich our individual and collective lives, and all domains of human knowledge.

Whether addressing climate change, global migrations, the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence and machine learning, or fundamental questions of truth, beauty, or justice—humanistic expertise helps us think expansively and act thoughtfully. In the Division of the Arts & Humanities, analytical and theoretical rigor meets imaginative reach, combining disciplinary depth with artistic practice and public impact. Here, humanistic inquiry is not merely about what we know, but how that knowledge can shape the world we make and inhabit.