By Zhuoying Lin – Contributing Writer
The Division of Arts and Humanities at UC San Diego has been awarded a $750,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency and one of the largest national funders of the humanities.
The award is examined by independent and external reviewers and is designed to create and renovate humanity infrastructure. Given the maximum amount eligible, UCSD’s Division of Arts and Humanities is also honored with recognitions from the NEH and the nation.
Division of Arts and Humanities Dean Cristina Della Coletta is quoted in a press release as saying, “This funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities acknowledging that a top, public university serves its students best by giving them a well-rounded, complete education that includes arts and humanities as much as science and mathematics.”
In fact, the data collected by arts and humanities’ press release presents a positive prospect for arts and humanities education at UCSD.
According to the release, UCSD’s overall undergraduate enrollment in the arts and humanities has grown by 25 percent since 2013, with new enrollment up 68 percent. Forty-five percent of students who apply to UCSD in arts and humanities are offered admission.
The study of art and humanities has its own significance at UCSD, as stressed by Della Coletta.
“Arts and humanities at UC San Diego teach the responsibilities of what we call ‘social citizenship,’ and remain committed to the rewards of free inquiry, diversity and equity, and experimentation,” Della Coletta is quoted as saying in unions press. “Our students develop minds that give them the versatility needed to succeed in a complex and volatile world.”
The funding from the NEH will support the construction of the North Torrey Pines Living and Learning neighborhood, which will be located between John Muir and Thurgood Marshall Colleges. The building will be the campus’ largest architectural project. Together with Sixth College and the Division of Social Science, the Division of Art and Humanities will make the complex its new home in the Fall Quarter of 2020.
In addition, the grant will also strengthen the education of art and humanities.
As department of history Professor Luis Alvarez puts it in a press release, “The grant will enable us to more effectively advance our vision of bringing students, staff, faculty and community partners together to explore and put into practice the many ways arts and humanities enrich our campus and region.”
UCSD Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla believes the grant will advance the university as a whole.
“With this support from the National Endowment for the Humanities,” Khosla said in a press release, “UC San Diego will become a leading voice in the national debate on the role of humanities in the 21st century, one that includes disciplined and expert engagement with the ethics and social impact of cutting-edge science.”
photo by Kelsea Bergh
