Rob Townsend (also @rbtownsend.bsky.social)

“A new humanities department survey (HDS) demonstrates both the challenges the field faces today and the resilience of many departments in the face of those difficulties.” bit.ly/HDS4_Intro

"Studying philosophy, or any of the humanities for that matter, has given me something that artificial intelligence cannot replace: a closer understanding of what makes us human." bit.ly/4uzysUy

“We help students connect the dots between humanities disciplines like philosophy, literature, and communication, on the one hand, and community-engaged work, professional development, and job-readiness, on the other.” bit.ly/4sJdIIb

"in a university where structural and economic pressures often push students in more predictable directions, choosing to remain in the humanities can itself feel like a form of resistance, both intellectually and personally." bit.ly/414NLHk

"Our comparative advantage should be the students who graduate from our university with the critical thinking and writing skills necessary to engage thoughtfully in the world" bit.ly/4sH1Y9h

"these developments in education roll over the American society and embrace us without resistance. STEM education might tell us what we are, but it is the humanities that tell us, and others, who we are and what is in our souls." bit.ly/3NpqI6O

"That’s the crux of what many professors in the humanities fear: that technology that may well be a cutting-edge tool in other fields could spell the end of their own." bit.ly/3P7cWq2

“In an environment where they are spending hours every day training their mind to be highly distracted, is it any wonder they struggle with the long cross-country run that reading a novel requires?”: bit.ly/4s6h4Fw

The Academy at the 2026 National Humanities Alliance meeting.

“While a BA in history is an unlikely starting point for where I’ve ended up, the core values of inquiry, challenging assumptions, and supporting your arguments with evidence is a good place to come from for many roles” bit.ly/4kYNHCf

"even the economic piece of this argument is not borne out by the data. Recent research from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences shows strong state-by-state employment trends for humanities graduates" bit.ly/3OFLHTd

"The humanities and their application serve to contextualize facts, data, and studies.... With that, I implore you to not only take an arts or creative humanities class, but to take it seriously." bit.ly/4aLNQp3

"More than half of artists reported being somewhat or very worried about at least one form of financial vulnerability—such as affording food, housing, medical care, or utilities—and more than one-third reported using some form of public assistance." bit.ly/46I0bYQ

"We keep saying we want young people to lead, newcomers to feel at home, neighbors to trust each other across differences. Public humanities are how we make those promises real...they are, concretely, part of the operating system of self-government." bit.ly/4ksHaiN

"Rather than abandoning the study of humanities entirely for AI, it might be better to evolve skillsets to meet market needs. A mix of AI engineers plus humanities experts is a far better combination than relying on the tech alone." bit.ly/4aqerXp

"AI still cannot adequately cover the unique domain of "critical thinking" that belongs to the humanities...the issue lies...with whether humanists possess the courage and capability to shoulder the responsibilities of the era and confront its challenges." bit.ly/3Zvb3p8

"To withstand the challenges posed by scientism and politics and AI and declines in reading, the #humanities need positive accounts of their value." bit.ly/45XTTUO

Study of AI policies in syllabi finds #humanities "adopting the most restrictive policies in 2023 and remaining the most restrictive through Fall 2025....Business courses are 43 percentage points less likely than Humanities courses to be fully restrictive" bit.ly/3ZEkBhP

"The humanities respond by inviting essential insight about what matters in life, how to sustain civic culture and safeguard democracy, and what it will take to build a secure, free, and prosperous future for the planet." bit.ly/3ZiKWSb

"Administrators report that many students are now afraid of having sociology classes on their transcripts, as this may put off potential employers." bit.ly/4ke3vk5

"One department that mostly prohibits AI across the board is the history department. It bans AI as a “text-generation tool” and for editing. Furthermore, AI is explicitly not allowed as a brainstorming tool for the department’s independent work" bit.ly/46gDmva