Making Worlds, Repairing Worlds: What We Do with the Humanities
Date: Tuesday, Sep 8, 2026
Start time: 4:00 PM
End time: 6:00 PM
Audience: Open to all
Join us for an event with Maria Sachiko Cecire, program officer for Higher Learning at the Mellon Foundation.
Following this event, join us for our Humanities Week reception in the Scott House! More details to come.
This talk argues that in a time of overlapping anxieties about AI, climate, inequality, and other crises, the humanities are uniquely positioned to help us understand who we are, the futures we want, and how to get there. Drawing on her experience as a funder at a leading national philanthropy and her background as a scholar of popular culture, fantasy, and media, Prof. Cecire will discuss the reparative and creative potential of the humanities for individuals, institutions, and societies.
About the Speaker
Maria Sachiko Cecire is a program officer for Higher Learning at the Mellon Foundation, where she leads portfolios that address AI and digital justice, academic freedom and democracy, college in prison, AAPI Studies, and more. She is an Associate Professor of Literature at Bard College, where she founded and directed the interdisciplinary Center for Experimental Humanities, and was a Rhodes Scholar.
Event contact: Ellie Musgrave, musgraveec@vcu.edu