Institute History

The Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities was originally founded as the Center for the Humanities in the spring of 1992 to foster the development of a broad, innovative humanities culture at Northwestern. The Center/Institute started out in a modest office in Harris Hall, and moved into a renovated house at 2010 Sheridan Road in 1995, at which time it was named after deceased NU alumna and life-long student of the humanities, Alice Berline Kaplan. The Center became the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities in Fall 2006.

In February 2009 the Institute relocated to a newly renovated space on the second floor of Kresge Centennial Hall. In addition to the Kaplan Humanities Scholars Program, an innovative new program for freshmen in the humanities inaugurated in 2007, recent initiatives include an Artist-in-Residence program, the recruitment of three jointly-appointed faculty members, and the development of a number of programs to broaden and deepen interdisciplinary conversation among faculty and student humanists across the university.