Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities

**About the Institute** The Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities promotes expansive, interdisciplinary discussion and debate. Serving as a crossroads, clearing house, and testing ground, the Institute nurtures ideas that transform into cutting-edge research and dynamic courses. We cultivate this work through our annual fellowship program for faculty working in the humanities; our co-sponsorship of numerous workshops, reading groups, performances, film presentations, readings, and lectures; and our first-year honors program (the Kaplan Humanities Scholars Program). The Institute also reaches through and beyond disciplines at Northwestern by hosting public humanities programs and training opportunities through our [Public Humanities Graduate Practicum.](https://humanities.northwestern.edu/graduate/ph-grad-practicum/index.html) **Kaplan Institute History** In 1992, Morris Kaplan (Class of 1935 and a lifetime member of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees) sponsored the creation of the Alice Kaplan Humanities Center as a means of fostering the development of a broad, innovative humanities culture at Northwestern. It was named in honor of his deceased wife Alice Berline Kaplan, a Northwestern alumna and lifelong student of the humanities. In 2006, the Center was re-endowed as an Institute, which meant that it was expanded to include the [Kaplan Humanities Scholars Program](https://humanities.northwestern.edu/kaplan-humanities-scholars-program/index.html) (now one of the top first-year programs in the country), an [Artist-in-Residence](https://humanities.northwestern.edu/public-humanities/artist-engagement/index.html) program, and jointly appointed [faculty members](https://humanities.northwestern.edu/about/people/faculty/index.html). We continue to work with Dolores Kohl Kaplan to broaden and expand our reach at Northwestern and beyond.