All of the work in the program across 24-25 was part of a larger project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant titled "Hub, Pathway, Core: Implementing Engaged Humanities Curriculum Across the University of Portland." With the support of this award, the program began an expansion of its successful undergraduate research program into an Engaged Humanities Hub that will operate as a center for innovative humanities work at UP, including the development of engaged humanities curriculum, experiences, and infrastructure. While the award was terminated in April of 2025 (along with nearly all other NEH grants awarded over the past 4 years), the team is continuing to build the Hub. And with the help of a $500,000 Mellon Foundation award, the "Everyday Democracy" project will continue to grow and thrive across the next 3 years.
Across the year, the PIs of the project worked alongside a student fellow to manage, document, and publicize grant activities; researched other institutions' engaged humanities programs; and designed and hosted several campus and community events related to the year's theme and the engaged humanities more broadly.
Molly Hiro is Professor of English and a co-founder of the Public Research Fellows program. She teaches courses in American, African American, and multi-ethnic American literature, and she has published on race, feeling, pedagogy, and the engaged humanities in books and in journals such as Novel, Arizona Quarterly, and Arts and Humanities in Higher Education.
Jen McDaneld’s research focuses on suffrage literature, U.S. women’s rights movements, and the engaged humanities, with essays published in journals like Legacy, Signs, Feminist Teacher, Pedagogy, and Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. One of the founders of the Public Research Fellows, she serves as the program’s Director and teaches the PRF courses, Engaged Humanities Fundamentals and Engaged Humanities Futures, in addition to courses in American literature and the core curriculum in the English department. She is one of the PIs on a 3-year NEH grant project to build an Engaged Humanities Hub at UP. She holds a Ph.D. in American literature from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Graduate Certificate in Feminist Studies from Duke University.
Year: Senior
Major/minor: Psychology and English
Hometown: Santa Clarita, CA
Why PRF: Getting a peek into the work behind the Public Research Fellows program is such a valuable experience! With this project, I will be developing a big-picture understanding of the public humanities whilst helping expand and publicize the work of the program itself, which ensures that I am constantly learning new things and advancing my own skills in many different areas. Entering my second year with this program, I am interested in getting to connect with not only the larger UP community, but also our community partners and the communities we hope to support outside of campus.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
