These are hard times in higher education. Enrollments are down for a variety of reasons, including rising tuition costs and the simple fact that the population in general is aging, so the pool of potential college applicants is shrinking. These facts have increased the competition for students so institutions of higher education really need to focus on their strengths in order to survive. 

Drexel University, where I teach, has a history of emphasizing what are called STEM programs. STEM is an acronym that stands for “science, technology, engineering, and math.” Drexel has a particularly strong history in engineering. What many people don’t know about Drexel, however, is it also has outstanding programs in the humanities. The dean of Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences, David Brown, recently produced a document entitled the “Guide-to-CoAS-2024.” The guide lists program highlights in the college, as well as faculty achievements. 

My review of my colleagues’ accomplishments is the reason for this post. I knew my colleagues in the Department of English and Philosophy were brilliantly talented, I did not realize, however, until I looked at the list of their accomplishments for 2024, just how distinguished they were. Here is a list of their accomplishments. I’ve highlighted them by putting them in blue. Pretty awesome, eh? There are a total of 17 departments and centers listed on the website for the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel. Of the 51 presentations and publications listed for all faculty in the college, though, 34 of them are from faculty in English and Philosophy! 

I’ve always loved my department because of the mixture of disciplines it contains. I’m particularly grateful for all the creative writers we have. We’ve got novelists, poets, writers of creative non-fiction, and editors of literary journals, and their presence in the department gives it an energy and dynamism that I have never seen in a department that comprises only literary scholars or only philosophers. You can view their recent accomplishments in the document to which I already referred, and get more information about them from the faculty page on the department’s website. 

I am truly proud of my colleagues and grateful to be part of such a cutting-edge department. So if you know of someone who is considering college, but may not have thought of applying to Drexel because they think of it primarily as a STEM school, send them a link to this post. We have some really outstanding faculty in the humanities at Drexel!