School of Professional and Continuing Studies

Money, Money! Need, Greed, and Generosity

Greater St. Louis Humanities Festival Event

Literary Reading and Discussion by Novelist Martha McPhee and Book Critic Heller McAlpin
April 5, 2013 at 10:00 AM | UMSL, JC Penney Building

 

hum-fest

Author Martha McPhee will read from her novel “Dear Money,” which she will discuss, along with the subject of finance and fiscal issues in literature, with book critic Heller McAlpin.

McPhee is a National Book Award finalist who teaches English at Hofstra University in New York. In addition to “Dear Money,” McPhee’s books include “Bright Angel Time,” “Gorgeous Lies” and “L’America.”

McAlpin is a New York-based book critic who reviews regularly for NPR.org, “The Washington Post,” “Los Angeles Times,” “San Francisco Chronicle” and “The Christian Science Monitor.” She also writes the “Reading in Common” column for “The Barnes & Noble Review” and is the author of “Nostalgia,” a novel.

Attendees may park in Lot C or take MetroLink to UMSL’s North station. Call (314) 516-5698 with questions.

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About | Mission | Theory & Society Journal | Events | Advisory Boards

The Center for the Humanities at the University of Missouri-St. Louis was the first center of its kind in the bi-state region and in the state of Missouri.

The Center for the Humanities has two central objectives:

  1. to provide visibility and focus for humanities activities at UM-St. Louis, and
  2. to attract and channel resources for the support of interdisciplinary humanistic inquiry.

To this end the Center has sponsored a variety of conferences, symposiums, and lectures. Over the last several years, the Center has sponsored a conference entitled "What is a City?", which examines the structure and social environment of cities and their effects on social and cultural diversity.

The Center for the Humanities also coordinates:

The University of Missouri-St. Louis, along with Webster University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, support Theory and Society, a refereed, interdisciplinary journal of social theory and practices, housed in The Center for the Humanities.

Administration:

Mission

The Center for the Humanities has two central objectives: to provide visibility and focus for humanities activities at UMSL and to attract and channel resources for the support of interdisciplinary humanistic inquiry.

To this end the Center has sponsored a variety of conferences, symposiums, and lectures. Over the last several years, the Center has sponsored a conference entitled "What is a City?", which examines the structure and social environment of cities and their effects on social and cultural diversity. The Center for the Humanities also sponsors the Monday Noon Cultural Series throughout the academic year, which features a variety of humanistic lectures and musical performances every Monday at 12:00 noon. The Center also supports and coordinates the Poetry and Reading Series, which features original contemporary authors reading their works. In addition, the Center houses and funds the journal Theory and Society, a refereed, interdisciplinary journal of social theory and practices, published by Kluwer Academic in The Netherlands. The Center disseminates information on the humanities on their web site and promotes the development of interdisciplinary outreach courses.

The Center for Humanities at the University of Missouri-St. Louis was launched in 1992 and is the only Center for Humanities in the University of Missouri four-campus system, the region, and the state of Missouri. Serving a diverse, urban population of predominantly older students, the Center for Humanities has as its mission to emphasize the humanities in an urban area that otherwise would not be well served by humanities programs.

In a Civic Progress (local corporate leaders) Higher Education Study of St. Louis made in 1990, important area employers voiced concern about the lack of global awareness and understanding of other cultures and humanities that characterized most graduates. In response to this concern, the Center for Humanities was conceived and has as its goal to promote the humanities that have been afflicted by a general loss of funding for humanistic research, lectureships, and conferences leading students to confine their humanistic inquiries only to required university courses.

The Center for Humanities offers a wide range of humanistic interdisciplinary events and functions to students, faculty, community, and even worldwide with our informational web site at a time when Humanities majors constitute only 9-10% of the total student body of most universities. Consequently, the Center offers opportunities and advantages in the humanities that otherwise would not be available. In an era of technology and science dominance, the Center for Humanities is a phenomenon of people, society, and cultures that should not be overlooked nor neglected.

Theory & Society Journal

The University of Missouri-St. Louis, along with Webster University and Southern Illinios University Edwardsville, is proud to sponsor Theory and Society, a refereed, interdisciplinary journal of social theory and practices, published by Springer in The Netherlands.

Considered by many to be the premier journal of social theory in English, Theory and Society is subscribed to by most major research libraries in the world. The journal has been published for nearly four decades with six issues a year. The journal's editors and authors are distinguished scholars with major international reputations in Sociology, History, Education, Anthropology, Art History, Political Science, Communication, and Gender Studies.

Karen Lucas, associate director of the Center, has served as managing editor and corresponding editor for Theory and Society since 1982. In addition to sponsorship by the Center, journal activities are supported by UMSL's College of Fine Arts & Communication, College of Education, Center for International Studies, and Office of Research Administration. We appreciate generous support from Webster University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

The UMSL editorial associates are an important part of the journal's life. UMSL, Webster, and SIUE faculty who serve in this capacity are interested in social theory in an interdisciplinary context. The editorial associates read manuscript submissions related to their research interests and meet twice a month for lively discussions of papers and issues. Thus each manuscript is well known by the editorial collective, leading to wise choices of reviewers and useful editorial suggestions for authors. This gives the editorial associates access to very current work in their areas of expertise and to the latest debates and concerns of a more general, interdisciplinary nature. The associates praise the group as a major opportunity for scholarly interactions with colleagues from other departments and exposure to other disciplines. The participation of faculty members from Webster and SIUE promotes academic interchange. Reading and discussing submissions, reviews, and editorial recommendations, as well as seeing how authors respond to requests for revisions, gives these faculty members an "insider" view of academic publishing, and a more sophisticated understanding of what is needed to develop a successful publication record.

We look forward to the continued partnership of Theory and Society with The Center for the Humanities and are pleased to be able to enhance faculty opportunities and the university's scholarly reputation by providing the journal a home in St. Louis.

Events

The Center for the Humanities produces these events and series:

Advisory & Community Boards

These UMSL faculty members provide the center with advice on programming, presenters, and audience building. Member terms are open-ended.

Advisory Board

Community Board

Funding & Contributions

The Center for Humanities is a unit of the office for Academic Affairs of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. While most of the Center's funding comes from Academic Affairs, the Center for Humanities constantly pursues additional financial support and grants to enhance current programs and to establish new ones.

Contributions in support of the Center for Humanities may be made payable to the University of Missouri-St. Louis for the Center for Humanities.

Also, contributions can be sent directly to the Center for Humanities for the Center's Gift Account to Center for Humanities, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 406 Lucas Hall, One University Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63121-4499.

Thank you for your continuing interest in the Center for Humanities.