Service in the Humanities

The November-December issue of Academe looks at faculty service. It is perhaps the most ambiguous of the traditional triad along with teaching and research, and the articles in this issue seek to describe the different ways that faculty conceive of service, and the different ways that service is (or is not) recognized. Read the issue here.

In the two lead articles in this issue, two professors describe their history of service–for Kirsten M. Christensen, it was with the Modern Language Association, where she contributed many long hours and many long miles of travel because their goals of shaping the humanities are so important. Anna Nardo has also worked with the MLA, and in her article, she talks about how its resources helped her and her colleagues at different stages of their careers. She also helped start and lead a faculty union on her campus. Both authors demonstrate the importance of service not only in their own careers, but in helping sustain the humanities and their disciplines for the future.

Read Kristen Christenen’s article, Shaping the Humanities through Sustainable Service, and Anna Nardo’s, No Choice but to Serve.