Humanities Week 2026
OSU’s first ever Humanities Week!
October 5-9, 2026
Join us in celebrating OSU’s very first humanities week, Humanities Everywhere! A week packed with events for students, faculty, staff & the OSU community.
Keynote lecture
On Thursday, October 8, 4:00-5:00:
Future-Proofing the Past: A Political Economy of the Humanities without AI
Dr. Sonja Drimmer, Associate Professor of the History of Art & Architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amher
Other Activities include:
- Campus-wide Scavenger Hunt
- Alumni/Career Panel
- Majors, Minors, and Opportunities Fair
- Reading Club
- Hands-on Workshops
- Keynote Lecture on AI
- A Social with Food, Fun, and Prizes
See the full calendar of events below! Details (such as locations) will be forthcoming in coming weeks.
ONGOING:
Humanities Week Scavenger Hunt
Stop by the Center for the Humanities (114 Life Sciences East) to pick up a free passport.
Gather stamps at Humanities Week events and humanities department locations.
Undergraduate and graduate students with the most stamps will be entered into a drawing for prizes at Friday’s Humanities Week Social.
Poem in Your Pocket
OSU Library
Pick up a poem and carry it with you—or fold it into a paper crane! Selections include classics, local OSU writers, and more. Facilitated by Prof. Stephanie Choi (Assistant Professor of Creative Writing-Poetry).
MONDAY, OCTOBER 5:
Art Lunch Break Guided Art Walk with OSU Museum of Art and Office of Sustainability
11:30 AM – 12:20 PM
Meet at Abstract Orange sculpture near the Student Union Plaza
Enjoy OSU’s on-campus art during a casual guided walk courtesy of the OSU Museum of Art and Office of Sustainability!
Knight Writing, an Introduction to Medieval Calligraphy
Bartlett 209
3-5 PM
Learn about medieval calligraphy in this hands-on event with the Company of the Lynx
Argent, History Department, and Ancient and Medieval Studies Minor.
More Than a Game: How Digital Worlds Shape Experience
5:30 – 6:45 PM
Student Union, Cowboy Underground Lounge
Why do video games stick with us? Dr. Minsoo Choi, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Immersive Intelligence and Interaction Lab at Oklahoma State University, will explore how game designers create memorable and meaningful experiences, and how those experiences can connect people across generations.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6:
OSU Library’s Special Collections and University Archives Department (SCUA) Manuscripts Open House
9 – 11 AM
Paul Miller Reading Room and the SCUA Gallery, OSU Library
Check out SCUA holdings in this come-and-go event! Works include beautifully decorated and handwritten manuscripts from the early 1400s through the 1600s, with examples of religious and humanist literature as well as medical remedies and an early text on alchemy. They represent different areas and cultures, with books in Latin, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, and Spanish, and illuminations in many regional styles. You can also view the Library’s collection of more modern artwork on display in the gallery, including prints from OSU artist Doel Reed.
Majors, Minors, and Opportunities Fair
11 AM – 1 PM
130 Social Sciences and Humanities
Stop by this come-and-go event to learn more about humanities majors and minors at OSU, as well as student groups and on-campus opportunities for research and professional development.
Brave New World Reading Group with Dr. Ryan Slesinger (Teaching Associate Professor of English)
5-6:30 PM
OSU Library Event Room (109H)
Enjoy a slice of pizza while discussing Aldous Huxley’s classic Brave New World, facilitated by Dr. Ryan Slesinger.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7:
Humanities Alumni Career Panel
2 – 3:30 PM
109 Bartlett
Want to know what you can do with a humanities degree from OSU? Join us to learn from four esteemed graduates who took their humanities expertise to post-graduate education and industry across the state. Reception following from 3 – 3:30 PM in the Gardiner Gallery of Art (107 Bartlett).
Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop with Prof. Stephanie Choi (Assistant Professor of Creative Writing-Poetry), OSU Museum of Art
3:30 – 5 PM
OSU Museum of Art
Ekphrastic writing connects creative words to artistic media, like painting, sculpture, and photography. Learn more about this mode of poetic inquiry with Prof. Stephanie Choi and gain inspiration from works in the OSU Museum of Art.
OSU Film Society’s Screening of Nosferatu the Vampyre
6 PM
Join OSU Film Society for their first October screening of Werner Herzog’s classic Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). Check out their Instagram page for location info @okstate.film.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8:
“Future-Proofing the Past: A Political Economy of the Humanities without AI” Keynote with Dr. Sonja Drimmer (Associate Professor of the History of Art & Architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
3:30 – 5 PM
Helmerich Browsing Room, OSU Library
This talk offers an account of how the political project of inserting artificial intelligence into every civic institution has depended, and continues to depend, on the technology industry's exploitation of history. Why has Google invested so much in art museums? What is OpenAI doing in its partnerships with academic libraries and archives? How has it become popular for tech CEOs to author manifestos in the guise of historical treatises? In answering these questions, Drimmer reveals how scholars in the humanities have more power than we might think in resisting this industry and, in so doing, protecting the study of our collective past.
Full Moon Poetry Club Reading at Velvet Fudge
7 PM
Velvet Fudge (916 S. Lewis St.)
Humanities everywhere—including off-campus! Join the Full Moon Poetry Club for a sponsored reading at Velvet Fudge, Stillwater’s newest record shop and music venue.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9:
Faculty Grant-Writing Workshop
9 AM – 1 PM
130 SSH
This interactive and informative workshop will include: technical information on finding and pursuing research funding, including fellowships and publication grants; peer perspectives from CAS faculty who have successfully secured and navigated external research support from sources such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and Fulbright; examples of OSU research tools and resources; strategies for how to have some “read to go” research project ideas developed; and other topics!
Humanities Week Social
3:30 – 5 PM
130 Social Sciences and Humanities
Celebrate the end of Humanities Week with fellow staff, students, and faculty! Join the Center for the Humanities team for snacks, prizes, and reflections on our first-ever Humanities Week. Be sure to bring your completed passport from the week-long Scavenger Hunt!