Georgetown Humanities Initiative receives grant from the Teagle Foundation

The Teagle Foundation is a philanthropic organization with a focus on engaging students in liberal arts education. Through their “Cornerstone: Learning for Living” program, the Foundation promotes the creation of humanities gateway courses that can foster a common intellectual experience anchored in reading transformative texts, and supporting faculty’s professional development as part of that process.

The Georgetown project was born of a joint collaboration between GHI Inaugural Director Prof. Nicoletta Pireddu and Prof. Ricardo Ortiz (in his double capacity as Director of the M.A. in Engaged and Public Humanities and Chair of the HALC Committee), with the pivotal contribution of Prof. Heather Steffen (core faculty member in the MA Engaged and Public Humanities and lecturer in the Writing Program). Prof. Emily Francomano (Director of Global and Comparative Literature and current HALC Chair) has recently joined Pireddu and Steffen as P.I. On October 16-18, 2025, Professors Francomano and Pireddu participated in the Cornerstone conference at Vanderbilt University. The team is currently working on a series of first-year humanities seminars revolving around impactful texts from a range of traditions and places. Workshops will be offered to Georgetown faculty willing to pilot courses in Fall 2026 in the upcoming months and a session on the project will be included in the May 2026 “Teaching, Learning & Innovation Summer Institute.”