Chancellor Biddy Martin emphasized the value of the humanities in higher education Wednesday to a group of UW-Madison students, faculty and alumni.
Prior to her position as chancellor at UW-Madison, Martin served as provost of Cornell University as well as the associate dean of their College of Arts and Sciences.
In her speech, Martin drew from a wide range of scholarly opinions to provide examples of how those outside the university view the arts and humanities.
I have come to oppose the notion that the humanities are not and should not be useful, a notion which I find useless,"" she said.
Martin emphasized the importance of universities that excel in both the humanities and scientific fields.
""I think the most interesting universities today are those where basic and applied research have coexisted for a very long time, and where the boundaries between them have been blurred over and over,"" she said.
Despite a lower salary received by faculty members in humanities departments, she said the quality of a humanities education is quite high and that it is those outside the university who feel differently.
""The humanities suffer from a failure to find eager patrons outside the university,"" she said. ""But we have worked hard to maintain their support inside the university.""
According to Martin, universities need to focus on the needs of students to ensure the future success of the humanities outside the university. She said she feels UW-Madison has done an excellent job meeting those needs.
""What I love about this place is that we teach more languages, literatures and cultures than any of our competitors,"" she said. ""If that's not useful in the world in which we live today, I don't know what is.""
Martin concluded her speech by advising UW-Madison faculty to continue providing their services to the humanities.
""I think we need to talk less about what we do that's valuable,"" she said, ""and do what we do that's valuable to ensure that we are actually gaining access to a public that will be more acceptant.
