Save the date for UMBC BookFest '26! Celebrate all things books--making them, reading them, preserving them, donating them, advocating for them--across campus during National Library Week on April 21 & 23. Events will include BookMarkIt on the Library Plaza, featuring letterpress printing, zinemaking and swaps, a book drive, giveaways, and more!

• April 21 from 11am to 1pm: BookMarkIt on the Library Plaza - an outdoor market dedicated to bookishness
• April 21 from 5 to 6:30pm: One Maryland, One Book - In collaboration with Maryland Humanities' One Maryland, One Book program, we'll welcome Lawrence Burney, author of the 2026 OMOB selection No Sense in Wishing.
• April 23 from 5 to 6:30pm: Freedom to Read: Libraries and Our Democracy - In partnership with the Maryland State Library Agency, we’ll learn from the Maryland state librarian, Morgan Miller, how to protect the freedom to read. 

Since 1987, the Humanities Forum has offered a free program of events that illustrate the richness of contemporary work in philosophy, history, culture, language, literature, and the arts.

The Forum fosters creative thinking about the role of the humanities in civic life within our globally interconnected world.

The Dresher Center for the Humanities welcomes your suggestions for the upcoming season. Proposals will be vetted by the Humanities Forum Planning Committee in conversation with the Dresher Center staff. Consideration will be given to balance across fields and topics as well as orientation towards a public audience.

All suggestions are welcome so long as they center humanities issues, topics, methodologies, or questions.

Wondering what we have featured in the past? Review our Archive.

Please submit proposals through this form.
Proposals are due April 15. 2026

Due to tomorrow's campus closure for inclement weather, the Department of Philosophy's Evelyn Barker Memorial Lecture with Hanna Pickard is canceled.

Have you been seeing more announcements or emails related to AI tools or usage on campus?Do you have questions regarding the recent guidelines that were shared on the use ofartificial intelligence (AI) tools in the classroom? Would you like your voice heard, or would appreciate having student perspectives brought to the forefront of these conversations relating to AIpolicy and guidelines? 

The AOK Library would like to hear from you! If you would like to come together in a safe space to discuss AI use on campus, please stop by room 259 in the Library for two student only, student focused, in-person listening sessions happening Wednesdays (please see dates and times below and in our events page). Faculty will not be present, and conversations that occur within the space will remain anonymous to protect students' identities. All majors are welcome! 

There will be free pizza and drinks, and participants will be offered the chance to grab free swag, in addition to bonus library privileges! 

Session 1: Wednesday, February 25th, 12:00pm-1:00pm (Room 259)

Session 2: Wednesday, March 4th, 12:00pm-1:00pm (Room 259)

We encourage students interested in participating to add the individual events to their calendars!

These listening sessions are supported by the AOK Library, in partnership with Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, Information Systems, and the Dresher Center for the Humanities. We thank you for your support!

March 12, 2026 – 2:00 p.m. ET

Taking Ideas Public: A Scholar's Guide to Trade Publishing

Blair LM Kelley, President and Director, National Humanities Center
Tanya McKinnon, Founder and Principal Agent, McKinnon Literary

Join us for a lively conversation on what is lost and gained when academics write for trade publishers. The webinar will feature literary agent and founder of McKinnon Literary, Tanya McKinnon, who for the last 19 years has helped authors bring their ideas to life and find their audience. Tanya will be in dialogue with NHC President and Director Blair LM Kelley to discuss the writing and publication process, and how authors can make the leap from university presses to trade.

Blair LM Kelley is president and director of the National Humanities Center. An award-winning author, historian, and scholar of the African American experience, her scholarship and social commentary have focused on African American social movements, segregation, and the Black working class. Before joining the NHC, she served as the Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and directed the Center for the Study of the American South. Previously, Kelley spent 20 years on the faculty and as an administrator at North Carolina State University, including as associate dean of interdisciplinary affairs and partnerships.

Tanya McKinnon is the founder and principal agent of McKinnon Literary. As a literary agent, she works to amplify progressive voices and help authors sharpen their projects regardless of genre. Having spent time on both sides of the agent-author relationship, she draws on this experience to bring a holistic perspective to the publishing industry and ensures her clients and their projects are handled with utmost care. McKinnon represents serious nonfiction, literary fiction, children's books, and graphic novels. Several of McKinnon's clients include New York Times best-sellers, winners of the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the LA Times Book Award, the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, and many more.

The Dresher Center for the Humanities is continuing our writing group into the Spring 2026 semester on Fridays from 10am to 11:30am online via WebEx.

This writing groups open to faculty, graduate students, and staff working on humanities-related projects.

https://umbc.webex.com/umbc/j.php?MTID=m3e509a76259be1f8e3262d623e29b53d