Accelerating Institutional Change

ACLS has a long history of convening scholars, administrators, learned society directors, leaders of national and international academies, and public figures to share ideas and solve problems. As outlined in our Strategic Priorities, ACLS seeks action on major challenges facing humanistic studies and continues to expand our capacity to serve as a key resource for societies, scholars, and administrators, with a focus on students and scholars who have not historically had a seat at the table in discussions about institutional change.

Situated in the middle of the flows of ideas and people across the higher education landscape, ACLS works to advance what we call the “new academy”—where a vibrantly curious, diverse professoriate can pursue scholarly inquiry with creativity and a sense of wonder; where collaboration and mentorship are valued; and where faculty are rewarded for their efforts to connect with an emerging generation burdened by financial worries and the pandemic. Through higher education initiatives designed to accelerate institutional change by improving practices and processes that were designed in and for a different age, we hope to encourage creativity and experimentation, recognize the full range of scholars’ work, and recruit and retain a more diverse community of scholars.

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Explore ACLS initiatives designed to accelerate changes in higher education that will benefit us all in the present and the future.

Commission on Fostering and Sustaining Diverse Digital Scholarship

Leading practitioners explore and present recommendations on improving support, access, and sustainability of digital humanities projects related to social and racial justice

Leadership Institute for a New Academy

Mellon-funded pilot initiative equips faculty to forge career paths in academic  administration that will strengthen the humanities and drive forward-looking change

Luce Design Workshop for a New Academy

Teams from six Associate member schools design and circulate blueprints for action on positive change in higher education in the United States

Amplifying Humanistic Scholarship

Initiatives to open scholarship to historically underserved geographies and readers in order to encourage greater equity in the dissemination of knowledge

Intention Foundry

A forum for advancing equity, justice, and anti-racism for emerging scholars, ACLS society leaders, and university interlocutors

Fostering humanistic scholarship of the highest quality means expanding the topics, methods, and forms of writing we humanists value as scholars; increasing the number and types of people we reach; and supporting those most in need. We are especially concerned about PhDs lacking full-time employment; students and faculty at resource-constrained institutions; and scholars of color and first generation scholars, still too few in every discipline.

ACLS Strategic Priorities: 2020-2024

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