In their teaching and research, Princeton University’s humanities faculty keep their intellectual antennas tuned to what Dean of the Faculty Gene Jarrett calls “the frequencies of ideas,” crackling with the collected genius of human culture from across the globe and across time.
Classics professor Barbara Graziosi’s frequency spans millennia.
Graziosi is developing AI-based tools to fill in the gaps of fragmented ancient texts that are written on stone, papyrus and parchment so
those valuable voices from the past are not lost forever. “The ancient world was as big as the modern world, and there were many different languages, traditions and ideas that are worthy of attention,” Graziosi said.
The endgame for her natural language project “is to make the whole diversity of human expression available to our curiosity, for inspiration for the future,” she said.
Graziosi’s project is exemplary of Princeton’s overall approach to studying and teaching the humanities, in which scholarship tackles universal questions and helps society navigate the future of our rapidly changing world. “The humanities imbue us with a deeper understanding of what it means to be human,” said Jarrett, the William S. Tod Professor of English and a Class of 1997 Princeton graduate.
Exceptional resources for research and teaching are part of what distinguishes the humanities at Princeton. Here, Dean of the Faculty Gene Jarrett (left) examines Black and African American archival materials from the Princeton University Library Special Collections with students in a 2024 Wintersession workshop, “Innovating the Archive from Phillis Wheatley to Toni Morrison.” Jarrett, the William S. Tod Professor of English, co-led the session with Autumn Womack, associate professor of African American studies and English. Photo by Michael Paras, for the Office of Communications
The University is embarking on a sweeping new commitment to humanities scholarship to expand its impact on campus, in higher education and in the wider world. A new Princeton Humanities Initiative will bring faculty together from across disciplines to collaborate on shared intellectual projects.
Director Rachael DeLue said the new Humanities Initiative will strengthen interdisciplinary connections and intellectual community across the humanities and beyond. The goal is to supercharge the University’s capacity “to take really big swings at big ideas,” she said.
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