Public Humanities Award
2024 Kaplan Institute Public Humanities Award
The Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities at Northwestern is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2024 Kaplan Institute Public Humanities Award, Dr. Ashley Cheyemi McNeil!
The Kaplan Institute Public Humanities Award recognizes an individual whose humanistic work has had a significant, positive, and lasting impact beyond the university. This year we honor Dr. McNeil for her commitment to uplifting marginalized communities and voices through humanities education, including through her work in the independent film community, her support of the TEAACH Act, and her work with Northwestern undergraduates.
Dr. Ashley Cheyemi McNeil is the Director of Education and Research at Full Spectrum Features, an arts/media non-profit that works to uplift stories from marginalized communities. At Full Spectrum, Dr. McNeil leads the development of cinematic Open Educational Resources while also supporting the team in community collaboration, development strategy, and fundraising. She leads from an understanding that stories about being and belonging shape individuals, communities, and generations. She has centered this understanding at all the institutions she has been a part of, at each of which she has been entrusted to imagine and manage complex public-facing programs that are both technical and cultural in nature.
Dr. McNeil will be recognized at the Kaplan Public Humanities Symposium, an annual event that celebrates publicly engaged humanities scholarship and promotes the importance of this work at Northwestern and beyond. The Public Humanities Award Ceremony will take place during the closing reception on Friday, May 10, 4:30-6:00 pm at the Kaplan Institute (Kresge Hall #2350, 1880 Campus Drive, Evanston).
About the Award
The Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities invites nominations each spring for its annual Public Humanities Award. We consider the Public Humanities to encompass any humanistic work that substantively engages with communities beyond the academy, including but not limited to activism, digital projects, curation, and community-engaged research, pedagogy, and partnerships. The Public Humanities award recognizes an individual whose humanistic work has had a significant, positive, and lasting impact beyond the university. Preference is given to individuals whose work has had some connection to the Northwestern community or those whose work has had a particular impact in Evanston or the greater Chicago area.
The inaugural Kaplan Institute Public Humanities Award was presented in May 2023 to Morris (Dino) Robinson, Jr. in recognition for his many years of substantial contributions to the humanities through the Shorefront Legacy Center and at Northwestern University, and particularly for his thoughtful, ethical approach to community-engaged work.
For more information
Please contact Dr. Trish Bredar, Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Humanities, at trish.bredar@northwestern.edu.