Welcome to the Tanner Humanities Center

A panel discussion at the Tanner Humanities Center on March 4th featured authors of a new historical study that illuminates the complex debates around slavery and unfree labor in early Utah Territory. The conversation, featuring W. Paul Reeve, Simmons Chair of Mormon Studies and Chair of History at the University of Utah, and Christopher Rich, a PhD student and Army JAG Corps officer, was part of the Center’s renewed partnership with the Mormon Studies Initiative. As Scott Black, Director of the Tanner Humanities Center, noted, “We understand the study of religions and faith traditions is an integral part of the humanities, because they are central to our lives, our history, and our culture.”

To a packed and enthusiastic auditorium at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on February 25, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Ed Yong discussed the implications of becoming “bird curious.”

Every spring, research fellows at the Tanner Humanities Center give work-in-progress talks in a casual setting and receive feedback from colleagues across campus. “Our community of fellows is at the heart of the Tanner Humanities Center, and our weekly works in progress talks are at the heart of the fellows’ community,” says Scott Black, Director of the Center. “The WIP workshops and presentations are also the best part of the Tanner fellowships for many of our fellows, and discussing their work is one of my favorite parts of my job too.”