In summer 2023, we welcomed 25 college and university educators from across the country to campus for a two-week National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute: “Reading, Writing, and Teaching the Rust Belt: Co-creating Regional Humanities Ecosystems.” The Institute emphasized the importance of regional storytelling in fostering a sense of place and an investment in rooted humanities practices. Faculty were invited to showcase and workshop publicly-engaged humanities projects, classes, and scholarship on their respective campuses.

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