BGU announces The Young Family School for the Human Experience
A resounding response to fears about a decline in the humanities, the school will teach humanities to science and engineering students
The Young Family School for the Human Experience will open in the upcoming academic year and was launched as part of the 55th Board of Governors meeting at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, with the participation of Toni Young, Chair of the Global Development Committee, who contributed to the establishment of the School.
The Young Family School for the Human Experience will establish a unique program supporting humanistic education for students in the natural sciences, engineering, health sciences and management throughout Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The program, explains School head Prof. Amit Schejter, will offer courses, support excellence in humanistic education, and encourage research into the interaction between humanism and contemporary challenges.
The School will be inaugurated next year.
"The Young Family School is a bold attempt at asking the question - what does it take to be human - and responding to it using the tools of the university - teaching, research and service to the community," declares Prof. Schejter.
Some of the issues the School might tackle include the assault on democracy and democratic values or the rise of technological innovation that tests our role as humans in this world.
While some have sounded the death knell for the humanities in recent years, Ben-Gurion University believes they are more important than ever.
"More and more, we all understand that scientific knowledge is not comprehensive when it is not supplemented by exposing the students to humanistic values, which are articulated through the study of the humanities," says Prof. Schejter.
In practice, the School will offer courses to the students of the faculties of engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, and business and management. The School will offer comprehensive overview courses that will provide them with an appreciation for human creativity. Another set of courses will focus on democratic values.
With one of the best faculties of humanities in the country, BGU is well situated to create such a school.
"Our best humanities faculty will be able to showcase their trailblazing work in history, in Jewish thought, in the study of literature and art, to our excellent students in the sciences, in bespoke courses. Ben-Gurion University students in the sciences will get a taste of education in the humanities that we believe will be unparalleled in other Israeli universities," according to Prof. Schejter.
In addition to the broad appeal of the School and the attempt to reach as many students as possible, the School will introduce an honors program in the humanities for students in the sciences for a select group, that will provide them both with a unique experience and a certificate celebrating and recognizing their excellence.
The School will also host an annual conference on state-of-the-art issues in the intersection between the hard sciences and the humanities and invite world-class guests to attend. It will also support research focused on that same interface.
