Founded in 2016 and located at the heart of campus in the renovated and renamed Hildreth Mirza Hall, the Bucknell Humanities Center (BHC) embodies the university’s commitment to its core liberal arts mission: educating students for a lifetime of critical thinking, creative endeavor, and committed intellectual exploration. With initial funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the generous support of President Bravman, the BHC has become one of the most active and visible centers on campus.
What we do
We host and co-sponsor an annual campus-wide themed programming series, support faculty and student research, generate new areas of interdisciplinary collaboration and inquiry, and help to extend the public reach of the humanities into local communities via new partnerships and initiatives. From its elegant home adjacent to Bertrand Library and the Malesardi Quadrangle, the BHC serves as a hub of substantive, issues-driven conversations that draw participants from the entire campus as well as local communities.
About Hildreth-Mirza Hall
The Bucknell Humanities Center is located in Hildreth-Mirza Hall, supported by Josephine “Dodie” Detmer ’52 and her daughter, Zareen Taj Mirza ’79.
Who we are
Matthew Slater
Director
Professor of Philosophy
mhs016@bucknell.edu
Paul Barba
Associate Director
Associate Professor of History
pab040@bucknell.edu
Nina Olivetti
Academic Assistant
ntolivet@bucknell.edu
Communications Interns
- Hailey Drapcho
- Jack Royal
- Vanessa Iffih
Humanities Council (AY 2025-26)
- Roberto Martinez Bachrich, Assistant Professor of Spanish
- Nick Bolig, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies
- Song Chen, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies
- Nathalie Dupont, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies
- John Enyeart, Professor, History
- Michael Drexler, Professor of English
- Suzanne Guiod, Director of Bucknell University Press
- D. Bret Leraul, Assistant Professor of Comparative and Digital Humanities
- Erica Delsandro, Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies
- Carol Wayne White, Religious Studies
- P. Khalil Saucier, Professor of Critical Black Studies
- Anthony Stewart, Associate Dean of Faculty, Arts & Humanities
- Todd Suomela, Associate Director of Digital Pedagogy and Scholarship
- Katherine Ward, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
- Carolyn Wargula, Assistant Professor of Art History
Bucknell Humanities Center Advisory Council
Christine Kelleher ’91 (Chair)
Chief of Investments, National Gallery of Art
Jaynemarie Angbah ’03
Director, Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Change Learning Journey, Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation
Mike Fountain ’91
Director, WhiteBrain Films
Katie Malague ’94
Chief Management Officer, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Carl Marchioli ’07
Chief of the Appeals Unit, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
Michael Sinkus ’74, M’76, P’90
Of Counsel, Marts & Lundy
H.J. Willcox ’88
Principal, Chief Legal Officer ,and Global Head of Compliance and Risk, AQR Capital Management
Wendy Pangburn ‘78
Pangburn International LLC