The Humanities Department hosts an annual academic conference that lasts five days and has achieved an attendance of more than 3,000 attendees per conference. Philosophers since Plato have debated the role of the arts in public and personal life. The theme of this year’s humanities conference will be aesthethics and this funding will help add performance and creativity to the format. All students take humanities and this conference will introduce them to the idea that the arts and philosophy have been interconnected for centuries.