On Saturday October 20, 2018, members of the university community and public gathered on campus for presentations and performances from esteemed faculty and graduate students of UChicago’s Division of the Humanities. Humanities Day—an annual event established in 1980—continues to present an incredible breadth of subject matter with a unified message: that humanistic scholarship matters and has the potential to impact the world in positive, powerful ways. 

While the vast majority of panels were faculty-led, one afternoon session consisted entirely of graduate student work. Entitled “Animal Cognition in Antiquity,” this panel featured presentations from three students in the Department of Classics: Amber Ace, Jordan Johansen, and Rik Peters. With broad-ranging topics ranging from Aristotle, “wonder,” and fish (Peters) to animal morality (Ace) to dancing elephants (Johansen), each scholar showcased their compelling research in an accessible fashion. 

A useful skill (and CV/Resume builder) for scholars to develop is the presentation of complex research to general audiences. Keep an eye out for the 2019 Humanities Day call for participation in the Spring—you, too, can be involved.