Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts
Exploring the past, the present, and the possible.
The Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts is a full-service humanities center that supports arts and humanities research at the University of Tennessee. We provide faculty and graduate students with vital writing and research time, space, and funding; publishing support; and workshops about research funding and faculty development. We bring renowned scholars to campus and interface with national and international humanities organizations. The Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts also regularly partners with community organizations for public programming.
Explore the Denbo Center
Theme
The Denbo Center will explore formations of “authenticity” throughout the 2026-2029 academic years, structured around the Center’s mission to explore the “past, present, and possible.” Each year of theme will focus on a specific aspect of “authentic” life.
Conference
“Speculative Souths” is an interdisciplinary symposium that will redirect past regionalist studies of the US South with a transformative focus on “speculative representation,” a way of creatively reimagining identity and place as sites of possibility—building from the past but attuned to the developments of the present and needs of the future.
Fellowships
With the support of the UT Chancellor’s Office, the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development, our affiliated arts and humanities departments, and the College of Arts and Sciences, the Denbo Center supports the creation of groundbreaking humanities research through our fellowship programs.
“The arts and humanities are essential to who we are.”
Randy Boyd
Our Tennessee Magazine, October 2022
The Denbo Center relies on friends and alumni to support our vital work.
