College awarded $1.1 million humanities grant to establish Saint Dominic Fellows Program
College awarded $1.1 million humanities grant to establish Saint Dominic Fellows Program
By Vicki-Ann Downing ’21G
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded Providence College a $1.1 million grant to establish a Saint Dominic Fellows Program aimed at developing the next generation of intellectual and cultural leaders in the United States.
The three-year program, “Virtuous Citizens: Integrating Virtue and Leadership through the Saint Dominic Fellows Program at Providence College,” will launch in the Fall 2026 semester. It will be directed by Raymond Hain, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy and associate director of the Humanities Program.
“By offering students an integrated education in the riches of the Catholic and Dominican intellectual tradition and civic virtue, alongside mentoring and leadership development, the program hopes to enhance PC’s campus culture and to make a durable and substantive contribution to the renewal of American civic culture,” Hain said.
Students will be drawn from leadership positions across campus and organized into class-year cohorts, beginning with eight sophomore students and growing to 32 students, representing all four class years, by Fall 2028.
Fellows will study the humanities, the Catholic and Dominican intellectual tradition, and contemporary democratic culture. They will explore opportunities to cultivate civic and cardinal virtues and participate in off-campus experiences and on-campus mentoring to foster leadership.
The grant application was administered through the PC Office of Sponsored Projects and Research Compliance. It was announced in January 2026 as part of $75.1 million awarded to 84 humanities programs around the country. The NEH supports research and study in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation.
PC’s Humanities Program offers two interdisciplinary majors and an interdisciplinary minor, integrating courses in classical and world languages, literature, fine arts, history, theology, and philosophy. The program has grown from 15 degree-seeking students in 2023 to 94 students today.
Three-credit courses, designed to satisfy core requirements and proficiencies, include The Catholic Imagination; C.S. Lewis, Christian Thinker; The Dominican Intellectual Tradition; and Islam: Origins, Theology, and Practice. The program also offers popular and innovative one-credit courses on such engaging topics as stargazing, beer, the soul of rock and roll, and the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
In addition to its curricular offerings, the Humanities Program organizes initiatives, including The Humanities Forum, a signature event series that occurs each Friday afternoon. Speakers include distinguished scholars, public intellectuals, community leaders, journalists, and artists, representing a range of disciplines and perspectives.
James Keating, Ph.D., associate professor of theology, is director of the Humanities Program, and Iain Bernhoft, Ph.D., is the program’s development coordinator.
