Digital and Public Humanities at SMC

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Digital and Public Humanities at SMC

The Digital and Public Humanities minor prepares students to thrive in a world increasingly shaped by technology.

It integrates project-based learning within ten academic specialties, and shows students how humanities research engages the world.

08/24/2026

Welcome to the 2026-2027 academic year! Every new year brings with it excitement for what new projects DPH students and faculty will develop and complete over the coming months. What new stories will they tell, what new archives will they explore, what new community organizations will they support? Sign up for a DPH class and find out!

Credit: Images from the Spring 2026 section of DPH 250 (Humanities Data) led by Dr. Noonan.

05/17/2026

Congratulations to our Class of 2026 DPH minors! It has been so fun collaborating with you all over the past several years, and we are excited to see where your next steps take you!

05/04/2026

Worlds of Islam discusses myths and misunderstandings about Islam and delves into its origins and expansion, exploring its impact in multiple regions of the globe. As a part of this class, students produced an exhibit for the Cushwa-Leighton Library highlighting influential Muslim leaders from around the globe.

04/30/2026

Congratulations to Rebecca Holm, a DPH senior, on her fascinating presentation, titled "Connecting Threads: The Social Impact of Lace and Lacemaking in the UK (1840-1895)" at SMC's Symposium today! Very well done!

04/28/2026

Sarabeth Spencer is a senior at Saint Mary’s College graduating with a major in History and minors in Religious Studies, Justice Studies, and Digital and Public Humanities. Her favorite class in the DPH program has been Humanities at Work with Professor Williamson. This course investigates public history and archives, and has played a key role in Sarabeth's decision to pursue a career in Library Sciences. She also has enjoyed Professor Noonan’s course, Humanities Data, where she has been able to see books that have been donated to Saint Mary's collection. She believes that everyone should know how flexible the DPH minor is and how it can work with any major. She also emphasized the importance of the DPH minor in the era of AI. The relevance of learning how data works and the influence it has over the public is key to navigating the world of information and maintaining the integrity of data.
Thank you, Sarabeth, for all your hard work in the DPH minor!

04/23/2026

Students in DPH 250: Humanities Data had the opportunity to get a private book-making lesson from Regin Igloria, a multidisciplinary artist, last week! It was a great opportunity to think through what data about humanities objects might miss -- the intentions behind an object’s creation, the processes through which an object was created, and how those objects exist at the threshold between worlds, materials, and communities. Thank you to the Art Department for organizing this event!

04/16/2026

Caitlin Price has been an intern at the Heritage and Research Center on campus during this Spring semester. Here, she works on logistical preparation. While the archival material hasn't been received, Caitlin checks whether things are in order using the metadata code index. She has a list of sisters and membership and verifies it with HARC's data. She also researches and adds in any new information onto spreadsheets, working with obituaries regarding dates of death, work people did, and elements of their lives. Caitlin’s greatest takeaways from her experience at HARC has been, “how incredible the sisters are, being able to serve their cause and keep their memories alive, along with other congregations in the Midwest.” As these monasteries and congregations are coming to completion, their archives are being sent to HARC.

04/13/2026

Course registration time is here! Consider taking a DPH course next semester! Humanities at Work is a great introduction to the DPH minor. Internships are also available for credit. If interested, contact Dr. Noonan for more information!

04/10/2026

Students in DPH classes participate in hands-on, project-based learning that teaches them about project management, successful styles of collaboration, and how to work with data. In DPH 250: Humanities Data, students are working on two projects. One is exploring the materials in the Rare Book collection to document items in the collection that were donated by Sisters of the Holy Cross. The other is analyzing the advertisements found in the serial publications of Charles Dickens’ novel, Little Dorrit.

04/08/2026

Caitlin Price is a current senior at Saint Mary’s College. She is graduating with a degree in English Literature, with a minor in Digital and Public Humanities. As an active member of the DPH Minor, Caitlin’s favorite class she took was Professor Williamson's, Humanities at Work. In this class, she worked on a project based on an item of her choice, using genealogy to tell a story with it. She chose a Roman brick that had belonged to her grandmother. Through this project, she states that she “did not just learn about the item but also about herself and her family.” She also emphasized how DPH shaped her perspective on how the humanities can be beneficial and have influence in all spheres, such as business and healthcare. Over the last semester, Caitlin has worked as an intern at HARC, the Heritage and Research Center on campus, where she has applied the skills she learned through the DPH minor. In all, Caitlin found her time with DPH extremely valuable; she noted, "it incorporates empathy to make humanities public in a digital world," and she just loves it.

Address

Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN
46556

Website

https://www.saintmarys.edu/academics/departments/digital-and-public-humanities

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