UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — How do colleges and universities enhance democracy, what do opportunities for humanities education provide and what’s the value of an individual’s college degree for society overall? The next episode of "HumIn Focus," a web series from Penn State’s Humanities Institute, will try to address those questions and others as they relate to democracy, higher education and society.

The episode, "Teaching Humanity: The Social Value of Higher Education," premieres at 9 p.m. on Oct. 24 on WPSU TV and will be available for streaming on the "HumIn Focus" website.

Penn State News spoke with several of the Penn State faculty members featured in the episode about how modern American universities have made higher education successful and launched the “Knowledge Society,” which generates and shares information to all members of a society that may be used to improve the human condition.

"HumIn Focus" executive producers John Christman, a professor in the College of the Liberal Arts and director of the Penn State Humanities Institute, and Matt Jordan, an associate professor of film production and media studies in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, also commented on why it is important for the series to address the issue of higher education’s value.

Q: Why is access to higher education important today? What changes when higher education becomes more accessible?

"We are in a period of large structural transformations in higher education. Only a short time ago, historically speaking, U.S. higher education was badly segregated by race, religion, sex and gender, and economic status. Many debates about higher education today reflect the question of how institutions originally intended to serve the relative few can now serve many. Lots of research into the effects of greater educational opportunity indicates that improved access to college and university degrees benefits the public at large — socially, economically and politically.”

— Bradford Vivian, professor of Communications Arts and Sciences, College of the Liberal Arts

“Extending access to higher education is socially transformative. This isn't a hypothesis; it's what we saw during the golden age of American higher education, 1945-70, when the GI Bill and then the civil rights movement and women's movement produced the world's first experiment with mass higher education.”

— Michael Bérubé, Edwin Erie Sparks Professor of Literature and interim head of the Department of English, College of the Liberal Arts

“Worldwide, universities have grown in number and importance to all kinds of new knowledge, and education, with now over 40% of the world's youth attending. The education they provide is central to a democratic society.”  

— David Baker, professor of education, College of Education

Q: Why is humanities education important and valuable in the structure of the modern research university?

"The core skills and knowledge obtained from studying everything from English to history to communications and writing are even more vital in understanding the impact of globalization.  Essential skills — let's stop calling them "soft skills" — that come from studying in these areas bring about the competencies of ethical and critical thinking, leadership, problem solving and even professionalism and empathy

— Rosemary Martinelli, assistant teaching professor, Penn State Greater Allegheny

Q: What do you want people to take away from this episode of "HumIn Focus"?

Christman: We hope to make clear in this episode how scholarship at institutions of higher learning, and in humanities disciplines in particular, are so central to a fully functioning democratic society.

Jordan: In recent years, institutions of higher education have been attacked in America like never before.  We hope viewers will not only learn about the history and importance of higher education for a healthy society and robust democracy, but also come away better understanding why higher education is being attacked and what needs those attacks serve.

Previous episodes of the "HumIn Focus" series may be found online.