Lindsay France/University Photography

Tim Murray, who will become director of the Society for the Humanities July 1, in the dining room of the A.D. White House Feb. 4.

The Society for the Humanities moves with the times. Although housed in the Victorian splendor of the Andrew Dickson White House, home of Cornell's first president, the society has for more than four decades spearheaded propagation of new knowledge and introduced interdisciplinary approaches to study that have had lasting institutional consequences.

Arguably the most prominent think tank of its kind in the United States, the Society for the Humanities is Cornell-based but has an impact around the world: It's a recruitment tool for graduate students and professors as unprecedented numbers of faculty retire; an accelerator for the careers of junior scholars, postdocs and graduate students; a hub for innovative thinkers who benefit Cornell students through teaching; and perhaps most important, a catalyst for national and international dialogue about emerging issues in the humanities.

On July 1, Professor Tim Murray will begin a five-year term as Society for the Humanities director, succeeding Brett de Bary, professor of Asian studies and comparative literature. Murray joined the Cornell faculty in 1979 in English and taught drama and Shakespeare for a number of years. Much like the society itself, he has repeatedly reinvented his career by following his curiosity into new fields. Now a professor of English and comparative literature, he is deeply involved in digital culture and digital humanities and is the founding curator of the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, housed in Kroch Library.

Murray notes that the Society for the Humanities' 1966 founding occurred against an unsettled backdrop of war, protest and intellectual ferment, including the Free Speech Movement in the west and the rise of poststructuralism in East Coast universities. Legendary Cornell professors M.H. (Mike) Abrams (English), Max Black (philosophy) and Henry Guerlac (history of science) were among the society's founders.

"We're one of the oldest humanities centers in the country and one of the best endowed," Murray says, "also being one of the few that offer resident fellowship programs for outside scholars. Every year these deeply innovative scholars offer a course for Cornell graduate students and undergraduates, and that's had innumerable positive impacts. I hear great stories from students about the value of the encounters they've had with the society's visiting faculty."

Traffic becomes intense during the academic year at the A.D. White House, where fellows are given offices. Each year the society invites one or two senior scholars, whose participation helps attract eight or nine other outside scholars, the majority of them junior level and chosen in a highly vetted selection procedure. Another four to six Cornell faculty scholars are also in residence each year along with two Cornell graduate student fellows and three to five postdoctoral fellows, all funded by the Mellon Foundation. Each conducts research on a common theme, which is discussed during the society's legendary weekly luncheon seminar. Still other scholars visit the society briefly to deliver lectures or participate in conferences.

Drawn by the society's international reputation (an invitation to join the society as a fellow or to give a lecture is a plum CV highlight), visiting international and U.S. scholars also teach one course, which allows them time off from administrative and other responsibilities connected with their academic posts. "Visiting fellows have complete freedom in the classroom, freedom to interact with all participants without their normal institutional burdens," Murray says. "In the best-case scenario, this expands horizons. In the professional scenario, it expands collaborations. Many Cornell faculty over the years have co-authored books, edited journals, organized conferences and collaborated on research projects with society scholars."

Scholars are under no pressure to quantify the results of their stay, Murray notes with pride. "This is an old-fashioned research institute," he says. "Its importance is precisely to provide scholars with the time for reflection and writing. We do hope and expect important books and creative projects will come out of residencies in this house, but we also understand that really important thoughts and projects sometimes take long periods of time to incubate."

Other ways society ideas are disseminated: Graduate students take courses with visiting scholars, write dissertations on those subjects, ask society fellows to serve on their dissertation committees, get teaching jobs and publish books. "Changes happen," Murray says. "Borders are crossed."

Academic emphases at the society continue to evolve quickly, and often the society itself helps propel such change. Feminism and queer studies, postcolonialism, postmodernism and multicultural studies have been reflected in society focal themes. In 1990, when Murray joined the society as a Cornell faculty fellow to study the theme "The Humanities and the Challenge of Mass Culture," few people at the university taught film, television or popular music.

Looking ahead to his term as director, Murray predicts the society will investigate issues of biopolitics, biohumanities and digital culture. "These issues become especially important because of the growing role of the life sciences, engineering and computing at Cornell," says Murray. "Brett de Bary opened a lot of doors to make sure that there are bridges between what goes on in the humanities and what goes on in other colleges and universities around the globe."

New areas of inquiry allow the Society for the Humanities to retain its "intense visibility," according to Murray. "Whether through co-sponsorships, conferences or as the site of dialogue -- we really serve as a magnet for discourse for the humanities and across the humanities. Almost every major international figure in the humanities has passed through this house. People know about it. They want to be here. They have very good experiences here. And few people turn down an offer to lecture here; that happens very rarely."