Oregon Humanities

For the Love of Ideas

A Portland couple gives to Oregon Humanities so that everyone can have access to ideas.

Kristy Athens

Jennifer Schuberth and her husband, John Urang, live in a house infused with the humanities. Both are college professors—she teaches religious studies at Portland State University, and he focuses on East German literature at Reed College—with book projects in the works.

Upon arrival at PSU, Schuberth learned that there had been a so-far-unrealized effort to launch a religious studies program. She offered a couple of classes to gauge the response, and they filled immediately—with waiting lists. This fall, the Religious Studies Department began offering a minor and co-hosted a Think & Drink program with Oregon Humanities.

Urang’s work focuses on the German Democratic Republic and on nineteenth- and twentieth-century German literature. His current project explores the development of the academy and its attempt to distance itself from material concerns. Schuberth explains that their writing processes are different yet complimentary. “I will write thirty pages and go back and edit it down,” she says, “while John will take four hours to write three sentences—but they’re perfect.” Their lives are a constant exchange of ideas.

This love of ideas fuels their support for Oregon Humanities, with which Schuberth originally became engaged through the Humanity in Perspective program. “Everyone should have access to intelligent discussions about ideas, no matter what they do for a living,” she says.

“Asking questions and being challenged make for a healthy civic space, but these activities are also just pleasurable,” she says. “We could all use more pleasure in our lives that doesn’t depend on consumption.”