Oregon Humanities

Free College Course for Low-Income, Portland-Area Adults

Oregon Council for the Humanities and Reed College offer a free college-level humanities course to low-income adults in Portland.

17 July 2007 | Permalink

Humanity in Perspective (HIP), a free, two-semester, college-level course in the humanities for low-income adults, begins its seventh year in Portland this fall. The Oregon Council for the Humanities (OCH), which offers the program in partnership with Reed College, is accepting applications for the program through Monday, August 20, 2007.
Applications are available for download on the OCH website (http://www.oregonhum.org) or by request from Jennifer Allen, OCH Education Program Director, at (503) 241-0543.
HIP aims to promote the intellectual and personal growth of students, to spark their interest in civic and community life, and to encourage them to continue their education. HIP offers course participants two semesters of instruction from Reed College professors in the humanistic disciplines. Students explore ancient and contemporary masterpieces in literature, philosophy, and history. Writing instruction is also integral to the coursework.
Course director and OCH education program director Jennifer Allen says, “HIP was founded in the conviction that the humanities provide an avenue to ideas and skills that change people’s lives.”
A student from last year’s course says, “I used HIP to get out of the shelter a couple of nights a week, and I found a whole new world—that I could read, write, and study, and most of all feel important. I found a place that I didn’t know existed and totally fell in love with.”
The fall term begins September 24, 2007. Classes meet twice weekly, over a seven-month period, on Monday and Thursday evenings at New Avenues for Youth in downtown Portland. Reading and writing assignments are roughly equivalent to those of a first-year humanities survey course at Reed College.
Tuition is waived; books, on-site childcare, and bus tickets are also provided free of charge. Reed College grants a certificate of achievement, as well as transferable college credit, to any student who completes the course.
Students must be 18 years of age or older. The only entrance requirement is the ability to read an English-language newspaper and commit to attending class two evenings per week. The course is for adults who do not already have a bachelor’s degree.
The HIP program will also be offered to inmates at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Oregon, for the third year.