The College of Humanities and the Arts Goes to Washington

Three representatives of SJSU’s College of Humanities and the Arts traveled to Washington D.C. on March 11 to participate in National Humanities Advocacy Day. Photo courtesy of Katherine D. Harris.

Last week, three members of San José State’s College of Humanities and the Arts traveled to Washington D.C. to represent the California State system on National Humanities Advocacy Day (March 11) on Capitol Hill, an annual event organized by the National Humanities Alliance (NHA). 

The day offers the chance for state-based delegations to meet with members of Congress and their staff to advocate on behalf of federal funding for the humanities. This year, College of Humanities and the Arts Dean Shannon Miller, Director of Public Programming and Outreach Katherine D. Harris and Philosophy Professor Janet Stemwedel represented the entire CSU, equipped with an arsenal of resources to further illustrate the need for federal government support. They were among the 233 advocates representing 45 states who participated in National Humanities Advocacy Day.

“The focus of the advocacy is to support the upcoming budget requests for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Fulbright-Hayes, Title VI initiatives and the Institute of Museum and Library Services,” writes Harris in “Advocating for the Humanities: A Resource Guide.”

To prepare for the trip, they sought assistance from the NHA, and collaborated closely with Ryan Ward, senior director of community and government relations at SJSU. Harris also worked with Associate Dean Mary Anderson, Derick Truong, Director of H&A Marketing and Communication, Film, Theatre and Dance Professor Christine Guzzetta, SJSU students — filmmakers, designers and graphic design majors — to prepare short video testimonials of SJSU faculty and students testifying to the college’s impact and summarizing accomplishments in a branded brochure.

She shares that it is important to advocate for these federal entities, as they offer grant funding, educational tools and access to resources that can benefit students, faculty and members of the public. To make the case for supporting some of the agencies that fund the CSU, Harris collaborated with campus partners to draw on thousands of images from the last six years of events and the college’s Stories of Engagement that have been featured on the SJSU NewsCenter. The team also created a dedicated website that included handouts and additional storytelling to share with legislators.

Together with Miller, Stemwedel and Ward, Harris met with Trevor Guthrie, manager of federal relations for the California State University’s Office of the Chancellor in DC, as well as his intern, Andrew Karroum, a political science major from CSU Fullerton. As a team, they attended five different meetings with lawmakers, including two shared with compatriots from the University of California system.

Stemwedel describes the first meeting with California Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff in a conference room packed with advocates.

“We had a tight five minutes, with Dean Shannon Miller describing the economic impact SJSU has in Santa Clara County, the Silicon Valley, the Bay Area and the entire state, then passing to Kathy Harris, the director of public programming for the College of Humanities and the Arts, to talk about how the federally funded NEH supports our programming while also helping us attract state and private funds,” she says. “Then it was my turn to talk about the impact of humanities in a classroom of STEM majors, helping them understand the ethical landscape of scientific knowledge-building careers and how to navigate that landscape.”

When the members of the UC delegation took their turn, one of the associate deans from UC Irvine shared a shoutout to his CSU alma mater. “This was a heartwarming reminder that we don’t need to fight amongst ourselves for pieces of the pie,” Stemwedel says. “We can find ways to bake more pie.”

L-R: Shannon Miller, Janet Stemwedel, Katherine D. Harris and Andrew Karroum at National Humanities Advocacy Day in Washington D.C. Photo courtesy of Katherine D. Harris.

“As distant as the federal government can feel from our everyday efforts to do our best for our students, programs, colleagues and communities, the staff members of our elected officials made room for us and really listened to what we were telling them,” she says. “They seemed moved by what we had to say. I think they know that the Cal State University system is the beating heart of higher education in California, a smart investment with impressive yields. Now all there is to do is stay in touch with these electeds to make sure they remember what we shared with them and why it matters.”

Harris adds that Guthrie and Karroum, as their CSU counterparts in DC, helped direct their meetings with legislators and answered questions about Pell grant recipients, housing issues and Medicaid numbers. For Karroum, who has lived in DC since late January as part of the Cal State DC Scholars Program, the experience was especially meaningful as a current CSU student working on behalf of his peers across the state.

“Before I came to DC, I didn’t really take into account that not only am I a student at Fullerton, I am part of the CSU system,” he reflects. “I’d never thought about how my friends at Cal State Long Beach or Cal Poly Pomona are my brothers. But looking at it from the top down, I can provide my student perspectives in these meetings to advocate not just on behalf of my campus, but also on behalf of all our students in the system at large.”

Explore the materials prepared for the 2025 National Humanities Advocacy Day on the College of Humanities and the Arts’ website.