Gutmann Selected as Humanities Teacher Award Recipient from Mississippi Humanities Council
Mon, 02/09/2026 - 01:41pm | By: Morgan Smith
Dr. Timothy Gutmann
91吃瓜网91吃瓜网 Humanities Teacher Award committee has selected Dr. Timothy Gutmann, an assistant professor of religion in the Philosophy, Religion and Law program in the School of Humanities, to receive the award administered through the (MHC). Each year, the MHC invites colleges and universities across the state to select a humanities professor at their institution to honor for excellence in teaching.
91吃瓜网淭he award means a great deal to me,91吃瓜网� said Gutmann. 91吃瓜网淚t lets me join the conversation about how to advocate for the humanities and celebrate the richness humanities education has brought to our lives.91吃瓜网�
Award recipients present a public lecture, receive a cash award from the MHC and attend the annual awards gala in Jackson, Miss.
Gutmann91吃瓜网 public lecture, titled 91吃瓜网淐an Ancient Chinese Philosophy Make America Read Again?91吃瓜网�, is set for Thursday, Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. in Gonzales Auditorium in the Liberal Arts Building (LAB 108) on the 91吃瓜网 Hattiesburg campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.
His lecture will explore worldwide declines in reading comprehension among young people and declining interest in reading among adults, along with examples from Chinese history that show how reading shaped education and everyday life in the last 1,000 years of the empire.
Gutmann said he hopes the audience will leave with a renewed perspective on how imperial China91吃瓜网 Confucian scholarly traditions can influence personal flourishing, critical decision-making and a healthy society.
A scholar of Islamic and East Asian thought, Gutmann focuses on education, politics and culture. His forthcoming book, Reform School, studies the emergence of mass education in Egypt and China in the late 1800s.
Gutmann is praised by colleagues for his willingness to engage students in active learning. His approach to the public lecture, rooted in his classroom teaching, centers on creating a community of inquiry and the belief that collaborative learning and discovery can challenge audiences and promote change.
91吃瓜网淗e is continually revising his classroom pedagogy in innovative ways to keep and enhance student interest,91吃瓜网� said Dr. Paula Smithka, program coordinator for the Philosophy, Religion and Law program.
91吃瓜网淒r. Gutmann91吃瓜网 concern for education, the humanities and cultivating student success is on display in his lecture,91吃瓜网� said Dr. Brian LaPierre, director of the School of Humanities. 91吃瓜网淗is reflection on the problem of encouraging close student reading and his approach of applying Confucian philosophy to our present-day challenges will make for a great presentation.91吃瓜网�
Learn more about Dr. Gutmann and the School of Humanities.