Public Humanities Prize
The Clemente Course Public Humanities Prize honors a change-maker and thought leader whose work exemplifies the ideals of the Clemente Course and its belief in the transformative power of the humanities in public life.
The Prize is made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. In 2025, the Clemente Course awarded its first Public Humanities Prize to the novelist Phil Klay. The award ceremony, held annually in late September, is always free and open to the public and includes a lecture and conversation.
Prize nominations are accepted from everyone in the Clemente network. We especially welcome nominations from our students and alumni. Submit
here.
Prize Winners
Phil Klay is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. His short story collection Redeployment won the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Prize for best debut work in any genre, and was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times. His novel Missionaries was named one of the Wall Street Journal's best 10 books of 2020, and listed by former President Barack Obama as one of the best books of the year. His nonfiction work won the George W. Hunt, S.J., Prize for Journalism, Arts & Letters in the category of Cultural & Historical Criticism in 2018. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and the Brookings Institution's Brookings Essay series. He currently teaches fiction at Fairfield University. His essay collection, Uncertain Ground, was released in May of 2022 with Penguin Press.
I had always loved the humanities, but after serving as a staff officer in the Iraq War, I came home with a set of questions about myself and my service and my country and my soul which could not be answered through technical expertise or vocational training. The humanities went from something I liked to the essential resource I had to think through questions not only of deep personal importance, but also of critical importance in thinking through what was sorely lacking in our public conversation about war and homecoming. I’m hardly the only person who, after their first burst of formal education, finds diving back into the humanities a necessity. In that regard, the Clemente Course in the Humanities is providing an invaluable service, especially as other institutions curtail these kind of courses, and I could not be more honored that they’d consider me worthy of the Clemente Public Humanities Prize.
- Phil Klay, Inaugural Clemente Course Public Humanities Prize Recipient
Amy Richter
Teaching Award
Our annual Teaching Award is established in memory of Dr. Amy Richter. This award celebrates excellence in teaching and honors Amy's enduring commitment to transformative humanities education.
The Amy Richter Teaching Award recognizes Clemente faculty members who exemplify exceptional teaching, mentorship, and dedication to students. Any Clemente faculty member who has taught with the program for one year or more is eligible.
Nominations are accepted from current students, alumni, fellow instructors, and course directors. Submit
here.
About Dr. Amy Richter
Amy was an accomplished professor of history at Clark University, who wrote books on women in 19th century American history. She taught history for the Clemente Course in Worcester and served as its beloved director. She also built a rich relationship with the important national archive that is The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, a model for public humanities collaborations. Even while suffering the effects of ALS, Amy poured her energy into teaching. In her last public speech at the Clemente graduation, just weeks before she died, she quoted a line from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” Clemente nourished this deep sense of interconnectedness for her. In the words of her husband, Jim Eber, “Amy believed our differences could unite us as much as our similarities and honored both in promoting a sense of unity and empathy, encouraging us to recognize ourselves in others.” Read more about Amy here.