By Jonathan Saxon
Dr. Horacio Sierra was appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and joins the likes of Shonda Rhimes, Kerry Washington and Lady Gaga, who serves as the co-chair for the group tasked with promoting arts and humanities education, cultural diplomacy and the creative economy. Dr. Sierra is the lone educator from an HBCU on the 25-person committee.
“I was honored and excited to do some good work promoting the arts and humanities,” said Dr. Sierra, who chairs the Department of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies. “It’s great to have HBCU representation on this board.”
The committee, founded in 1982, advises President Joe Biden and other U.S. cultural agency leaders on policies that promote the arts and humanities. They will also work with libraries and museums to ensure that institutions receive support and are accessible to the public nationwide. Dr. Sierra believes that moral and ethical questions posed through art are essential in a world that is turning more towards the STEM fields with the advancement of technology.
“Humanities are an essential part of a well-rounded education in a globalized society,” he said. “The humanities ask us to contemplate the human condition and what our roles in society are and how we can improve society with everything the STEM fields offers us.”
This appointment is the latest instance of Dr. Sierra dealing with the arts and humanities at the federal level. Previously, Dr. Sierra has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, worked on grant reviews for the National Endowment for the Arts and has written op-eds in support of the arts in multiple newspapers. He hopes he can use his appointment to bring the tech-centered public’s focus back towards the humanities.
“It’s exciting to promote humanities and liberal arts in a time where there’s a lot of focus on STEM fields,” he said.
