“What to expect from an MIT Humanities education”
“Learning to understand the human condition”
“Your tenacity in making me learn to write better has had the most profound effect of any Professor I had at MIT. While I definitely use my scientific and engineering teaching in my professional life I am amazed at how often my ability to write has made a huge difference in my career. I would not have achieved the things I set out to do without the ability to write clearly.
Of course the real pleasure besides learning to write was learning to understand the human condition in its myriad permutations, which has been of key importance in being an empathic oncologist (as well as a human being). I continue to read about a novel a month and enjoy literature immensely.”
Kevin B. Knopf MD, MPH
MIT, Class of 1988A note addressed to Literature at MIT Professor David Thorburn
“Community at LIT@MIT”
“Literature was such an integral part of my undergraduate experience. I am so immensely grateful for the support I received from the students, faculty, and staff in the section. I learned so much from both the classes I took and the people I met about how to communicate and how to see the world through a different lens. I don’t know what I would have done without Literature Tea, Pleasures of Poetry, or running into professors and staff members in the hallway! Thank you so much for brightening my life during my time at MIT.”
Casey Crownhart
MIT, Class of 2017
“The best classes I took at MIT were my literature classes; I got to know the professors, the students, and the material a lot more than I did in my other classes. The literature community was caring, open, and receptive, and being a part of that community was an experience that I cherish and will miss.”
Jessica Gable
MIT, Class of 2017
