Humanics Lecture - "Ageless Humanics: Empowering Health and Human Potential Across Generations" - Pamela S. Higgins, 2025

Abstract

This is a video of a lecture titled "Ageless Humanics: Empowering Health and Human Potential Across Generations" which was presented on April 17, 2025 by the 2024-2025 Distinguished Professor of Humanics, Professor of Health Sciences, Pamela S. Higgins. Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Lori Ciccomascolo begins the video with an introduction and recognition of past Distinguished Professors of Humanics in attendance and then introduces Professor Higgins. Professor Higgins's lecture shares milestones reached during the previous year's project focused on an affirmative approach to aging and the intersection between Humanics and public health. Following Professor Higgins's presentation, Dr. Ciccomascolo presents Professor Higgins with a Distinguished Professor of Humanics pin, then announces the winners of the Humanics scholarships with the assistance of Emeritus Professor Peter Polito. Dr. Ciccomascolo then introduces the 2025-2026 Distinguished Professor of Humanics, Rebecca Lartigue, who addresses the audience.Humanics is a word that has a special meaning in the history and philosophy of Springfield College, as well as in the college’s motto of “Spirit, Mind, and Body.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines Humanics as, “the subject or study of human affairs or relations, especially of the human element of a problem or situation as opposed to the mechanical.” In 1962, Dr. Glenn Olds, President of Springfield College at the time, began to wonder why this name was given to the intended philosophy of the college by Dr. Laurence Locke Doggett, Springfield College’s first full-time president. Olds acknowledged that the practices of the faculty were in large part consistent with the Humanics philosophy, but he believed that a more self-conscious application would improve chances of its continuity and survival. To ensure this, a Distinguished Professor of Humanics position was created at the college, first filled by Dr. Seth Arsenian from 1966-1969. The purpose of this position was to catalyze a renewal of consciousness in the philosophy. This was done by annually mandating the Distinguished Professor of Humanics to give a Humanics lecture on the definition of Humanics and what the concept means to them. Arsenian started this tradition in 1967 with his speech titled, “The Meaning of Humanics,” in which he described the concept as a set of ideas, values, and goals that make our college distinct from other colleges and make commitment and unity toward commonly sought goals possible