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BIDDEFORD, Maine

David Smith wins National Endowment for the Humanities grant

University of New England Associate Professor of Philosophy David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., was recently awarded a two-year grant of $22,500 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

The grant will support the development of a unique, reading-intensive, seminar-style course on the idea of human nature.  Students will grapple with canonical texts ranging from the works of Plato and Aristotle to the contributions of contemporary philosophers of biology.

This course, which will run for the first time in spring 2013, will provide an opportunity for students to pursue a philosophical topic in depth.  Additionally, the grant will support bringing three non-classroom speakers to UNE to give presentations on human nature.

Smith recently was named the winner of the 77th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for nonfiction for his 2011 book Less Than Human:  Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others.  Other publications include The Most Dangerous Animal:  Human Nature and the Origins of War (2007) and Why We Lie:  The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind (2004).

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.