What can happen when students have more opportunities to explore the humanities alongside their college education? Across Michigan, MiCHEP member institutions are exploring that question through a new Humanities Grant Initiative, which provides funding for humanities-based courses, workshops, creative projects and other opportunities within prison education programs. The program was created to give member institutions space to develop ideas that respond to the interests and n

At Lake Superior State University's STEP UP program, music is becoming a way into something larger. An existing music club, currently serving nine students, has become the foundation for a new humanities-based initiative supported through a MiCHEP Humanities Grant. The club began in January under the guidance of Kelsey, a K–12 music educator. Since then, students have come together to learn and make music. At STEP UP's inaugural commencement, members performed the national an

It started with a class. In spring 2026, 17 students enrolled in Introduction to Creative Writing through Grand Valley State University's Bellamy Creek Program. By the end of the course, the writing that the students produced, and the process of getting there, prompted a new question for faculty in GVSU's Writing Department: What if there were a way to create that kind of space for people at Bellamy Creek who were not currently enrolled in the university's program? That quest