The 2025 Misher Festival of Arts & Humanities will return this year after a three-year absence, reviving a longstanding University of the Sciences tradition. The festival will have 20 events spread across the Hawk Hill, University City and Lancaster campuses from March 15 to March 22.
The Misher Festival is named after Allen Misher ’59, Ph.D., H ’95, who served as the 19th president of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy from 1984 to 1994. PCP became the University of the Sciences in 1998, which then merged with St. Joe’s in 2022.
During Misher’s time as president of PCP, he launched the Department of Arts and Sciences, which aligned with his belief in the importance of the humanities. The department was eventually renamed the Misher College of Arts and Sciences in 2000 to honor his contributions to PCP and the arts.
The Misher Festival also launched in 2000 when some of Misher’s friends developed the “Misher Professor Endowment” to provide students with greater exposure to the arts and humanities.
This year’s festival theme is “Meet Misher,” and it features a wide range of events, including open classrooms for disciplines, such as ceramics and Irish environmental writing, activities like film screenings and book discussions, and field trips to the Lancaster area, the Lantern Theater Company and the Esperanza Arts Center in Philadelphia.
A March 16 Zoom webinar Q&A with Misher kickstarted the week, hosted by Christine Flanagan, M.F.A., professor of English and member of the Misher Festival committee who helped organize past Misher Festival events at USciences.
During the webinar, Misher said the humanities and fine arts have always been an important part of his life.
“[The humanities and fine arts] introduces you to different aspects of your life that you can enjoy, that you probably wouldn’t under other circumstances,” Misher said. “So, having an interest in humanities has always been important to me. It’s part of the breadth of your life and your experience rather than the narrow focus on your career or your position.”
Flanagan, who has been working on the Misher Festival for about 20 years, said reviving the festival after three years has special significance for her as a legacy USciences faculty member.
“When we merged with St. Joe’s [in 2022], I felt great,” Flanagan said. “I really was looking forward to it because I felt like, ‘Oh, I’m not introducing the fine arts and literature to a place like this. St. Joe’s is a place that already values and welcomes humanities and the fine arts and its contribution to life, all these things.’ So, I felt really grateful for that.”
Nathan Baird, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Misher Festival committee, said St. Joe’s Jesuit ideals overlap with the objectives of the festival.
“You don’t have to be an expert,” Baird said. “Come and join with others and share together the beauty of learning and, for that matter, the beauty of being together. In that regard, there’s a significant connection to the Jesuit ideals of care for the whole person.”
Baird also commended Misher’s leadership for transforming PCP while he was president and creating a more diverse curriculum for students.
“Where there might have been maybe less than a handful of courses in [the humanities] prior to his presidency, the general education really became a general education under his leadership,” Baird said.
Misher wrote in an email to The Hawk that the humanities shape all students, and knowing the festival is continuing at St. Joe’s is very meaningful to him.
“There aren’t words that describe how delightful it is to know this,” Misher said. “It brings me more joy than I can describe.”
