Tulsa Community College landed a $250,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation to expand humanities education across the college, an award TCC says is the largest humanities-directed grant in its history.
The funding will grow TCC's Cornerstone: Learning for Living program, which weaves major works of literature and philosophy into general education courses. Thirty-one faculty members are participating across the college, according to TCC's announcement.
"The Cornerstone grant allows TCC to strengthen the role of humanities education and extend its reach to more students across the College," TCC President and CEO Leigh Goodson said in the announcement. Goodson added that the humanities help students think critically and communicate complex ideas clearly, skills that remain valuable regardless of a student's academic or professional path.
The grant will fund faculty professional development, stipends for curriculum revisions, guest lecturers, student programming and year-end symposiums. The Tulsa Community College Foundation is also contributing additional funding, though the amount was not disclosed.
TCC began exploring the Cornerstone model through a Teagle Foundation planning grant awarded in 2025. That pilot supported faculty curriculum development and a symposium where students reflected on the new approach.
Kodi Myers, a TCC student who participated in the pilot, said in the announcement that the program empowered students to reflect on crucial aspects of their lives. Myers said those reflections "can provide further insight and change the way students think and interact with others, leaving positive and lasting impacts on communities."
All Cornerstone Composition I classes now require Plato's Apology and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail as assigned readings. Joseph Boyne, TCC associate professor of English, co-authored the grant application with Heather Wilburn, associate professor of humanities. Boyne said the grant will help make encounters with significant texts a more deliberate part of a TCC education.
Other colleges that have received Cornerstone funding include Austin Community College, Purdue University and Vanderbilt University.
A free public panel discussion on King's Letter from Birmingham Jail, featuring faith leaders, takes place Thursday, Oct. 29, at 6 p.m. at the VanTrease Performing Arts Center for Education.
