Shimer Great Books School at North Central College

We’re thrilled to announce that we have received a substantial donation from Shimer alum Jayne Baron Sherman to establish the Shimer Great Books Emergency Fund. This fund will help current and future students through financial hardships and school expenses. Jayne challenges our network of Shimerians to make a donation to the Emergency Fund in order to double the impact of her gift.

Here is the link to donate: https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/46792/donations/new

From all of us here at the Shimer School, thank you for your generous support!

It’s Finals Week, and that means that this Friday 5/3 is our Orange Horse talent show! We invite anyone on campus and in our larger Shimer community to take the stage and show us what you’ve got. We’ll have music, poetry, comedy, and more! We’ll see you there and we’ll send off this school year with a bang (or maybe a neigh).

It’s not every day that you have class with the president! We loved having join Dr. Dolinko’s Philosophy of Race and Gender course! The discussion covered Audre Lorde’s “Sister Outsider”, and in true Shimer fashion, it was an impactful conversation! Thanks for joining us, Dr. Thomas!

There’s still time to register for our Montaigne Scholarship discussion!

Happy last week of classes, students! We wish you focus and peace as you finish your last assignments, and as many moments of stress-free fun as you can find during finals week. If you need some extra motivation, stop by Shimer House this Sunday, December 10th from 12-3pm for some cookies, coffee and relaxation!

It may be November, but it’s still porch weather around these parts, and the reading is getting good. Mia is one of a number of Shimer students diving into Paradise Lost this week, and we’re all starting to feel a little sympathy for the devil.

Someone doesn’t want you to read this, and that’s exactly why we think you should. We’re excited to host our Banned Books Read-In on Tuesday, October 4th from 5:00-6:30pm with our friends at ! Bring a selection of your favorite banned book to read out loud and hear how we’re keeping banned books in the conversation. Dinner will be served to attendees. Prospective students register with the link in our bio!

Nothing like reading Aristotle on a sleepy day! Have you checked out our cozy attic in the Shimer House yet? It’s the perfect place to read, chat, and catch a quick break between classes. You may find just the right inspiration to get a through a tricky text!

We hope you’re looking forward to this Saturday and Sunday! We’ll be downtown near the north stage, listening to authors and hoping to say hello to you!

Shimer student Erik demonstrates our warm weather porch protocol: reading, coffee, sunshine, and people watching! Hope you’re enjoying your first full week of classes, Cardinals!

Welcome Home, Cardinals! From the faculty and staff of the Shimer Great Books School, we wish you a warm and wonderful start to your fall term!

Big news from the Shimer School! We are pleased to announce that this summer we will launch the Civic Humanities Project, generously funded by a grant from the Teagle Foundation. Our 18 inaugural Freedom Scholars will spend the summer with us participating in seminar classes for college credit, educational experiences around Chicagoland, and will receive free housing and meals on campus. We can't wait to welcome them and share their experiences with you!

Thanks to a new $300,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation, Shimer Great Books School at North Central College will move forward with launching the Civic Humanities Project (CHP). As a Teagle Foundation Knowledge for Freedom program, the CHP will bring 18 rising high school seniors—known as Freedom Scholars—to campus in June.

With the goal of providing students with an opportunity to experience undergraduate-level education and life on a college campus, Shimer faculty hope Freedom Scholars will also learn more about themselves and the world.

To read more about this exciting opportunity, visit https://bit.ly/3ojqstf.

This morning, Dr. Kotsko’s Reading the Qur’an course became our inaugural porch class! It’s waaaay too beautiful to stay indoors today, especially when the discussion is getting good. We hope you’re reading good things this spring, Cardinals!

Peaceful scenes from everyday life in the Shimer house: student Jack plays us a song on the Greek lyre. Wishing you a restful holiday this weekend, students!

We had a nice spring break, but it’s good to be back and filling the house with life! We welcomed prospective students here to meet current students, hosted an open house for the campus, and had an engaging book talk with Shimer alum Michael Weinman ‘98 on his new book about Hannah Arendt. And now it’s time to hit the books again!

We’ve been brushing up on our Arendt for Dr. Michael Weinman’s book talk tonight! Join us in the Shimer House at 5 South Loomis tonight at 5:45pm for a book talk on “Hannah Arendt and Politics”!

We’re gearing up to welcome you all to our Open House this Thursday! Join us at 5 S. Loomis this Thursday, March 9th from 2:00pm-5:30pm for a tour of our new space, and then at 5:45pm for a conversation on Hannah Arendt and Politics with Shimer alum Michael Weinman ‘98 and Dr. Aron Dunlap. Alumni, please register with the link below!

Looking to connect with the Shimer School on campus? Our next Campus Visit Day on January 16th features a lunch and conversation session with your fellow prospective students, Shimer faculty, and staff! We’ll be pondering the big question “What is Inclusion?” and we can’t wait to hear from you! Register for the event on the North Central website, and write “Shimer” in the comments to join us for lunch!

It’s nearly the end of the fall term and the gravity of the moment is starting to hit us! Incidentally, Dr. Adam Kotsko’s Shape of the World class recently conducted an experiment with Galileo’s work on the velocity of falling bodies. As fall comes to a close and students start finals week, we’re looking forward to showing you what’s coming in spring!

Our recent alumni event at was a blast! You can always count on Shimer alumni for good music, food, and revelry. For those of you who missed out, don’t worry—we will see you again for an alumni gathering in the spring!

We had an amazing time at our field trip last night to to see their production of Measure for Measure! It was a refreshing and vibrant interpretation set against a backdrop of 1950’s Havana, full of color, music, and sound. Next up for our Shimer Shakespeare class: taking on the project of performing a dramatic reading!

It’s going to be absurdly beautiful in Chicago this weekend and Shimer will be at for their first annual Semicolon LitFest! Join us to celebrate books, eat delicious food, and catch an amazing author lineup this Saturday from noon-8pm!

We had some great conversations at our Banned Books Read-In. From Vonnegut to Morrison to poems by Silverstein and picture books in verse, we celebrated banned books of all kinds! Thanks to for co-hosting this event with us, and for reading us a picture book!

Someone doesn’t want you to read this, and that’s exactly why we think you should. This weekend we kick off Banned Books Week, and we’re celebrating our favorite banned books out loud with Oesterle Library! Join us on Wednesday, September 21st at 5:00pm for dinner, conversation, and some very rebellious reading. Bring a selection of your favorite banned book if you’d like to read out loud. All are welcome!

We’re here, and it’s a beautiful day to be surrounded by books in the city! Stop by our table at to say hello!

Hey! Will you be at Printers Row Lit Fest this weekend? No way! So will we! We'll be here at booth #213 on Saturday and Sunday. Can't wait to say hello to you!

Aaaaaand we’re back! And so are you! It’s been a beautiful first day of classes and we’re so excited the students are back on campus!