Executive Director New Hampshire Humanities

Each year, tens of thousands of New Hampshire residents gather to experience the power of the humanities -- to learn something new, think critically, and converse thoughtfully with their neighbors. Debbie Watrous, Executive Director of New Hampshire Humanities, will show you why the humanities and this organization matter to our state.  

Steve Taylor will offer a few words about what it’s like to be a “Road Scholar” for Humanities to Go.

Deborah Watrous
Executive Director
New Hampshire Humanities
February 2016

Deborah Watrous has been on the staff of New Hampshire Humanities for 22 years and has served as Executive Director since 2004. Returning to the mission of the organization when it was first founded in the 70s, Watrous has championed the application of the humanities to an understanding of contemporary public issues, including religion and politics, immigration policy, and contemporary constitutional questions. Watrous re-activated the organization’s adult literacy program, which has now expanded to serve 16 adult literacy providers around the state, including in all three state prisons. And she has overseen the dramatic expansion of Humanities to Go into the largest provider of accessible public humanities programming in the state with 450 talks offered each year in more than 150 NH communities in partnership with more than 250 NH organizations.

In 2011, New Hampshire Humanities won the NH Business & Industry Association’s “New Hampshire Advantage Award,” was named the “2014 Cultural Catalyst” by NH Magazine, and, along with New Hampshire Public Radio, was awarded the Helen & Martin Schwartz Prize for Excellence in the Public Humanities from the Federation of State Humanities Councils for “The Socrates Exchange” in 2010.  

Watrous serves as Secretary of the Board of Leadership New Hampshire and is a 2008 graduate of the program.  She has served on the Board of the Federation of State Humanities Councils, the national association that represents the 56 state and territorial humanities councils. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Kirkland College and a Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati.