The Study is where curiosity finds a home.
It’s a space for people who believe that learning doesn’t stop at graduation and thoughtful conversation, big questions, and shared stories still shape who we are and how we live together.
At The Study, a nonprofit for lifelong learners, you’ll find classes, book talks, lectures, podcasts, Study Clubs and more—all designed to fit your schedule and your learning style.
Just like a physical study in a home, The Study is a place you make your own. Whether you drop in for a weekly conversation through a Study Club or listen to pre-recorded lectures sporadically, you can curate a space that reflects your interests, your pace, and your way of thinking.
Room for Thought. Room for you.
THERE'S ROOM FOR YOU HERE
Our Mission
In a world dominated by quick answers and shallow interactions, The Study prioritizes depth over distraction. Our mission is to create spaces dedicated to the humanities and genuine human connection. We offer scholar-led classes and events, both in-person and online, dedicated to exploring questions of deeper meaning and purpose. Our commitment is to make lifelong learning affordable, accessible, and meaningful.
Our Values
Kindness, Humility, Good Faith Engagement, Intellectual Curiosity, and the Free Exchange of Ideas
Our Story
In 1973, The Study (formerly Humanities North Dakota) was founded as part of a nationwide effort to bring the humanities beyond the university and into everyday life. For fifty years, it has served as a gathering place for people across the state to read together, wrestle with ideas, and see the world through someone else’s eyes.
Through oil booms and blizzards, through shifting technologies and changing politics, the heart of the organization has remained the same: a belief that dialogue strengthens democracy and that every person deserves access to ideas that help them make sense of life.
Today, The Study carries that legacy forward as a digital and physical home for lifelong learning. It’s still powered by the same North Dakota spirit—neighborly, open-hearted, and unafraid of big questions.
Wherever you are and whoever you are, there’s room for you here.
If you love ideas, questions, and making sense of the world, you’ll feel right at home.
What Are the Humanities?
The humanities include the study of history, literature, philosophy, ethics, languages, political science, civics, behavioral economics, religion, and other scholarly inquiries that help us understand how people make meaning, seek truth, and create order.
They give us the wisdom to navigate uncertainty, make ethical choices, and stay grounded in what truly matters.
The humanities are where we turn when technology outpaces understanding, when noise drowns out reflection, and when we need words for the questions our hearts can’t quite name.
From the first stories told around a fire to the philosophers of ancient Athens to the classrooms and libraries of today, the humanities have always been our shared inheritance—the way we carry knowledge and meaning across generations.
The study of the humanities supports intellectual growth, empowering personal and professional success and meaningful contributions to society. When a nurse finds deeper meaning in her work through literature, when a manager draws on history and empathy to lead with integrity, when neighbors discuss a book that changes how they see each other, that’s the humanities lighting the way forward.
Meet the team behind The Study
Board
Members
Dorothy Lick
Board Chair | Bismarck
Larry Skogen
Mandan
Angela S. Gorder
Bottineau
Marianna Malm
Fargo
Michael Tomanek
Bismarck
Julie Blehm
Vice Chair | Fargo
Dave Ehlis
Bismarck
Harry Hagel
Wishek
Prairie Rose Seminole
Garrison
Jerod Tufte
Robinson
Lyle Best
Watford City
Melinda Goodman
Minot
Trygve E. Hammer
Minot
Barb Solberg
Minot
