The Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) will celebrate the graduation of The Odyssey Project’s class of 2007.

The Odyssey Project is a free, eight-month program of college-level humanities courses for people living in poverty. Students in the class of 2007 took classes from September through May at the North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School on the South Side and at the Howard Area Community Center in Rogers Park on the North Side.

Armando Maggi, Associate Professor, Italian Literature and the College, and Committee on History of Culture, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, at the University of Chicago, will give the graduation address. Professor Maggi’s scholarship includes works on Renaissance and Baroque culture, literature, and philosophy with particular focus on treatises on love, religious texts, and the relationship of word and image. He is also an expert on Christian mysticism, with works on medieval, Renaissance, and baroque women mystics. A native of Italy, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He has taught in The Odyssey Project for four years.

In addition to Professor Maggi, The Odyssey Project graduates will select a student speaker from each location to address the graduation audience.

This event is by invitation only.

For more information or an invitation, please call Amy Thomas Elder at 312.422.5580.