Dr. Carlotti-Smith sees the humanities as undervalued by her students and her institution. But she knows from experience just how valuable literature can be, if only we embrace it— and the professors who teach it. Here is her case for why literature and liberal arts are still important, in any higher learning degree. Dr. Carlotti-Smith is a writer, scholar, and an adjunct professor of comparative literature at the University of Tulsa in the Global Scholars Program. She also currently serves as a Research Fellow at the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities. Dr. Carlotti-Smith earned her Ph.D. in French at the University of Virginia. She specializes in French and Francophone literature, culture, and film, with a focus on Francophone Caribbean and New World Studies, postcolonial studies, and migration studies. A self-professed “third culture kid,” Dr. Carlotti-Smith is a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States, and was raised in Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore, Japan, and Belgium, has studied and worked in France, and is fluent in English, Portuguese, French, and Spanish. She particularly enjoys snuggling and reading with her 3- and 7-year-old daughters and their rescue dog, Abby. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx