Humanities

Faculty

Professor: Dorothea Olkowski, Director

All degree-seeking students admitted to the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences must fulfill 3 of the 9 credit hours of LAS humanities area requirements by taking one core humanities course under the departmental heading “Humanities” (HUM). Students may take a second core humanities in order to satisfy 3 additional credit hours of the LAS general education humanities requirement. Humanities courses are upper division (3000+ level) and, as such, presume students have junior or senior status.

The core humanities courses are team-taught, writing intensive, multi-disciplinary courses that combine the study of literature, history, art, theatre, film, music history, and philosophy, emphasizing the interaction of these fields with social, political, economic, and scientific/technological events. The focus of a course will be a specific year or topic, some with a traditional and some with a nontraditional influence. The class format may combine lectures, group discussions, presentations, guest panels, field trips, dramatic performances, and musical recitals. Faculty from the various humanities-related departments join together in teaching the courses to provide students a solid overview of humanities disciplines.

HUM course descriptions that appear within this catalog are general; each semester, different, specific topics will be offered. Since different faculty members may teach in different semesters, topics are designed in light of the interests and expertise of those teaching on a given team, in a given semester.

Each of the HUM courses in any given semester’s course schedule fulfills the LAS core humanities requirement of the general humanities area requirement. Each of the HUM courses offered in any given semester also satisfies the Navigate and upper-division Writing Intensive requirements in the campus-wide Compass Curriculum.