Humanities

Program Director:  Associate Professor Dietz (History)

The Western Tradition: First Year
Directors: Associate Professors Snyder (Religion) and Dietz (History)              

The Western Tradition: Second Year
Directors: Associate Professor Robb (Philosophy) and Professor Edmondson (History)

Cultures & Civilizations: One-year Sequence
Director:  Associate Professor Churchill (English)

Faculty Affiliated with the Humanities Program

Professors: Barnes (History), Berkey (History), Denham (German), Edmondson (History), Epes (German), Gibson (English), Goldstein (Philosophy), Ligo (Art), Mahony (Religion), Rigger (Political Science), Sabaratnam (Sociology), S. Smith (Art)

Associate Professors: Churchill (English), Dietz (History), Gay (Education), R. Ingram (English), Lerner (Music), Munger (Psychology), Parker (English),  Robb (Philosophy), Snyder (Religion), Swallow (Mathematics)

Assistant Professors: Cheshire (Classics), Guasco (History), Studtmann (Philosophy), Wills (Religion)

Adjunct Assistant Professor:  Higham (Humanities)

The Humanities program offers two separate course sequences, The Western Tradition and Cultures & Civilizations. The Western Tradition, a two-year, four-course sequence, is an interdisciplinary study of texts and contexts of the West, from the ancient world to the present. Cultures & Civilizations, a one-year, two-course sequence, is a comparative, interdisciplinary study of western and non-western texts.

Satisfactory completion of the four-course Western Tradition sequence enables a student to satisfy the composition (W-course) requirement and receive credit for four courses in the core as follows: literature (one course), history (one course), philosophy and religion (two courses). Enrollment is limited to 80 students, chosen at random from those entering students who list Humanities 150 as their first preference in registration.

Satisfactory completion of the two-course Cultures & Civilizations sequence enables a student to satisfy the composition (W-course) requirement, the cultural diversity requirement, and to receive credit for the core requirement in literature. Enrollment is limited to 32 students, chosen at random from those entering students who list Humanities 160 as their first preference in registration.

To receive core credit for either Humanities sequence, a student must pass all courses in that sequence. Students may not change sequences.

In the Western Tradition sequence, classes meet together for lectures and in groups of 16 students for discussions led by individual instructors. In the Cultures & Civilizations sequence, two discussion groups (of 16 students) usually meet jointly with both instructors.  Humanities courses encourage and reward clear thinking, speaking, and writing.