Major in Humanities
Carolyn Gascoigne, PhD, Coordinator
S-1055, 713-222-5372
The study of the humanities is an investigation of human institutions and artistic achievement, the values embodied in those institutions and works, and the range of aesthetic and philosophic responses to the human condition. The Bachelor of Arts in Humanities program gives a student experience with literature, philosophic writings, the history of human culture, and the performing and visual arts, as well as a framework for critical consideration of cultural values and their expression in institutions, literature and the fine arts.
Program Learning Outcomes
Graduates who earn a BA in Humanities will:
- Identify and discuss the major intellectual trends in the humanities, including arts, music, literature, science, philosophy, theology, and politics.
- Identify and discuss the historical and cultural contexts in which great artistic and/or literary works
- Identify and discuss why important intellectual traditions are relevant in the 21st century.
- Write effectively to include appropriate use of English syntax and semantics, cogent reasoning and rebuttal skills, cohesiveness of expression and effective argument.
To complete a BA in Humanities, students must satisfy the “Requirements for CHSS Majors” and fulfill the coursework listed below. Students who pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities will select one of four tracks as an area of concentration:
- Cultural Studies*: The investigation and appreciation of the major intellectual trends of humanity, including the literature, the fine arts, politics and philosophy, and science.
- Critical Race Studies: A program that facilitates an interdisciplinary, academic study of the way various forms of racism contribute to develop and maintain cultural, social, institutional, and legal power structures which marginalize members of various and often intersecting populations
- Latino Studies: The Latino Studies program explores the linguistic, cultural, sociopolitical, historical, artistic, and literary elements that constitute the Latino, Hispanic, and Latin American experiences.
- Medical Humanities: This program students approach contagion, illness, and disease and their effects on the global and local communities with a firm grounding in the insights that the humanities offer because they will be informed well about the human condition, suffering, personhood, and our relationship to ever-evolving medical and health technologies.
- Religious Studies: The study of Western and World religions and theology as preparation for careers in ministry, pastoral counseling, non-profit work, or other faith-based professions.
*The Cultural Studies concentration is available as an online and a face-to-face degree.
The B.A. in Humanities requires 30 to 33 hours of electives, depending on the area of specialization. In selecting electives, students should make sure they choose courses that will fulfill the prerequisites for the preparatory courses and the courses in the area of concentration.
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