Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and Cultural Studies

The new B.A. degree in Humanities and Cultural Studies enables students to receive solid foundations in the interdisciplinary study of cultures and meanings. Included is studying how human cultures have produced meaning in the past and continue to do so, reflecting critically on these productions, and learning relevant perspectives and meaningful interpretations that contribute to responsible engagement with the many different cultural expressions we encounter today. Theoretically grounded, culturally diverse, and academically relevant, Humanities and Cultural Studies enables students to understand the production of meaning by human cultures and to focus on particular cultural or critical areas for more sustained study and applications. Throughout the degree program, students learn to read and think critically, write and argue persuasively, and engage in relevant research in the Humanities while developing their own skills of critical evaluation and constructive engagement. While many degree programs exist that allow students to pursue historical or literary or political study, the program in humanities and Cultural Studies is unique in its intentionally interdisciplinary focus and its grounding in a Cultural Studies approach. This degree in Humanities and Cultural Studies is for students who are interested in obtaining key competencies in the liberal arts, such as thinking critically about the world we live in, who want to examine how meaning is generated, disseminated, and produced in social, political and economic spheres within a given culture, and who wish to combine historical, literary, artistic, philosophical, and related critical approaches in their interdisciplinary study. Students pursuing this degree will learn solid research skills, will know how to read, think, and write critically, how to engage in research effectively, and they will thus develop necessary and usable skills in an increasingly culturally diverse and politically complex world.