Humanities, B.A.

Please note: Not admitting new students at this time.

Objectives

The Humanities major is designed to meet the needs of a student who has a broad interest in liberal arts but whose interest would not be served by a major program within a single department. The Humanities major is an interdisciplinary program that draws on courses taught in several departments in the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (History, English, Classics, Philosophy, Theological Studies, Modern Languages and Literatures) and the College of Communication and Fine Arts (Art History). In the first two years the student acquires a broad background in the arts, history, and literature. Language study through the intermediate level is also required. In the second two years, the student concentrates in a particular area of interest. The concentration consists of four (4) upper-division courses taken from departmental offerings in Archaeology, Art History, Classics, English, French, German, Greek, History, Italian, Latin, Philosophy, Spanish, Theological Studies, or various area studies, including African American Studies, Asian and Pacific Studies, Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies. The concentration is then supported by three (3) upper-division courses from one or two supporting fields selected in consultation with the Humanities advisor. All Humanities majors are required to complete, in their final semester, HMNT 4997 Capstone Project, which marks the culmination of the student’s interdisciplinary course of study.

The program provides students with the motivation, knowledge, and skills necessary to read, write, and think critically about the issues that have occupied the writings of humanists for centuries, as well as to examine, question, and challenge their own moment in cultural history in light of the values associated with humanism.

The program is a fine preparation for students interested in professional courses in law, business, or education. Also, the program is designed to allow students to complete a major in a disciplinary area that would qualify them for graduate studies. 

Humanities Student Learning Outcomes

By virtue of pursuing a major in Humanities,

Students should know:

• How knowledge has been pursued, established, and critically evaluated in at least two different disciplines representing their concentration and supporting field of study
• The various ways in which artists have developed the fine arts to convey their sense of the world’s surface and its depth
• A foreign language
• The content as well as analytical and communicative skills that the study of their concentration demands;

Students should be able to:

• Communicate insights clearly, effectively, and with nuance in both oral and written form
• Synthesize insights from a variety of disciplines
• Develop insights from one discipline for the enrichment of others;

Students should value:

• The variety of ways in which cognitive, moral, and aesthetic disciplines have enriched our sense of the human condition
• The further pursuit of those disciplines, as required by their deeper sense of the complexity of the human condition
• Their responsibility to serve the world as whole persons, with head, heart, and hand.

Major Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Semester Hours
Lower Division Requirements
Select two of the following:		8
ARHS 2000	Art and Society: The Ancient Mediterranean
ARHS 2002	Art and Society: Early Christian to Early Modern
ARHS 2004	Modernism
Select three semester hours in Studio or Performance Arts		3
Select one of the following:		8
CHIN 2103 and CHIN 2104	Chinese 3 and Chinese 4
FREN 2103 and FREN 2104	French 3 and French 4
GRMN 2103 and GRMN 2104	German 3 and German 4
ITAL 2103 and ITAL 2104	Italian 3 and Italian 4
JAPN 2103 and JAPN 2104	Japanese 3 and Japanese 4
MDGK 2203 and MDGK 2204	Intermediate Modern Greek I and Intermediate Modern Greek II
SPAN 2103 and SPAN 2804	Spanish 3 and Stylistics and Composition
Subtotal		19
Upper Division Requirements
Sixteen semester hours in concentration in a departmental major		16
Twelve semester hours in one or two fields which supports the concentration		12
HMNT 4997	Capstone Project	2
Subtotal		30
Total Semester Hours		49

Note:

An average grade of C (2.0) must be obtained in courses included in the major.

The choice of a concentration and of support courses must be formally approved by the Director.

Humanities Model Four-Year Plan

The normal course load is 16 semester hours (4 classes). By following the model below, a student will complete all lower-division core requirements by the end of the sophomore year as well as most major prerequisites. Note that core areas are suggested to provide a distribution of various disciplines every semester. Please be flexible implementing these suggestions, given your own interests and course availability. In four years, this plan meets all common graduation requirements.

Plan of Study Grid

First Year
Fall		Semester Hours
FFYS 1000	First Year Seminar	4
Foreign Language (2101-level)		4
University Core		3-4
University Core		3-4
	Semester Hours	14-16
Spring
RHET 1000	Rhetorical Arts	3-4
Foreign Language (2102-level)		4
University Core		3-4
University Core		3-4
	Semester Hours	13-16
Sophomore Year
Fall
Select one of the following:		3-4
ARHS 2000	Art and Society: The Ancient Mediterranean
ARHS 2002	Art and Society: Early Christian to Early Modern
ARHS 2004	Modernism
Performing Arts
Foreign Language (2103-level)		4
University Core		3-4
Elective		3-4
	Semester Hours	13-16
Spring
Select one of the following:		3-4
ARHS 2000	Art and Society: The Ancient Mediterranean
ARHS 2002	Art and Society: Early Christian to Early Modern
ARHS 2004	Modernism
Performing Arts
Select one of the following:		4
Foreign Language (2104-level)
FREN 2104	French 4
SPAN 2804	Stylistics and Composition
University Core		3-4
University Core		3-4
	Semester Hours	13-16
Junior Year
Fall
Upper Division Concentration		4
Upper Division Support Field		4
University Core		3-4
Elective		3-4
	Semester Hours	14-16
Spring
Upper Division Support Field		4
Upper Division Concentration		4
University Core		3-4
Upper Division Elective		3-4
	Semester Hours	14-16
Senior Year
Fall
Upper Division Support Field		4
Upper Division Concentration		4
University Core		3-4
Upper Division Elective		3-4
	Semester Hours	14-16
Spring
HMNT 4997	Capstone Project	2
Upper Division Concentration		4
University Core		3-4
Upper Division Elective		3-4
	Semester Hours	12-14
	Minimum Semester Hours	107-126