HUMANITIES

Humanities is an interdisciplinary major coordinated by the Letters Collegium. Working together, the student and Mentor design a ten course program focusing on a central topic ( e.g., historical period, geographical area, cultural/ intellectual movement), using the methodology of one core discipline (art, foreign language, history, literature, music, philosophy, political science, religion, sociology, theatre), supplemented with courses from complementary disciplines. Humanities students are encouraged to participate in integrative humanities courses.

Five courses must be from the core discipline. The other five courses may be drawn from complementary disciplines. At least five courses must be beyond the introductory level. No later than the Junior year, a guiding committee of three faculty from disciplines in the student's program is selected. This committee designs and evaluates the Senior comprehensive examination, or may invite the student to write a Senior thesis.

Students who complete the humanities major demonstrate the following competencies:

• knowledge of the topical focus from an interdisciplinary perspective, demonstrated by the ability to speak and write intelligently about it
• ability to understand and use the methodological processes of the core discipline, demonstrated by the successful completion of a comprehensive exam, thesis, or project

• ability to locate bibliographical information and to engage in scholarly writing on the topic.