University Catalog 2015-2016

University of Colorado Boulder
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Humanities

    Humanities is an interdisciplinary program that allows students to combine different fields of study from all the disciplines of the humanities as well as from the social sciences (in particular, Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Women and Gender Studies). This major especially encourages students to develop their interdisciplinary interests in fields of cultural and humanistic expression such as literature, art, music, film, philosophy, history, modern media, religion and contemporary critical practice and theory.    

    The undergraduate degree in humanities emphasizes knowledge and awareness of:

    • the ways cultures and traditions define both themselves and each other;
    • the formal, rhetorical and ideological properties of cultural texts in a variety of forms and media (literature, history, philosophy, film, music, visual arts, architecture, dance, theatre, performance);
    • the dynamic relationships between texts and their social and historical contexts;
    • the genres and modes of texts and their production, transformation and reception; and
    • the theoretical and ideological underpinnings and implications of one’s own and others’ interpretive approaches and assumptions.   

    In addition, students completing the degree in humanities are expected to acquire the ability and skills to:

    • analyze and interpret texts in a variety of forms and media;
    • articulate such analyses and interpretations at a sophisticated level in both written and oral forms;
    • discern similarities and differences among individual works, artistic media, historical periods and cultural traditions;
    • reason critically; and
    • explore the connections between contemporary issues and academic work.

    Course code for this program is HUMN.

    Bachelor's Degree Program(s)

    Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities

    Required Courses  and Semester Credit Hours

    • HUMN 1110 and 1210 Introduction to Humanities 1 and 2—12
    • HUMN 2000 Methods and Approaches to the Humanities—3
    • Upper-division HUMN courses—15
    • Area of concentration: either a single language/literature (English or a foreign language, ancient or modern; first-year language courses may not be counted) or a field related to the humanities, such as history, art history, anthropology, etc.—18
      (At least 12 of these 18 hours must be taken at the upper-division level.)
    • Secondary field: courses chosen from one other humanities-related discipline such as fine arts, music, dance, theatre, film, philosophy, foreign language literature (first-year language courses may not be counted), or other discipline—12

    Graduating in Four Years

    Consult the Four-Year Guarantee Requirements for information on eligibility. Because the humanities major is unique in requiring courses from a number of different departments in addition to its own courses, it is imperative that students wishing to graduate in four years declare the major early and meet regularly with a major advisor. The concept of “adequate progress” as it is used here refers only to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major. To maintain adequate progress in humanities, students should meet the following requirements:

    • Complete the lower-division sequence HUMN 1110–1210 by the end of the fourth semester.
    • Complete at least two lower-division courses in the secondary field and/or area of concentration by the end of the fourth semester.
    • Complete 15 of the remaining 42 credit hours at the upper-division level by the end of the sixth semester—at least two of these must be upper-division humanities courses.
    • Complete all remaining required courses (no more than 27 credits) by the end of the eighth semester.

    Minor in Humanities

    The Minor in Humanities offers students the opportunity to take a range of interdisciplinary courses offered by the Humanities Program faculty. Total: 18 hours (9 upper division) 

    Requirements:

    A:  any two of the following courses: HUMN 1110, 1210, 1120, 1220 (6 hours)  

    B:  HUMN 2000 (3 hours)

    C:  9 hours of upper division HUMN courses

    The depth of critical analysis as well as the breadth of knowledge covered by the Humanities Program’s courses can be a great benefit to students pursuing a variety of other majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, in the Professional Schools and particularly students pursuing a pre-medical or pre-law school program of study. This minor provides students with the kinds of skills and interests that enhance employment opportunities as well as applications to graduate school. 

    Humanities Program courses are designed to train students to understand and analyze critical, historical, social, political and critical issues from different perspectives and to teach students to draw independent conclusions. Our courses also help develop excellent written and verbal communication skills—recognized by the business and scientific worlds as indicators of future innovators as well as indicators of high quality practitioners and researchers across many different fields (media, communications, arts, creative design, marketing, etc.).