Humanities is a multidisciplinary major that deals with human thought and culture. Creativity, imagination, and interpretation are central to humanistic study. The humanities disciplines include art, art history, creative writing, dance, history, literature, modern languages, music, philosophy, speech communication, theater, and selected women’s studies and American ethnic studies courses. A humanities major leads to the traditional liberal arts degree, the bachelor of arts.

Students develop a plan of study with an interdisciplinary humanities advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences dean’s office, who acts as a liaison with the Humanities Advisory Committee. The student also confers with other humanities faculty members who have expertise in the areas of the student’s interest. The student’s proposal must include a rationale or thematic design for the interdisciplinary degree and a tentative listing of courses. The proposal must be approved by the Humanities Advisory Committee. This procedure must be accomplished before or during the semester in which the student completes 90 credit hours toward the degree.

The humanities major consists of 36 credit hours. Students must select two humanities disciplines and complete 15 hours in each discipline, including at least 6 hours of 500–699 level course work in one discipline and 9 hours of 500–699 level course work in the second discipline. Six hours of humanities electives are also required.

Up to 9 credit hours of major coursework may be applied to basic requirements of the BA degree. Courses used in the two selected disciplines may not also be applied toward another major. Students who select music as one discipline must seek additional advising in the music department.

A 2.0 GPA in the major is required for graduation.