Housed in the College of Liberal Arts, Herd Humanities is an interdisciplinary program that provides students with an opportunity to develop skills vital to success in all majors, all careers:
- Communication
- Composition
- Critical thinking
Students will also engage with texts from a variety of cultures, eras, and viewpoints with the potential to transform our sense of the world and ourselves.
Through an exploration of enduring works of literature, along with foundational works in the humanities and classics, we’ll develop those essential skills for all disciplines.
(fulfills requirements in CT, MC, Core II Communication Studies)
A course to enhance the development of critical thinking skills and their application in various interpersonal and public communication contexts through engagement with influential speeches and other foundational texts.
Built around a theme of “identity and community,” this course aims to foster a deep understanding of the significance of communication in shaping and reflecting one’s personal and social identity. Students will analyze influential speeches delivered by historically significant figures along with additional readings that address issues of identity and community in a variety of cultural traditions beyond the students’ own. Through a range of activities designed to enhance verbal communication skills and rhetorical awareness, students will develop and deliver speeches that authentically express their own experiences, perspectives, and values.
(fulfills requirements in WI, HUM, Core II Composition)
A course to develop skills in critical reading, writing, and research, through an exploration of a variety of foundational texts spanning a range of cultures and eras.
Students in this course will engage with a diverse selection of texts meant to develop a broader understanding of the world and the way we all perceive ourselves within it. Through reading, writing, and discussion, we’ll explore the ways in which a work of literature can both reflect and shape our experience of life, and we’ll consider the many factors – social, cultural, historical, environmental, and more – that shape our sense of reality.
