UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM IN HUMANITIES AND ARTS

152 Humanities Instructional Building; (949) 824-9290
Catherine Liu, Co-Director (Humanities)
James Penrod, Co-Director (Arts)

Core Faculty

Stephen Barker, Ph.D. University of Arizona, Professor of Drama and Head of Doctoral Studies (post-modern theatre, Beckett, critical theory)

David Brodbeck, Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, Department Chair and Professor of Music, and The Robert and Marjorie Rawlins Chair in Music (music history, popular music studies)

Martha Gever, Ph.D. City University of New York, Associate Professor of Studio Art (video/cultural/critical studies)

Catherine Liu, Ph.D. City University of New York Graduate School and Center, Co-Director of the Humanities and Arts Major and Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies and of Comparative Literature (visual cultures, psychoanalysis, theories of the novel)

Lynn Mally, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Professor of History (modern Russian and Soviet history)

Ian Munro, Ph.D. Harvard University, Associate Professor of Drama (European drama and performance, early modern popular culture, theatrical performance of wit)

Carrie J. Noland, Ph.D. Harvard University, Associate Professor of French (twentieth-century poetry, literature of the avant-garde, and performance studies)

James Penrod, M.F.A. University of California, Irvine; C.M.A. Laban Institute of Movement Studies, Associate Dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Co-Director of the Arts and Humanities Major, and Professor Emeritus of Dance (ballet, modern, dance notation, choreography, movement analysis)

Sally A. Stein, Ph.D. Yale University, Associate Professor of Art History (American art, history of photography, feminist theory)

Frank B. Wilderson III, Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Drama (film theory, Marxism, dramaturgy, black political theory)

Undergraduate Program

The major in Humanities and Arts provides students with a broad exposure to a range of disciplinary and methodological opportunities in the Humanities and Arts. It insists on the productive intersection of these two fields as the focus of each student's program. Students improve their critical and historical mastery of aesthetic theories and practices while learning about the process of making creative work. This humanist background will equip them to participate more effectively as artists, citizens, and critics in a world where critical thinking and creativity are vital to success in a variety of work environments.

Humanities and Arts students are given the opportunity to work closely with faculty from different academic disciplines. They are able to design a highly individualized course of study and have the opportunity of completing a senior project thesis with one of the Humanities and Arts affiliate faculty. This major's focus on the connection between practice and analysis distinguishes it from the broader and more diverse scope of more general interdisciplinary programs. The scholarly work of many UCI faculty in the Humanities and Arts lies at an intersection between the two academic units, and the major translates this intellectual and creative activity into a coherent curriculum and projects current forms of scholarship and artistic practice into the classroom.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

There is a steadily growing market in private industry for students whose training combines skills sharpened by both the Humanities and Arts. Business demands graduates with strong writing and analytic skills, talents stressed in the Humanities. They also desire people with creativity and visual skills who have experience putting their original ideas into practice, something emphasized in the Arts. Graduates of this program will be very attractive to teacher-training programs as well as academic Ph.D. programs. Graduates may find work in professional fields directly allied with the Arts, including museum work, art foundations, art criticism, journalism, theatre, and the entertainment industry.

The UCI Career Center provides services to students and alumni including career counseling, information about job opportunities, a career library, and workshops on resume preparation, job search, and interview techniques. See the Career Center section for additional information.

Application Process for the Humanities and Arts Major

New students are not admitted directly to the Humanities and Arts major. Continuing students apply to change their major to Humanities and Arts no earlier than the fall quarter of their sophomore year. Complete information about changing majors to Humanities and Arts is available at http://www.changeofmajor.uci.edu. Students must submit a transcript and meet the change-of-major criteria for each of the two departments they propose to combine. In addition, a program of study, approved by the designated faculty member in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts and in the School of Humanities, is required for admission to Humanities and Arts. Students are strongly encouraged to consult with the Humanities Student Affairs Office early in their decision to apply to Humanities and Arts.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BACHELOR'S DEGREE

University Requirements: See pages 58-63.