College of Arts and Humanities

1102 Francis Scott Key Hall
Phone: 301-405-2088
http://arhu.umd.edu

Dean: Stephanie Shonekan, Ph.D.

The College of Arts and Humanities embraces a heterogeneous group of disciplines that study human experience, thought, expression and creativity. All value the development of critical thinking, fluent expression in writing and speech, sensitivity to ethical and aesthetic issues, and a complex understanding of history, culture, diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice in our society. Departments and programs in Arts and Humanities prize vigorous intellectual debate in a diverse community. While they have strong individual identities, they are also involved in interdisciplinary studies. Thus students will find, for example, courses in the Department of English that approach the medical humanities through literature, courses in the Department of History that adopt feminist perspectives, courses in the Department of Classics that connect contemporary life to antiquity, courses in the Department of Philosophy that embrace economic and political thought, and courses in the Department of Art that integrate computer science.

These ways of thinking inspire and challenge students to BE WORLDWISE in every sense. ARHU academic and career advisors help students navigate their college journey so they can discover their passion, develop their academic plan and infuse their UMD experience with internships, engaged research with faculty, career explorations and study abroad. ARHU sponsors study abroad programs in Cuba, France, Italy, Martinique, Morocco, Spain, and the United Kingdom, including the Arts and Humanities in London Program. Students have unparalleled opportunities to apply theory to practice in internship sites, museums, libraries, theaters, law firms, corporate offices and the federal and Maryland state government in the Prince George’s County-Washington, DC-Baltimore-Annapolis area.

Further examples of the special opportunities available to students in this richly variegated college include an exceptional visual resource center in Art History and Archaeology, the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, the English Department's BookLab makerspace, and the School of Languages, Literatures, and Culture's Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning Media Classroom. Additionally, the educational vistas open to students in the School of Music and the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies are enhanced enormously by the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which houses those departments. Students may also participate in one of the college's five living-learning programs: Honors Humanities, College Park Scholars-Arts, Design Cultures & Creativity, Jiménez-Porter Writers' House, and Language House.

Admission Requirements

Freshmen and transfer students interested in applying for admission should refer to the general university admissions information provided in the catalog. Admission to the college's School of Music is a two-step process: undergraduate applicants must apply to both the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and to the School of Music. Visit http://music.umd.edu/admissions/ for information. Further, students wishing to major in creative or performing arts are encouraged to seek training in the skills associated with such an area prior to matriculation. Applicants to these programs may be required to audition or submit a portfolio as a part of the admission requirements. For more information about the college's academic programs, please contact arhu-admit@umd.edu or 301-405-2108.

Schools, Departments, and Units

Majors

Minors

Certificates

Major Requirements

All students must complete a program of study consisting of a major (a field of concentration) and sometimes supporting courses as specified by one of the academic units of the college. No program of study shall require in excess of 60 semester hours.
A major shall consist, in addition to the lower-division departmental prerequisites, of 24 to 40 hours, at least 12 of which must be in courses numbered 3xx or 4xx and at least 12 of which must be taken at the University of Maryland, College Park.
A major program sometimes requires a secondary field of concentration (supporting courses). The nature and number of these courses are determined by the major department.
No grade lower than "C-" may be used to fulfill major or supporting course requirements. No course for the major or support module may be taken Pass-Fail.
Students must earn at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA to graduate from the University of Maryland.
An overall GPA of 2.0 in the major is required for graduation.
Students should consult the unit in which they will major for specific details; certain units have mandatory advising.
Students must complete the World Language Placement (https://arhu.umd.edu/academics/world-language-placement) prior to adding a major in the College of Arts and Humanities unless the student has fulfilled the required language prerequisites. Students who enter the university as Arts and Humanities majors must take the placement by the end of their first semester on campus. Bachelor of Music students are exempt from taking the world language placement. For more information about Bachelor of Music requirements, please see http://music.umd.edu.

Graduation Requirements

To graduate, all students must earn at least 120 credits and at least a 2.0 cumulative GPA. Additionally, students must complete College of Arts and Humanities requirements.

The following college requirements apply only to students earning Bachelor of Arts degrees from the College of Arts and Humanities. These requirements are in addition to or in fulfillment of campus and departmental requirements. For information concerning the Bachelor of Music in the School of Music, students should consult a Music advisor.

Students who double major in ARHU and another college on campus must complete the ARHU Global Engagement requirement and 39 hours of 3xx or 4xx-level credit.

All Arts and Humanities first-year students (excluding students in a two-year living-learning program) must take ARHU158, Explorations in the Arts and Humanities, during their first semester on campus.

Distribution: To encourage advanced mastery of material, a minimum of 39 of the total of 120 semester hours must be 3xx-4xx level work.

For more information about the CORE program, please visit http://ugst.umd.edu/core/.

For more information about the General Education program, please visit http://gened.umd.edu.

The Global Engagement Requirement

To expand ARHU students' understanding of other cultures and language in an increasingly global society, ARHU students must complete the "Global Engagement Requirement." Learning a second language produces deep knowledge of cultural as well as linguistic differences while opening pathways for common understanding. The requirement may be satisfied in one of three ways.

Option 1: Study of a World Language

Requirement: Students will take world language coursework to the designated level at UMD. Please consult an ARHU advisor for a list of the approved course sequences.

Option 2: Cultural Immersion through Study Abroad

Requirement: Students will participate in a semester long Study Abroad experience in a country where English is not the primary language.

The study abroad experience must include:

At least the first year/elementary level language of the host country before or during the experience (or equivalent as determined by the ARHU world language placement policy);
A reflection component that will challenge students to assess their pre-departure, in country and post study abroad experience;
Participation in one of the following pre-approved engagement experiences:
1. Internship
2. Service Learning
3. A living situation involving daily interaction with host nationals (e.g., a pre-approved home stay with a host national family)
4. Other - an engagement experience approved in advance of departure

Students must develop a learning contract with an ARHU advisor in advance of studying abroad in order for the experience to count for the Global Engagement Requirement. Past study abroad experiences will not be considered retroactively.

Option 3: Individually-designed Engagement Experience

Requirement: Students may also create an individually-designed experience that achieves the learning outcomes of the global engagement requirement.

This option must include:

At least the first year/elementary level language of the host country before or during the experience (or equivalent as determined by the ARHU world language placement policy);
A pre-approved short- or long-term study abroad program that has been deemed appropriate for inclusion in this option by ARHU in conjunction with the Education Abroad Office;
Students must develop a learning contract with an ARHU advisor and petition to have the experience approved in advance.

Students proposing study abroad in an English-speaking country must choose to study a language that has significance to the historical or current culture of the host country. Students will need to research and discuss the intersection of the chosen language and culture in their petition.

Important Notes

Students already beyond the required language needed to fulfill the Global Engagement Requirement must document their language proficiency by taking the world language placement or equivalent as determined by the ARHU world language placement policy.
Students taking a world language class at the University of Maryland on or after 9/15/2011 will need to take the world language placement. Please see an ARHU advisor for details.
Students seeking exemption from the Global Engagement Requirement must take the world language placement in an on-campus proctored environment. Please see an ARHU advisor or see https://arhu.umd.edu/academics/world-language-placement/proctored-wlp/ for the proctored placement schedule.

For more information, please see an advisor in the ARHU Office of Student Affairs, call 301-405-2108, or visit https://arhu.umd.edu/academics/advising/global-engagement/.

Freshmen and new transfer students have advisors in the College of Arts and Humanities, Office of Student Affairs (301-405-2108) who assist them in the selection of courses. Students must see an advisor in their department for assistance in the selection of courses for the major. All first-year students (both freshmen and transfers), students who have completed 45-55 credits, and seniors who have completed 86-100 credits have mandatory advising with both the college and the department. For further information about advising, students should call the ARHU Office of Student Affairs, 301-405-2108.

Secondary Education Teacher Certification

A student interested in a career as a secondary education teacher in a subject represented in this college is encouraged to speak with an advisor in the College of Education Office of Student Services (1204 Benjamin Building) to discuss the different pathways available for certification. The College of Education offers programs that lead to certification for grades PreK-12 in Studio Art and World Language (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish), and grades 7-12 in English and Social Studies (History). Degree pathways that lead to certification include the following:

An undergraduate double major in the content area and secondary education,
The five-year integrated master's program, which allows for the content major as an undergraduate degree and completion of certification and graduate degree requirements in a fifth year, or
The one-year intensive master's plus certification program.

Internships

Most departments within Arts and Humanities have well-established internship options. For more information on internships taken for academic credit toward their major, students should contact their departmental academic advisor. Internship credit is also available directly through the college for students who have fewer than 60 credits, students who are first semester students at UMD, students who have already completed an internship in their major or would like to explore an area outside their major, students who are engaging in research experiences or students who are doing remote internships or interning in a legislative environment. Typically, students must have a 2.5 GPA. They need to complete an application process and the experience usually lasts for a full semester or over the summer. Students must be enrolled for the internship during the semester in which they intern. Retroactive credit and credit for continuing internships will not be awarded. Internships are not considered to be a "credit for work" experience. In addition to participating in the on-site or remote experience, students will also fulfill an academic component. Students are eligible to be paid at their internship and still earn academic credit. For assistance in locating an internship, connect with the University Career Center at ARHU. Visit http://arhu.umd.edu/careers/ for more information about appointment scheduling and career programs.

Living-Learning Programs

Honors Humanities

0111 Anne Arundel Hall
Phone: 301-405-1537
hhum@umd.edu
http://honorshumanities.umd.edu

Director: Randy Ontiveros, Ph.D.
Associate Director: Sarah Humud, Ph.D.

Entering freshmen participate by invitation in Honors Humanities, a two-year living-learning program at the University of Maryland. Honors Humanities is a prestigious undergraduate program for academically talented students who come from majors across campus. These students share a passion for the arts and humanities and desire both a well-rounded education and a competitive edge on the job market. The program is organized around a diverse and interdisciplinary curriculum. It culminates in an independent research, service or creative project (the "Keystone Project") that a student designs and executes with the guidance of a faculty mentor. Honors Humanities provides students with engaging classes, fun extracurricular activities, life-long friendships, a lively home in Anne Arundel Hall, and opportunities to take advantage of the intellectual, social, and cultural riches of the Washington, D.C. region. Upon completion of the program, students earn an Honors Humanities citation, and this award is recorded on their university transcripts.

College Park Scholars-Arts

1110 Bel Air Hall
Phone: 301-405-0522
http://scholars.umd.edu

Director: Harold Burgess

The College Park Scholars Arts Program, sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities and Undergraduate Studies, is a community of diverse, spirited and talented individuals from a range of academic disciplines. No matter one’s major, area of artistic interest, or skill level, as a member of our community, students will be challenged to strengthen their personal artistic skill set, experiment with new and different art forms, and gain a deeper understanding of the value of the arts in our personal and collective lives.

The Arts are not just for experts. They are not solely for the enjoyment of the elite. They are not a superfluous extravagance. The Arts are for us all, expert and novice alike. They are not just an end in and of themselves, but a means. They shape, and are shaped by the world we inhabit.

Aligned with the campus-wide Arts For All initiative, we empower students to build meaningful connections across a broad spectrum of arts and culture at the University of Maryland and beyond. Students benefit from opportunities to learn outside the classroom from professional guest artist-led workshops to attending performances and exhibitions presented by cultural institutions including the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The Kennedy Center, neighborhood art institutions such as Pyramid Atlantic and renowned art museums including the Smithsonian Institute. Students can participate in service-learning, and can choose to develop an arts capstone project based on their particular creative interests.

Jiménez-Porter Writers' House

Queen Anne's Hall
Phone: 301-405-0671
JPWritersHouse@umd.edu
http://writershouse.umd.edu

Director: Ross Angelella

The Jiménez-Porter Writers' House (JPWH) is a living-learning program open to all majors. The program was conceived and developed primarily for upper-division students, but will consider applications from academically talented incoming freshmen who have a solid focus on creative writing. Located in Queen Anne's Hall, the Writers' House creates a campus-wide literary center to study creative writing especially in its cross-cultural dimensions. Participants live in a close community of students who share an interest in creating stories, poems, plays, and screenplays. Students meet with visiting writers, publish a literary magazine, attend special readings and colloquia, attend an annual literary festival, and receive notation upon successful completion of the program. Our curriculum includes two 1-credit workshop classes and supporting one 3-credit class in the first year, a 3-credit workshop and 3-credit capstone course in the second year. Class sizes are small, and many include one-on-one faculty advising sessions. Students are allowed and encouraged to explore different genres between classes. The size of the program allows participants to form a strong and diverse community, with 50 to 60 students living and writing together each year. Applications can be submitted at http://apply.arhu.umd.edu, or by visiting http://writershouse.umd.edu. Final deadline for admission every year is March 1st for currently enrolled University of Maryland students, May 1st for transfer students and incoming freshmen.

Design Cultures & Creativity

Phone: 301-405-2866
dcc-honors@umd.edu
https://dcc.umd.edu
Instagram: @umd_dcc

Director: Damien Pfister, Ph.D.

Design Cultures & Creativity (DCC) is an Honors College living-learning program that takes creativity seriously as an impulse, an intentional practice, and a mechanism of survival. We aim to offer courses, resources, and opportunities to help students emerge from university not only with interesting things to say about the world, but also the imagination, tools, habits, and confidence to build new ones. Situated at the productive collision of arts and technology, DCC fosters an open, collaborative, and social environment that encourages students to explore relationships between design, culture, and creativity and confront the world with new, innovative, and groundbreaking ideas for a brighter, safer tomorrow for all. We are passionate about emerging technologies and their impact on the world and its people and, even more importantly, how our designs can make our worlds a better place for humans and all other living things to thrive. DCC students are innovative thinkers and makers who engage in research and collaborative projects that engage issues pertaining to identity, connectivity, social justice, art, design, and all things creative in an era when digital tools and media link us on a scale unprecedented in human history.

Language House

0107 St. Mary's Hall
Phone: 301-405-6996
mmatar@umd.edu
http://sllc.umd.edu/special-programs/language-house/

Program Director: Marilyn Matar, Ph.D.

The Language House Immersion Program, established as the pioneering living-learning initiative at the University of Maryland, welcomes students from all majors wishing to immerse themselves in the study of languages and cultures. The program features eleven language clusters: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Russian, and Spanish. Participants reside in St. Mary's Hall apartments alongside other members of their cluster, committing to exclusive use of their target language and maintaining an immersive environment throughout daily activities, studies, and social interactions at the Language House (LH).

In this immersive setting, each language cluster collaborates with a native-speaking mentor who organizes interactive cluster activities, including field trips, cooking sessions, film or game nights, and interviews with native speakers, enabling students to explore various facets of the target language and cultures. Additionally, Faculty Liaisons from the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (SLLC) engage with students in each language cluster.

LH students participate in the SLLC329 Language House Immersion course, which accounts for their engagement in the program and cluster activities. They must also enroll in at least one 3-credit course aligned with their language of study within the SLLC during each semester of their program participation. Furthermore, LH residents participate in events, such as intercultural lectures, international film series, Language and Career activities, and weekly conversation tables. These activities contribute to fostering a dynamic and interactive environment, enriching the overall global LH experience.

Students who successfully fulfill the LH requirements are eligible to receive a micro-credential from UMD - the "Badge in Language, Culture, and Communication"- which acknowledges and validates their immersive experience within the program and beyond.

College Honors Program

Most departments in the College of Arts and Humanities offer Departmental Honors Programs (DHP). DHPs are upper-division programs within the individual academic units. Students enrolled in Departmental Honors work independently with faculty members in subjects of special interest, develop and deepen their research skills, and, in the process, earn an even stronger degree. Students must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 to be admitted. For further information about individual Departmental Honors Programs and policies, consult with departmental advisors.

Departments and Centers

Academic Computing Services

1111 Francis Scott Key Hall
Phone: 301-405-2104

Assistant Dean: Kathleen R. Cavanaugh

Academic Computing Services (ACS) supports the use of technology by faculty, staff, and students in the College of Arts and Humanities. ACS provides IT support services for faculty and staff, support for the use of technology to support teaching, learning and research, web and application development for ARHU schools and departments, and classroom technology support services in ARHU's departmental instructional spaces.

African American Digital and Experimental Humanities Initiative (AADHUM)

1104 Taliaferro Hall
aadhum@umd.edu
http://aadhum.umd.edu

Principal Investigator: Marisa Parham
Director: Marisa Parham
AADHum Team: Andrew W. Smith, Alice Bi, Christin Washington, Elizabeth M. Alexander, Grace Babukiika, Jeffrey Moro, Katelin Ten, Kola Heyward-Rotimi, Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Marisa Parham, and Trevor Muñoz, director of MITH

AADHum is a research and humanities design collaborative that focuses both on digital studies- producing scholarship that evaluates and extends investigation into the histories and impacts of digital technologies on Black lifeworlds, and also Black digital humanities- designing and developing projects that actively name Blackness in the production and implementation of digital or experimental technologies. In our support of Black Study at Maryland and beyond, we foster digital and experimental scholarly publishing and creative-making at all levels. Our public research programming includes microgrant opportunities for undergraduate students, residencies for grad students, senior scholars, and collaborators, and workshops and depth-conversations for all interested folks at UMD, in our local communities, and beyond.

University of Maryland Art Gallery

1202 Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building
3834 Campus Drive
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301-405-2763
artgallery@umd.edu
http://artgallery.umd.edu

Director: Taras W. Matla

The University of Maryland Art Gallery collects, displays, and interprets art from diverse cultures. Its exceptional teaching collection-- ranging from antiquity to the present-- allows students, faculty, and the surrounding community to learn about art from around the world in one building. Opportunities for museum training and arts management experience are available to students through graduate assistantships and work-study positions.

David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora

1214 Cole Student Activities Building
Phone: 301-314-2615
driskellcenter@umd.edu
http://driskellcenter.umd.edu

Director: Jordana M. Saggese, Ph.D.

The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park, honors the legacy of David C. Driskell (1931-2020) - Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Art, Artist, Art Historian, Collector, and Curator - by preserving the rich heritage of African American visual art and culture. Established in 2001, the Center provides an intellectual home for artists, museum professionals, art administrators, and scholars who are interested in broadening the field of African Diasporic studies with its collection of nearly 2,000 original art objects, an expanding archive of primary sources related to the study of African American art, a library of rare catalogs and other books, and a dedicated study room by the artist Faith Ringgold. The Driskell Center is committed to collecting, documenting, and presenting African American art as well as replenishing and expanding the field. Exhibitions and other events in its gallery space enrich the intellectual and artistic community of both the university campus and the wider community.

Consortium on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity (CRGE)

Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Susquehanna Hall
4200 Lehigh Rd. Room 4117
College Park, Maryland 20742
Phone: 301-405-5223
http://crge.umd.edu

Director: Ruth Enid Zambrana, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor

The Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity (CRGE), a university-wide, interdisciplinary research organization and pedagogic/mentoring unit, was founded in 1998 by pioneering faculty Dr. Bonnie Thornton Dill and cofounder Dr. Ruth Enid Zambrana who developed a critical area of intersectional scholarship in the contemporary academy. CRGE is the first national interdisciplinary and intersectional research center of its kind and is at the forefront of advancing equity, inclusion, intersectional qualitative, and mixed-methods research on campus and across the nation. We are uniquely focused on intersectional research and uplifting and mentoring traditionally and historically underrepresented minority (URM) and other disadvantaged students of color and early career faculty.

Why are we important to the UMD campus?

Building human capital and promoting equity is at the core of our mission and programmatic activities.
Interdisciplinary scholarship and collaboration are the driving forces of our research-building efforts.
Qualitative and mixed methodologies form a central core of our expertise.
Combining efforts with other units enhances the academic pathways of students and faculty, particularly URM.

CRGE has three unique dimensions that distinguish it from other campus units: focus on the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, class and other dimensions of inequality as they shape the construction and representation of identities, behavior and complex social relations; commitment to qualitative research interests that illustrate the lived experiences of race/ethnic groups and showcase scholars' innovative research methodologies and interdisciplinary collaborations; and engagement in the research pathways of students and faculty to contribute to the next generation of historically and traditionally underrepresented and disadvantaged students of color, scholars and leaders.

Our intersectional scholarship examines the lived experiences of URM and other social and economically disadvantaged populations in public health, medicine, urban and rural low-income communities, and higher education sectors. Our work has investigated the role of mentoring of URM groups and their experiences in the pathway from college through early-career faculty and the role of discriminatory institutional practices on URM faculty health and well-being. Programming seeks to apply effective, equitable, and responsive practices to increase the retention and promotion of URM students and faculty. We sponsor intersectional dissertation research seed grants in partnership with the Office of Graduate Diversity and Inclusion (OGDI), and conduct a national summer Intersectional Qualitative Research Methods Institute (IQRMI) (for early-career faculty on the UMD campus and cosponsor one for advanced graduate students at University of Texas at Austin). CRGE has university-wide intersectional faculty affiliates who are committed to social justice and are active in the community and nationwide efforts to advance gender, race, and ethnic relations through intersectional research.

As a first-class intersectional scholarship-driven center, CRGE is dedicated to understanding the intersections of inequality, inequity and social justice and serves as a national example of a thriving and inclusive environment for critically engaged scholars whose research informs solutions to significant social and economic policy concerns.

Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL)

1202 Jiménez Hall
Phone: 301-405-4925
Fax: 301-314-9752
sllc@umd.edu
http://sllc.umd.edu/citl/

Instructional Designer: Janel Brennan-Tillmann

The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) is a unit within the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures whose mission is to enhance and support excellence in teaching, learning and research. The Center provides equipment, web support, training, and instructional design for SLLC faculty and staff as well as Big 10 Academic Alliance CourseShare courses.

Consultation services are available for course development, assessment, hybrid and blended course redesign, distance learning (via teleconference or Zoom), grant support, and digitization of course and research materials.