The Arts and Humanities investigate human concerns, ideas and experience, as well as the multitude of creative productions through which humanity seeks to express itself. Students taking courses in the Arts and Humanities will develop a better appreciation of the ways in which the aesthetic, moral, intellectual and spiritual aspects of the human condition have been and may be articulated. They will also gain understanding of humanistic methods of inquiry, which include historical research and the analysis and interpretation of ideas and symbolic expression.

Courses in the Humanities examine philosophical, historical and literary materials, in order to shed light on the human values and goals which underlie them. Courses in the Arts focus on the creative process in such diverse expressive areas as architecture, literature, music, painting, sculpture and theater, in order to promote an understanding of how artists perceive their universe and their place within it.

Criteria for Distribution Courses in Arts and Humanities

1. All courses that meet the Arts and Humanities distribution requirement must provide students with significant opportunities.
• to investigate a variety of ways in which aesthetic, moral, intellectual and/or spiritual aspects of the human condition are articulated, and
• to understand such humanistic modes of inquiry as historical research and analysis and interpretation of texts, ideas, and symbolic expression.
2. Courses given the Humanities designation must devote substantial attention to assisting students to identify and explore the values which underlie philosophical, historical, and/or literary expression.
3. Courses given the Arts designation must lead students to examine expressive modes and formal structures of at least one major area of artistic endeavor, such as literature, architecture, music, painting, sculpture, or theatre.