Department of Humanities

Office: Clark Hall 419

Telephone: 408-924-4463

Professors

J. Todd Ormsbee
Shannon Rose Riley, Chair (Spring 2022)
Jennifer Rycenga, Acting Chair (Fall 2021)
Susan Verducci-Sandford

Associate Professors

Funie Hsu
Cynthia Rostankowski

Assistant Professors

Erica Eva Colmenares
Daniel Lanza Rivers
Kerri J. Malloy, Humanities Honors Coordinator
Arthur Zárate

Welcome to the Humanities Department

The Home of Creative and Transdisciplinary Studies!

The mission of the Humanities Department is to cultivate global citizens who are sensitive to difference, complication, change, conflict, and injustice. Students in the Department learn to practice and integrate multiple approaches to creating and critiquing knowledge as they seek to understand what people value and why. They continue to shape their own intentional engagement with the world, and are prepared to work across many professional fields. Whether studying interdisciplinary art and creativity in the Creative Arts, BA , combining subject matter in the Liberal Studies, Preparation for Teaching, BA in order to prepare to become a teacher, or integrating perspectives from various academic disciplines in one of the three concentrations in the Humanities BA (American Studies , Liberal Arts , and Religious Studies ), our students find in the Humanities Department the place where they can think broadly and imaginatively. With a BA in Humanities, our students acquire the ability to dive deeply into the welter of wonders and ideas in the contemporary world, through comparative, historical, and innovative approaches.

Courses in the Humanities Department typically integrate history, literature, education, philosophy, religion, politics, and the arts. Most importantly, Humanities students develop analytical and expressive skills as well as an ability to read, write, and think clearly, especially about their roles in shaping various societies. Our students win writing awards and our graduates pursue careers in a variety of fields, including arts administration, education, law, journalism, library science, public service, art therapy, occupational therapy, social work, community development, and public relations. We are home to the renowned GE programs in Humanities Honors and American Cultures as well as to the popular Liberal Studies, Preparation for Teaching, BA , one of the largest teacher preparation majors on campus.

Students pursuing the Liberal Studies, Preparation for Teaching, BA are interested in teaching in elementary or middle school. The program is approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CCTC) for subject matter preparation.

Students pursuing the Humanities BA explore a wide array of human experience in diverse locations, in various media, art, and literature, and in significant cultural forms such as religion and other cultural traditions. The BA has three concentrations to select from: American Studies , Liberal Arts , and Religious Studies .

Students pursuing the interdisciplinary Creative Arts, BA explore creativity across the human lifespan and in different cultural contexts and conduct a sustained inquiry into their own creative process. Students take classes in more than one arts area and investigate different purposes of the arts and creativity in different cultural contexts. The Creative Arts Program, established in 1956, is the only interdisciplinary arts and creativity studies BA program in the CSU!

The Humanities Department also offers several minor programs, including American Studies Minor , Creative Arts Minor , Humanities Minor , Middle East Studies Minor , and Religious Studies Minor .

Advisors

Shannon Rose Riley, Creative Arts
Funie Hsu, Humanities/Liberal Arts
Kerri J. Malloy, Humanities Honors Program
J. Todd Ormsbee, Humanities/American Studies
Jennifer Rycenga, Humanities/Religious Studies
Susan Verducci-Sandford, Liberal Studies/Preparation for Teaching and ITEP majors with the last name A-I
Erica Colmenares, Liberal Studies/Preparation for Teaching and ITEP majors with the last name J-R
Alec Giurlani, Liberal Studies/Preparation for Teaching and ITEP majors with the last name S-Z & GE Advisor from the Humanities and Arts Student Success Center

General Education Curriculum

Humanities Honors

The Humanities Honors Program offers a four-semester survey course in World Cultures and Societies, Honors (HUM 1A /HUM 1B ) and Modern World Cultures, Honors (HUM 2A /HUM 2B ), which provides students with 24 units of core General Education in a format that emphasizes the interrelationship of art, literature, philosophy and social institutions. Core General Education requirements satisfied are: Oral Communication (3 units), Written Communication 1A (3 units), Critical Thinking and Writing (3 units), Arts & Letters (9 units), Comparative Systems (3 units), Social Issues (3 units), and American Institutions (AI) all areas US 1, 2, and 3. The course is interdisciplinary, globally focused, and team-taught, and is organized chronologically from the Ancient World through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Early Modern and Contemporary periods. Entering students with an unweighted high school GPA of 3.0 and an SAT EBRW score of 575 or above are automatically eligible.

The Department also offers an upper division GE sequence in Advanced Honors in Integrated Science, Social Science, and Humanities (HUM 177A /HUM 177B ), which covers SJSU Studies areas R, S. and V.

American Cultures

The American Cultures curriculum is a two-semester, twelve-unit sequence which satisfies over one-fourth of all lower division general education requirements. Together, AMS 1A and AMS 1B provide six units of general education credit in arts and letters (Area C), six units in comparative systems and social issues (Area D), and satisfy the California Education Code American Institutions requirements in U.S. History, U.S. Constitution and California Government (Areas US1, US2, US3). The courses provide the opportunity to study America’s development and current conditions through themes such as the American dream, environmental issues, and ethnic and women’s studies.

Programs

Undergraduate Major(s)

Undergraduate Minor(s)

Spartan Accelerated Graduate Education (SAGE) Scholars

Spartan Accelerated Graduate Education (SAGE) Programs programs are combined bachelor’s and master’s programs at SJSU (per University Policy F19-1). Sometimes they may also satisfy the requirements for a credential. Students in these programs pursue a bachelor’s and master’s degree simultaneously. These program allow students to earn graduate credit while in their junior and/or senior year, reducing the number of semesters required for completion of a master’s degree.

Courses

American Studies

Asian Studies

Creative Arts

Humanities

Liberal Studies Teacher Prep

Middle East Studies

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