Humanities Program at UCCS
A Message from the Program Director
Colin McAllisterWhy Study Humanities?
The humanities lead us to appreciate the value and potential for excellence of every human being, how we relate to others, and the pathways that have led us to this point in time—an understanding that is important as we navigate our present and future.
Studying the humanities gives us the 'big picture' of how different disciplines are connected, making us quick to adapt to new circumstances throughout our life and careers.
In our rapidly changing world, employers more than ever need workers with uniquely 'human' skills—excellent oral and written communication, ethical judgment, critical thinking, and its real-world application—which are developed in the study of humanities.
Why Study Humanities at UCCS?
You have to! But we make it fun by offering over twenty different courses every year covering an amazing range of subjects, from the poetry of Homer to the latest advances in AI.
Our expert, exciting, and engaged faculty are drawn from many disciplines, including Anthropology, Classics, English, Geography and Environmental Studies, History, Languages and Cultures, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, Sociology, Visual and Performing Arts, and Women's and Ethnic Studies.
Since all students in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences are required to take one Humanities course, you'll be in an exciting classroom with learners from 19 departments—talk about expanding your horizons!
Welcome to the Humanities at UCCS!
The Humanities are broadly comprised of our academic course program (HUM), the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, and the Center for Research Frontiers in the Digital Humanities.
In a rapidly changing, fragmented and sometimes chaotic world, a cultivated appreciation of our collective likeness, shared capacities and common aspirations leads us to understand and savor the rich depth of human diversity and experience. To the ancient Romans, the concept of humanitas included an education that instilled the virtues of character required to live a fulfilling life: wisdom, justice, courage, and temperance. The study of the humanities recognizes the intrinsic value and potential for excellence of each human being, curating a space wherein thinkers from many different fields engage to explore fundamental questions of universal and enduring importance. The increasingly transdisciplinary and inclusive reach of the humanities offers a wide variety of methodologies and approaches that can be placed in dialogue to critically evaluate varying perspectives and engage broadly within a variety of specialist fields. These fresh syntheses direct our attention away from personal preferences and narrow concerns, informing both research agendas and pedagogical practice.
About the Program
Humanities is the critical study of human culture and experience. The purpose of Humanities courses is to help students better understand themselves as well as others and the world at large.
The core Humanities courses are team-taught, writing intensive, and multi-disciplinary. They combine the study of literature, history, art, theatre, film, music, religion, philosophy, and more, with an emphasis on the interaction of these fields with social, political, economic, and scientific events.
Academic Focus
"The question, 'who are we as human beings?' is perhaps the most important one that we can ask. The Humanities, like no other academic discipline, attempts to answer this question in the broadest, most comprehensive way imaginable."
- Dr. Jeff Scholes, Department of Philosophy
"I study Humanities to figure out the best and deepest questions to ask, knowing that searching for the answers will be a lifelong pursuit. The Humanities also cultivate doubt, uncertainty, skepticism, and the desire to research further and more deeply, all the more important in an age of fake news and the constant reiteration of false claims."
- Dr. Paul Harvey, Department of History
"The Humanities broadly addresses those questions that we all face as human beings living in a complex world. Essential to this endless exploration is the dissipation of disciplinary boundaries and the search for new method and perspective that is inherent in Humanities as a branch of knowledge. It is our ability to make connections and consider diverse outlooks simultaneously that allow us to push thought forward."
- Dr. Max Shulman, Director of the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance
"There is an old meme that says something like 'STEM can teach you how to clone a dinosaur, but the Humanities can tell you why that is a bad idea.' As someone who works at the intersection of digital technologies and traditional humanities approaches, this strikes me as fundamentally true. Technologies are increasingly shaping the world around us, and new developments are on the horizon. The Humanities provide us with the tools to navigate this future with the focus on interrogating information, questioning assumptions, pushing back against established narratives, and exploring the deeper question of the 'why' in stories…hopefully avoiding the fate that befell Jurassic Park. Studying the Humanities deepens our experience of life in the present, helps us appreciate the past, and may be the key to us all navigating the future."
- Dr. Helen Davies, Co-Director, Digital Humanities Center, Assistant Professor of English
"Interdisciplinary Humanities! More easily said than done. Let us appreciate and celebrate our Humanities colleagues who have given so much of their intellectual life to practicing the difficult art of interdisciplinarity, and who make the extra effort to develop and foster expertise in different academic disciplines opening themselves and our students to new ways of thinking and experiencing the world."
- Dr. Dorothea Olkowski, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
The Heller Center for Arts & Humanities
The Heller Center promotes creative and intellectual engagement for the arts, humanities, and social sciences. We do this through fellowships, salon talks, exhibits, workshops, theatrical performances, and other programs.
Center for Research Frontiers in the Digital Humanities
Center for Research Frontiers in the Digital Humanities
This center, established in 2023, exists to unify the humanities and technology through expansive innovation, investigation, and collaboration.
The digital humanities is an emerging academic field that utilizes current and rising technologies to examine the human condition. At UCCS’s Center for Research Frontiers in the Digital Humanities, we focus on how technology can creatively inform research, scholarship, education, and community outreach.
This center:
- Innovates in the humanities through the application of creative tech-based approaches.
- Investigates new theories and methodologies through interdisciplinary research and scholarship.
- Collaborates with UCCS faculty, students, and community members to expand the traditional boundaries of academia.