RC Majors and Minors

Note: The Arts and Ideas in the Humanities Major is open to all LSA students.

The Arts and Ideas in the Humanities Program offers a broad array of interdisciplinary courses in literature, the visual arts and music. Many courses focus on specific historical moments or contexts ranging from ancient times to the 21st century understood in global terms. Students are encouraged to encounter different cultures through their distinctive artistic production, and to develop the interpretive and analytical skills appropriate to an understanding of these works. Courses in visual studies, dance, studio art and music provide training in comparative analysis as well as in the actual practice of these art forms. By combining studio practice with the academic study of art, the Arts and Ideas curriculum enables students to understand global art production from three important perspectives: thoughtful analytic engagement; historical depth; and in the active space of studio discovery.
Arts and Ideas in the Humanities courses stress interdisciplinary and comparative methodologies. Students investigate how different forms of art speak to one another: how they argue or agree, how they overlap or diverge in form and content. In addition, by combining theory with practice, many Arts and Ideas courses encourage students to reflect on the material origins of art. To understand art at its deepest level, one must have some experience in its production. Through intensive discussion, writing, and studio practice, students become more sophisticated analysts, critical historians, and well-informed producers of culture.

Concentration Requirements
To major in Arts and Ideas in the Humanities, students combine three academic courses in history and theory with two courses focusing on visual studies, studio arts, dance, and music. To complete the concentration, students then construct an individualized program of specialized study in two areas of focus, a total of seven courses. In the specialized study portion of the Arts and Ideas Concentration, different area combinations are possible, depending on the interests of the student. Possible combinations include: philosophy and art history; literature and psychology; Southeast Asian studies and musicology; or African-American studies and photography. The full program requires a minimum of 12 courses, or about 37 credit hours of work.

Click here for a more detailed description of the RC Arts and Ideas concentration requirements.

Make an appointment to discuss or declare this major. 

Note: The Creative Writing and Literature Major is open to ALL LSA Students.

Check out the new RCWriters Website, for the Residential College writing community.

This major teaches the sustained practice of fiction or poetry writing combined with the study of literature. Creative Writing concentrators write fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction under the close guidance of individual faculty. Seminars and one-on-one tutorials provide students with structure and mentorship as they develop voice and proficiency in their chosen genre. For many students, this concentration is a way to combine a serious interest in writing with another LSA or RC concentration.

To fulfill the writing requirement, students take a series of courses in the RC that combine class meetings with private critical feedback in weekly tutorials with instructors. The concentration emphasizes self-directed, intensive writing opportunities, both in class and in extracurricular activities that encourage students to find an audience for their work through readings, informal peer review opportunities, and publication in student-run literary journals, such as the RC Review and Xylem. Concentrators also take five upper-level literature courses, one of which must be in classical or medieval literature.

Creative Writing graduates pursue successful careers as writers, editors, educators, advertising professionals, and many other writing related-fields. Every year our graduates are admitted to competitive graduate school programs in the fine arts, education, law, business, public policy, social work, and other courses of professional study that demand proficient writing skills and creative approaches to problem solving.

RC Creative Writing students have demonstrated unparalled success in the esteemed U of M Hopwood Awards, winning 108 awards since the 1994-95 school year.

Make an appointment to discuss or declare this major.