{"id":20946,"date":"2016-10-03T12:41:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T16:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?p=20946"},"modified":"2024-08-09T07:42:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T11:42:15","slug":"reflecting-twenty-years-bachelor-humanities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/2016\/reflecting-twenty-years-bachelor-humanities\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on Twenty Years of The Bachelor of Humanities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Reflecting on Twenty Years of The Bachelor of Humanities\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

On Friday the 30th<\/sup> of September, the Bachelor of the Humanities<\/a> program welcomed alumni and their families back to Carleton to celebrate the program\u2019s 20th<\/sup> anniversary. Faculty and former students caught up with each other at an informal pub-night and a gala dinner, and seven alumni turned the tables on their former professors by giving a series of TED-style talks on their current experience and expertise from the front of their old lecture-hall. A family picnic and an opportunity for current students to connect with alumni as mentors rounded out the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Divine Comedy, s, XV, Dante writing, Gothic art, Miniature Painting<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the mid 1990s, a group of professors who were unhappy with the state of Canadian liberal arts education decided to found the College of the Humanities at Carleton. They followed the elite Great-Books model pioneered by American institutions such as the University of Chicago and St. John’s College, which emphasizes primary texts and small discussion groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After extensive discussion at all levels of the University<\/a>, the College of the Humanities<\/a> opened its doors in 1996, under the direction of Professor Peter Emberley, with a mandate to recruit some of the best students in Canada and to give them a deep and comprehensive liberal arts education. The elite model of the Bachelor of Humanities was soon followed by other limited-enrolment programs at Carleton, such as the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI cannot imagine a more gratifying environment to teach in. The students are really brilliant. They do the reading. They attend the lectures. They speak up in discussion group. What more could you want?\u201d remarks Professor Erik Stephenson<\/a>, who teaches the Core-Humanities Seminar in Ancient and Medieval philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bachelor of Humanities students concentrate on key disciplines<\/a> such as religion, philosophy, literature, history, and political theory, through a series of Core\u2013Humanities Seminars, each taught by two professors, including small discussion groups. But they supplement this core with required courses in Greek and Roman literature, the early history of the Abrahamic religions, the history of art, the history of music, British and European literature, and modern science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most liberal arts programs, the Bachelor of Humanities has a significant Eastern component, and its students study the great Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad-Gita<\/em> and Chinese texts such as the Tao Te Ching<\/em> with as much excitement as they study Plato’s Republic<\/em> or Dante’s Divine Comedy<\/em>. In all of their courses the focus is on reading primary texts<\/a>, and students graduate with first-hand knowledge of Homer, Plato, Augustine, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Mary Shelley, Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, Heidegger, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[wide-image image=”20951″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first Humanities students were restricted to only four concentrations, in the liberal arts, philosophy, literature, and history, but very soon the faculty realized their students had a much wider range of interests than they had anticipated.A curriculum change allowed students to pair their Humanities core with the full range of combined honours subjects at Carleton. New versions<\/a> of the Humanities program were added \u2014 Humanities and Biology, Humanities with a Study-Year Abroad, Journalism and Humanities \u2014 allowing students to use the program as an academic home-base while pursuing even wider interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Milton's<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur students are incredibly diverse,\u201d says Professor Kimberly Stratton<\/a>. \u201cThey are interested in everything. They all read the same core texts, but then they get interested in diverse subjects like graphic-novel versions of the Bible, the neglected writings of Early Modern female philosophers, or creating music for the surviving lyrics of Medieval troubadours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, the College of the Humanities itself expanded beyond the original Bachelor of Humanities program, adding a B.A. in Greek and Roman studies<\/a>, a B.A. and M.A. in Religion<\/a>, and a minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies<\/a>, which have proven to be very popular choices for the \u2018combined\u2019 portion of Bachelor of Humanities students\u2019 degrees. With the broad variety of subjects that Humanities students now combine with the core studies of their degree, from English to Biology, Philosophy to Art History, Human Rights to Nutrition, the Bachelor of Humanities is easily the most interdisciplinary program at Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students still benefit from the small community offered by the program. Seventy keen minds join their ranks each year, becoming close friends with each other and with their professors. Students support each other in their studies, and remain in touch for years after they graduate. \u201cSome of my best friends are former students,\u201d says Professor Gregory MacIsaac<\/a>. \u201cErik Stephenson, for example, was one of the smartest students I ever taught, and he is now a dear friend, in addition to being one of my colleagues. It is such a joy for me to teach HUMS 2000 with him, and really to continue a philosophical conversation that we started over fifteen years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Being<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Humanities graduates have proven to be remarkably prepared for what comes next<\/a>. A large percentage of them have gone on to further study at prestigious graduate schools such as Harvard<\/a>, Oxford<\/a>, the University of Chicago, Boston University, Notre Dame, the London School of economics, Sciences Po (Paris), McGill, the University of Toronto, and many others. Many have entered prestigious professional programs in fields such as law, medicine, or journalism. Alumni work in interesting and challenging careers in fields such as the arts, business, education, international development, cultural planning, high-tech, or public policy, and many others. In all cases graduates report that the skills they learned in Humanities\u2014thoughtful reflection, clarity of written and oral expression, a comfort with diverse viewpoints\u2014have been the foundation of their success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bachelor of Humanities program has much to celebrate. Twenty years of reading, writing and thinking has produced a growing body of interesting and accomplished alumni. The celebration weekend was a wonderful opportunity for them to meet old friends, pick up old conversations, and start new ones. With their support, and a continuing commitment to the principles of Great Books education, the program can look forward to another twenty years of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few examples of the successful alumni of the Bachelor of Humanities program\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Amanda
Amanda Hadi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Amanda Hadi (B.Hum, 2010)<\/strong> is a Toronto-based editor, cultural communications person and social media technocrat who has made a career successfully bridging the gap between a 19th-century impresario and a 21st-century internet meme generator. She is currently a full-time Digital Engagement Producer for the Toronto International Film Festival, and spends her evenings running the editorial and digital media strategy of the renowned Canadian indie opera company Against the Grain Theatre. She has worked for the Canadian Opera Company, the City of Ottawa Public Art Program, several creative branding studios in Toronto, and, most recently, as the Social Media Officer for the Art Gallery of Ontario. She has been profiled in Flare Magazine, NOW Magazine, Metro News and 500px.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amanda on the College:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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The College of Humanities equipped me with a set of specific skills that made me an appealing candidate for future employers in the creative industry. After four years in the program, I became a strong, persuasive writer and communicator; an eloquent and engaging speaker; a savant in the fields of opera, film, literature, and art history. Above all, Humanities instilled in me a taste and tenacity for learning. I’ve been able to move from a traditional print editorial career into new digital and technologically advanced fields \u2014 including social media, livestreaming, epublishing, and web management \u2014 because of my Humanities-taught ability to pick up new methods, theories and languages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Some of Amanda\u2019s related work:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n