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COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS

  • Introduction
  • Degrees and Majors
  • Interdisciplinary Minors
  • Special Programs

  • Aerospace Studies
  • African American
    Studies
  • Art
  • Chicano Studies
  • Communication
  • Criminal Justice
  • English
  • History
  • Languages and
    Linguistics
  • Latin American Studies
  • Military Science
  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Religious Studies
  • Social Work
  • Sociology and
    Anthropology
  • Theater Arts
  • Western Cultural
    Heritage
  • Women's Studies

  • Liberal Arts Bldg., Room 343
    Phone: (915) 747-5666
    Fax: (915) 747-5905
    E-mail: libarts@utep.edu



    Western Cultural Heritage
    233 Liberal Arts Bldg.
    Phone: (915) 747-5835
    E-mail: wch@utep.edu

     

    DIRECTOR: Ronald Weber
    PROFESSORS: Gladstein, Haddox, Hall, Stafford
    ASSOCIATE PROFESSORS: Best, Johnson, Jones, Kluck, Louden, Springer, Weber
    ASSISTANT PROFESSORS: Ruiter, Weaver
    LECTURERS: Harding, Simon, Wren

    The Western Cultural Heritage sequence ( HUMN 3301, 3302, and 3303) is required of all BA students and is open to students from other colleges as well. The objective of the sequence is to promote the sort of awareness that will situate the student in his or her cultural environment (culture being that complex of aims, ideals, and interests that define and organize human social activity and its productions). An articulate understanding of Western cultural heritage requires examination of the character and interrelations of the cultural interests of the fine arts, history, literature, philosophy, politics, religion, and science. The sequence is designed to foster such an understanding by focusing, in a carefully coordinated three-semester sequence, on selected Western epochs characterized by peculiarly intense activity in the various aspects of culture.

    Through a combination of lecture and discussion, the Western Cultural Heritage sequence seeks to ensure that students receive a systematic, broad (but also intense) exposure to the thinkers, ideas, texts, and art works that have been produced by Western civilization. The fundamental emphasis will be on ways of thinking about basic human questions. Such questions concern the nature of the state; the rights and responsibilities of individuals as citizens and members of the community; concepts of human nature; the human species as victim, antagonist, or part of nature; the supernatural; esthetics; technology; and epistemology.

    Such questions as these will be explored by raising them in the context of pivotal epochs or focal loci in which interest in them has been demonstrably widespread. Although the sequence is structured chronologically in the broadest sense, attention will focus on selected moments of intense activity, from which vantage-points collateral lines of influence and ramification will be scrutinized.

    Minor in Humanities
    For Non-Liberal Arts Majors (other than BIS students)

    1. Complete the 9-hour Western Cultural Heritage sequence.
    2. Complete 9 hours advanced level courses in Art, Communications, History, Languages and Linguistics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Theatre Arts, or HUMN 4390. (With the approval of the Director of Western Cultural Heritage, appropriate lower-level courses may be accepted.)
    3. Students should design a proposal for a coherent course of studies that includes courses from at least three disciplines in the Humanities. The proposal must be approved by the Director and be on file with the Western Cultural Heritage Office.

    For BIS Students

    1. Complete the 9-hour Western Cultural Heritage sequence.
    2. Complete 9-15 hours advanced level courses in Art, Communication, History, Languages and Linguistics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Theatre Arts, or HUMN 4390. (With the approval of the Director of Western Cultural Heritage, appropriate lower-level courses may be acceptable.)
    3. Students should design a proposal for a coherent course of studies that includes courses from at least three disciplines in the Humanities. The proposal must be approved by the Director and be on file with the Western Cultural Heritage Office.

    For Liberal Arts Majors

    1. Complete the 9-hour Western Cultural Heritage sequence.
    2. Complete 18 hours advanced level courses in the Humanities beyond the Western Cultural Heritage requirement. This includes courses from Art, Communication, History, Languages and Linguistics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Theatre Arts, and HUMN 4390.
    3. Students should design a proposal for a coherent course of studies that includes courses from at least three disciplines in the Humanities. The proposal must be approved by the Director and be on file with the Western Cultural Heritage Office.

    Western Cultural Heritage (HUMN)

    3301 Ancient Roots of Western Culture (3-0)
    This course examines significant cultural developments in Classical Greece and Rome through close study of the literature, history, philosophy, and arts of these civilizations. For comparison, the course also considers the literature/history of Near Eastern cultures, including selections from the Bible. Required of all Liberal Arts majors. Prerequisite: ENGL 1312.

    3302 Medieval and Renaissance Culture (3-0)
    This course surveys the matrix of concepts that inform the political and religious institutions of Western culture from the 3rd century CE to approximately 1600 CE. The survey examines the arts and philosophies of the era, relating them to political and social-historical contexts. Required of all Liberal Arts majors. Prerequisite: HUMN 3301.

    3303 Modern Western Culture (3-0)
    The purpose of this course is to foster in students an appreciation of the complexity and diversity of our Western cultural heritage through a survey of four major revolutions that were instrumental in shaping the modern world from 1650 to the present. These include the scientific, the social, the industrial, and the artistic. Through readings of primary sources, excerpts from major works, reproductions of art and musical works, and lectures, students will be stimulated to develop a capacity for critical assessment of many of the ideas and movements that have helped to shape the world they live in. Prerequisite: HUMN 3301 or 3302.

    4390 Special Topics in Humanities (3-0)
    Intensified study of a special topic such as Postmodern Culture, Western and Non-Western Cultures, the Cultures of the Humanities and the Sciences, and other areas of special interest in the Humanities. Topic varies with professor in charge. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies. Prerequisite: HUMN 3303 or instructor approval.

     

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