About the Department

The mission of the Department of Classics and Humanities is to

provide students with an education that attends to languages, literatures, the arts, and culture in local and global contexts,
promote understanding of and respect for the diverse and often competing historical narratives, lived experiences, and ideological perspectives that emerge in and across historical moments and geographical locales,
engage students in the critical examination of texts and contexts in order that they gain a nuanced understanding of the global past, and become better equipped to participate in the global society we inhabit today,
articulate the importance of humanistic inquiry for understanding both the unique contributions of individual cultures and the interconnectedness of diverse cultures past and present, local and global, and
foster an appreciation for interdisciplinary approaches to the study of cultures and cultural artifacts, and of critical exchange among scholars in established and emergent fields of humanistic inquiry.

Textual Analysis: Interpret literature, visual art, performance, and media with attention to the historical and cultural contexts from which they emerge.
Cross-Cultural Understanding: Understand the development and evolution of and transactions among diverse populations with attention to how aesthetic, social, political, economic, scientific, spiritual, and other institutions play into the construction of “culture.”
Appreciate Diverse Perspectives: Appreciate diverse perspectives with attention to the unique artistic and ideological contributions of specific individuals and communities and the interconnectedness of peoples past and present, local and global.
Apply Foreign Language: Gain proficiency in and apply a foreign language to the study of literature, arts, and social institutions of one or more cultures.

These PLGs are adapted from the Seven Essential Capacities for SDSU General Education.

Contextualize: Analyze artifacts and phenomena with attention to their specific historical and cultural contexts.
Formulate Complex Arguments: Formulate complex questions and arguments by drawing on texts, contexts, and critical approaches studied in the classics and/or humanities.
Negotiate Differences: Identify how dominant aesthetic trends, identity formations, and institutions have been sustained and challenged within and across times and places.
Integrate Diverse Perspectives: Draw connections between perspectives deriving from diverse cultures past and present, local and global.
Foreign Language Proficiency: Speak and read in at least one foreign language.

These DLOs have been adapted from the Seven Essential Capacities for SDSU Education.