Arts & Humanities Degree

Requirements for the Major

All Arts & Humanities majors must complete coursework to fulfill the BA requirement (one year of college-level foreign language). Students whose native language is not English are exempt from the foreign language requirement.
A minimum of 40 semester credits in Arts & Humanities. Arts & Humanities include the Linfield departments of Art, Communications, English, Modern Languages, Music, Religion/Philosophy, and Theater.
Courses counting toward the 40 semester credits may be from no more than three departments. No more than 20 semester credits from any one department will count toward the 40 required credits.
Students must complete a minimum of 21 semester credits in the major through Linfield coursework.
A minimum of 15 semester hours in the major will be from courses numbered 300 and above.
The 40 credits in the major will include a senior seminar and project. ENGL 377 Fundamentals of Research Writing and IDST 320 & 321 History of Western Thought I & II are prerequisites to the senior seminar and count toward the required 40 credits. Ask your advisor for further information on the seminar and project.

Planning for the Senior Project

Arts & Humanities majors must successfully complete a senior research project prior to graduation. The sequencing of courses prior to work on the project is very important. Each student first completes ENGL 377 Fundamentals of Research Writing, IDST 320 and 321 History of Western Thought I and II (or the equivalent transfer sequence) plus 15 credits of upper division coursework in the major. The student is then ready to take IDST 485, the Arts & Humanities Senior Seminar, in the fall semester.

During the Senior Seminar, the student will pick a research topic that draws from two humanities disciplines, prepare an annotated bibliography of the proposed research, formulate a thesis position, formulate a defense of the thesis, and write the introduction. The student works closely with a faculty mentor throughout this process.

The student registers for IDST 490, the Arts & Humanities Senior Project, in the following spring semester. This is largely independent work, culminating in an oral presentation prior to graduation.

Linfield courses offered in the Arts & Humanities major

AAVC 110 Intro to Visual Culture
AAVC 120 Drawing I
AAVC 260 Painting I
AAVC 382 Creative Development Studio
ENGL 200 Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGL 250 Literature of Experience
ENGL 270 Western American Literature
ENGL 301 Topics in Literature
ENGL 303 Children’s Literature
ENGL 304 Environmental Literature
ENGL 305* Diverse Voices
ENGL 380 Ultimate Questions in Literature
IDST 320 History of Western Thought I
IDST 321 History of Western Thought II
IDST 485 Arts & Humanities Senior Seminar
IDST 490 Arts & Humanities Research Project
MLCH 211 Intro to East Asian Culture
MUSC 135 Understanding Jazz
PHIL 150 Fundamentals of Philosophy
PHIL 160 Philosophy East and West
PHIL 215 Bioethics
PHIL 245 Aesthetics
PHIL 250 Modern Philosophy
PHIL 306 Environmental Ethics
PHIL 365 Social & Political Philosophy
RELS 120 Old Testament
RELS 130 New Testament
RELS 140 The Holy Qur’an
RELS 303 Religious Quest I
RELS 304 Religious Quest II
RELS 330 History of Religion in America
RELS 380 Buddhism

* May be repeated with different content