Program Rationales

All Humanities majors must submit a Program Rationale. Ideally, this is completed during the final semester of the student's sophomore year. The Program Rationale is not a contract; it is a document that articulates some of courses that the student wants to pursue, based on his or her intellectual curiosities and intended career after the degree is awarded.

Because there are no major course requirements for Humanities majors (except General Education requirements), each student's Program Rationale will be different, but all will share a few characteristics. An effective Program Rationale will provide some over-arching rubric for organizing the coursework, such as an underlying theme, a set of questions, a particular culture or region of the world, or time period; and, an effective Program Rationale will include a list of potential courses (not exhaustive) with a short statement about how those courses might serve the student's interests. The better the student can articulate their career goals after the degree, the better the student will be served in choosing their classes.