Program Learning Outcomes

1. Have a competent understanding of the contributions and challenges of societies and cultures established by the people of the African Diaspora.
2. Have an in-depth knowledge of African American culture through the study of racial formation, gender and sexuality, literature, film, and the visual arts.
3. Write critical and analytical essays addressing topics in the discipline using primary texts and theoretical rationale.
4. Demonstrate their research in both written and oral presentations.

1. Visual Analysis: Ability to recognize, distinguish, and characterize styles of objects, artists, movements, media, etc.
2. Past and Present History: Familiarity with societies of past and present.
3. Other Cultures: Knowledge about cultures remote from students’ own, attained through study of works of art produced by those cultures.
4. Writing Skills: Skills for writing critically and persuasively, with specific application to art history.
5. Theories & Methods: Awareness of major theories and interpretive debates in the study of art history.
6. Objects in Societies: Understanding of the roles objects play in societies; patrons and collectors, sites of exhibition and display (religious institutions, museums), critics and critical reviews.

1. Demonstrate an understanding of how ethnicity, race, class, gender, and sexuality intersect and shape cultural, economic, political, and cultural aspects of society.
2. Critically analyze, identify, and synthesize diverse kinds of arguments, information, and knowledge.
3. Formulate a research project and to conduct research, including evaluating the validity of various forms of data.
4. Effectively communicate their ideas in an organized written and oral form appropriate to the purpose and audience.
5. Translate their critical analytical skills of social inequalities and power relations that broaden their understanding of multicultural perspectives within U.S. society.

Emphasis in Chinese Culture and Society

1. Speak Mandarin Chinese at the basic level, demonstrating a limited ability to negotiate face to face interactions as well as other formal and informal speaking contexts.
2. Develop an understanding of the major trends in the history of modern China.
3. Develop a broad synthetic understanding of the relationship of modern Chinese culture within its social and historical contexts.
4. Apply critical thinking skills and demonstrate English writing skills.

Emphasis in Chinese Language and Literature

1. Speak Mandarin Chinese at the advanced level, demonstrating an ability to negotiate face to face interactions as well as other formal and informal speaking contexts.
2. Read a variety of written genres including literary and journalistic texts and other formal and informal forms of writing at an advanced level.
3. Analyze and discuss Chinese literary genres, works, and authors in their social, historical, and religious contexts.
4. Read and analyze selected texts in classical Chinese and demonstrate knowledge of key grammatical patterns.
5. Apply critical thinking skills and demonstrate English writing skills.

1. Demonstrate knowledge Latin or Greek vocabulary, morphology, and syntax at a beginning to intermediate level.
2. Evaluate and analyze key Latin and Greek texts (these texts will be read in translation).
3. Place these texts in their appropriate historical, literary, and cultural contexts by analyzing significant historical events and literary and cultural developments that influenced them.
4. Compose critical/analytical essays and/or papers using primary texts as evidence.
5. Present projects and analyses orally.

1. Demonstrate knowledge Latin vocabulary, morphology, and syntax at an advanced level.
2. Read and translate key Latin texts accurately.
3. Place these texts in their appropriate historical, literary, and cultural contexts by analyzing significant historical events and literary and cultural developments that influenced them.
4. Compose critical/analytical essays and/or papers using these primary texts as evidence.
5. Present projects and analyses orally.

1. Students will be able to read critically literary and cultural texts in a range of genres and media (novels, poetry, drama, film, monuments, political discourse, popular culture, audio, etc.): reading critically entails the ability to identify generic or formal structures, philosophical investments, stylistic texture, rhetorical gestures, and the features of literary periods. The attitude associated with this objective is an appreciation for the complexities of cultural work across a wide range of styles and forms.
2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of historical, linguistic, and cultural contexts of texts as they are produced and received across national boundaries and in response to the dynamics of global movements and crises creating dynamic intersections of power, peoples, and aesthetic practices. An attitude cultivated in connection with this objective is a stance of intellectual openness and an ability to value cultural difference that not only overcomes essentialization and other forms of cultural condescension but moves beyond the celebration of difference for its own sake to a practice of critical awareness of the complexities of global literacy and citizenship in the 21st century.
3. Students will be able to use critical terminology and interpretive methods drawn from specific 20th- and 21st-century comparative and critical theories from multiple disciplines, including cultural studies, philosophy, anthropology, visual studies, and rhetoric. Ideally, students will move from application to creative appropriation and critique of critical models.
4. Students will be able to construct interpretive arguments orally and in writing with increasing confidence and complexity over the course of the major. Ultimately, students will produce Student Learning Outcomes for B.A. in Comparative Literature major, multi-stage critical essays characterized by originality and a personal investment in disciplinary dialogues.
5. Students will experience an extended encounter with at least one language other than English, including for most students a study-abroad experience. They will show be able to work with literary texts in another language and understand translation as a creative process.

1. Speak Mandarin Chinese, Japanese or Korean at the basic level, demonstrating a limited ability to engage in face to face interactions in the informal speaking contexts.
2. Develop a broad understanding of the major cultural issues of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean societies within the social and historical context of the respective country as well as the interaction across the national boundaries within East Asia.
3. Apply critical thinking skills and demonstrate English writing skills.

1. Command a basic understanding of literary history, of the history of criticism and theory, and of multi-cultural literary traditions.
2. Write clear and complex expository and argumentative essays and to make clear and coherent oral presentations.
3. Interpret written works with the tools of rhetorical, cultural, and literary analysis.
4. Develop research skills using traditional and electronic resources.
5. Cultivate a lifelong intellectual curiosity.

1. Study Europe from the vantage points of several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.
2. Demonstrate a multidisciplinary view of Europe as a whole and of its historical, political, and cultural formation and global implications.
3. Critically analyze historical, political, and literary texts.
4. Demonstrate an open, pluralistic, and interdisciplinary approach to European culture and history.
5. Write persuasively on Europe’s past and present using a variety of rhetorical strategies.
6. Communicate orally in precise, coherent, and persuasive language on a variety of topics.

1. Be provided with an opportunity from the point of view of humanistic inquiry (rather than quantitative analysis) to explore the appeal and to begin to understand the operation of the complex meaning-producing machines we call cinema, television, and new digital technologies.
2. Through courses in film and media history; media technologies; media production, deployment, and reception across cultures; as well as in courses dealing with and generating responses to theory in these areas, students (a) gain knowledge and (b) apply skills of analysis and synthesis to be able to (c) evaluate the impact of media and (d) effectively articulate various perspectives on aspects of media in written and in verbal communication, thus gaining and exercising historical, social, and cultural awareness applicable to roles in the public and private sectors.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of culture, media, and society.
4. Critically analyze a film or media such as televison or new media.
5. Distinguish among a variety of genres or primary and historical texts and media and use them appropriate and effectively in academic work.
6. Write persuasively using a variety of rhetorical strategies (expository, argumentative, descriptive).
7. Communicate orally in clear, coherent and persuasive language appropriate to purpose and audience.

1. Read, write and speak French at a sufficiently advanced level to be able to engage in conversation and in the critical discussion and analysis of sophisticated discourse written in French.
2. Analyze and interpret creative texts in French and Francophone literature.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of major French or Francophone authors and literary traditions and the ability to place them in their historical and cultural contexts.
4. Demonstrate knowledge of significant problems of interpretation in French and Francophone literature, culture, and history.
5. Write a research-style paper on a topic in French or Francophone literature and culture.

1. Demonstrate and understanding of how gender, race, class, sexuality and nationality shape culture and society.
2. Comprehend and analyze diverse kinds of argumentation, information and knowledge.
3. Conceptualize and conduct independent research, including appraisal of the validity of different data.
4. Effectively communicate their ideas in writing and through oral presentation appropriate to purpose and audience.
5. Translate their analytical skills and awareness of social diversity towards ethical and informed decision-making

1. Attain an ability to communicate, i.e. speak, read, and write, in German.
2. Learn the basic tools of literary and cultural analysis.
3. Know the fundamentals of German history (social, political, intellectual).

1. Discuss humanistic perspectives related to history, literature and language, and other humanistic subdisciplines of their interest.
2. Employ a humanistic perspective to problems and processes of globalization.
3. Analyze the history, politics, and culture of a selected world region, and how it intersects with other regions.
4. Demonstrate a global perspective in analyzing and/or solving contemporary world region problems.
5. Appreciate the complexity of the modern global arena in which we live, and use that understanding to contribute to society in a constructive and positive manner.
6. Present to others (in oral or written form) in a coherent and professional manner the knowledge they have obtained in analyzing global issues, particularly those that have been of special interest to them during their undergraduate career.

1. Critically evaluate, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the history and modern political, sociocultural, and economic realities of the Global Middle East.
2. Apply foundational and experiential learning, including developing a strong foundation in at least one regional language, travel experience in the region, and a study of the diverse cultures of the region, to critically analyze the religious, political, linguistic, and economic issues related to the Global Middle East.
3. Ability to analyze scholarly views and demonstrate effectiveness in research and writing, in order to critique Global Middle Eastern political and social issues with which they are confronted in the media and objectively characterize multiple ethnic and religious perspectives. Learning Outcomes-Concentrations
4. Environment, Economies, and Conflicts: Ability to evaluate the role of environmental science, including climate change, food security, migration, and water scarcity, in shaping the political, sociocultural, and economic realities of the Global Middle East. Ability to critically evaluate, from a historical and/or modern perspective, the economic issues of the Global Middle East, and evaluate the role of economic policies in shaping the cultural climate of those regions. Apply foundational learning in (a) theory and methods of conflict analysis and resolution; (b) culture, history, and politics of conflict zones; and (c) application of theory and methods; to objectively characterize multiple ethnic and religious perspectives and critique scholarly and media representations of conflict in the Global Middle East.
5. Histories, Cultures, and Identities: Ability to evaluate, from a historical and/or modern perspective, the role of religions, cultures, and arts and literature of the Global Middle East in shaping ethnic identities and the political, sociocultural, and economic realities of those regions.
6. Geographies, Migrations, and Politics: Ability to critically evaluate, from a historical and/or modern perspective, the role of migration patterns, geographical changes, and the physical and political environment in shaping the political, sociocultural, and economic realities of the Global Middle East.

1. Content specific knowledge within the discipline.
2. Theoretical approaches to the study of history.
3. Analytical and writing skills required by historians.
4. Research skills necessary for historians.

1. Demonstrate a basic chronological understanding of Japanese culture and society as it developed over the course of history.
2. Critically analyze Japanese literary texts (in translation), film, and other cultural achievements.
3. Employ a variety of approaches and constructs to analyze literary and visual products.
4. Recognize differences in ‘genre-specific’ conventions used to represent Japanese society—e.g., academic work, journalistic presentation, artistic and cultural representations.
5. Reflect upon how our locus of study in the United States plays an important part in how we study and make sense of Japanese culture and society.
6. Express their thoughts and ideas persuasively using a variety of rhetorical, textual, and visual strategies.
7. Be familiar with the two syllabic kana writing systems and a sufficient number of kanji characters.
8. Recognize the critical importance of other nations and cultures both near and far in the shaping of any nation (specifically Japan).
9. Understand that “Japan” is a convenient, shorthand ‘fiction’ whose meaning changes both gradually and dramatically across time.

1. Be acquainted with Korean history, literature, and culture.
2. Speak and understand Korean proficiently at in formal and informal environments.
3. Read han’gul texts with facility and will read some Sino-Korean texts (text with Chinese characters in a mixed script setting) with the use of character dictionaries.
4. Learn about Korea’s rich literary heritage and major literary works from the pre-modern and modern period.
5. Learn about contemporary Korean culture and society.

1. Demonstrate a knowledge of the literature, history, and ethics of the field of Literary Journalism.
2. Think critically about and successfully analyze literary texts using a core critical vocabulary.
3. Understand the process of writing as a process of revision.
4. Develop a facility with the research and information-gathering skills necessary for reporting narrative nonfiction stories.
5. Craft three polished, original pieces of narrative nonfiction.

1. A critical understanding of some of the key debates in the history of philosophy.
2. A thorough knowledge of some of the central concepts and theories in the canon of the core areas of ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology, along with basic methods of reasoning in logic, formal or informal.
3. An ability to write concisely, relevantly and analytically, and to construct independent lines of argument. Broadly, a philosophy major is expected to learn how to think about the world, our place in it, what reality is like, how we know, how we ought to live, how to reason and how to write about such themes. The skills acquired in clear thinking, careful writing, and cogent reasoning are portable skills applicable in many life situations and prospective careers.

1. Acquire both depth and breadth in the study of religion.
2. Familiarize themselves with the major faiths of the world.
3. Explore the links between belief and culture.
4. Learn how to conduct research in the field of Religious Studies.

1. Write and speak Spanish with clarity and accuracy; and have solid reading abilities in that same language.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of and respect for cultural diversity, especially that related to Latin America and Spain.
3. Read and analyze texts and discourses in the context of existing Latin American and Iberian analyses involving literature (Literary Emphasis), film (Cinema Emphasis), or linguistics (Teaching Emphasis).
4. Obtain the ability to verbally communicate and debate ideas, especially those related to culture and the field of their specialization (i.e., Emphasis).
5. Be sensitive to the social, linguistic, and ethnic differences that characterize the Hispanic world, and know how to use that knowledge in a constructive manner when interacting with students of various Latino backgrounds.
6. Have an appreciation for the sociohistorical contexts that have produced the literary, linguistic, or cinematic traditions of Latin America and Spain (here expectations are specific to each one of our 3 Emphases: Literature and Culture; Teaching; Cinema).