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The intellectual activity of departments and programs in the School reflects the discrete concerns of these basic disciplines and intersections among them. By expanding our knowledge in these three areas and developing skills in rhetoric, expository composition, and foreign languages, humanists influence the fundamental techniques of communication used throughout the modern university and our whole society. They analyze and question those techniques and examine the web of cultural beliefs in which they are practiced. The School of Humanities also combines these scholarly and critical functions and uses both traditional and contemporary concepts to define a new field best described as "critical literacy." The study of critical literacy investigates the rhetoric and culture of innovative technologies of communication that have been spawned by the revolution in electronic media. In addition, critical literacy explores the multicultural and global contexts of communication to promote cultural diversity within a democratic society and a better understanding of cultural differences in a transnational setting. Because humanists deal analytically with the most complex problems and issues affecting people, and because they are especially adept at analyzing language and texts, students majoring in the humanities are particularly well prepared for careers in all fields in which analysis, judgment, and argument are important. Thus a background in the humanities is advantageous not only for a career in education, but also in such fields as management, law, medicine, communications, diplomacy, social work, and politics. In a world where most people change careers several times during their lives, it is crucial that students develop not only knowledge of a specific field, but also the general skills of analysis and imagination that are fostered by humanistic inquiry and critical literacy. |
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