Student Work
When Junior Laura Slocum came to college she didn't even know there was such a thing as a Humanities major, but she knew that her favorite classes in high school were history, English, art, and music. "If you like arts and letters, it's a great major because it gives you a lot of freedom to mix and match a lot of different courses from different disciplines according to your interests, and have all of them count toward your major."
Laura is especially interested in the role food has played in ancient cultures, and what it can teach us about modern cultural traditions. For her honors thesis she's planning on looking at feasts and ritual as portrayed in texts such as The Bible, the Illiad, and the Odyssey.
After graduation, Laura wants to go to culinary school and become a chef. At first she wasn't sure how her humanities degree would tie into her future goals, but after taking such classes as Food and Chinese Culture, it began to make sense.
"Food has a really big impact in society. If you know how to read the cultural factors shaping a society, you can better understand what people want."
Laura has also found her humanities studies helpful in a very practical sense. "I've had to do a lot of planning, organization, and learn how to set priorities and do research—all important skills to have as a chef, as well in almost any career. If you don't do the research, you can't write the paper. If you don't have the ingredients, you can't make the dish."
Selected Faculty Work
The humanities faculty members are from various UO departments.
English professor James W. Earl’s scholarly interests include medieval literature, Old English, Anglo-Saxon culture, and psychoanalytic criticism.
History professor John Nicols specializes in Greek and Roman History. Nicols’ current research and writing focuses on civic patronage in the Roman Empire and Latin epigraphy. He regularly teaches Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient Science, and Western Civilization.
Marian Elizabeth Smith is an associate professor of music history. She recently published a book on the intersection of opera and ballet in nineteenth century Paris. She teaches courses on Bach and Handel, opera, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, twentieth century music, musical controversies, and history pedagogy.
English Professor Steven Shankman’s fields of focus include restoration and eighteenth century studies and literary theory. His interests include comparative literature, the classical tradition in English and American literature, the eighteenth century, and the history of literary theory. Recent books include The Siren and the Sage: Knowledge and Wisdom in ancient Greece and China (co-authored with Stephen Durrant), Plato and Postmodernism and In Search of the Classic: Reconsidering the Greco-Roman Tradition, and Homer to Valéry and Beyond.
Theater Arts Professor Grant McKernie is co-author of A Cultural History of Theatre, and in 1993, he was honored by the Association for Theatre in Higher Education as the Outstanding Teacher of Theatre in the U.S.A. His current research interests are in contemporary European theatre, with a particular emphasis on theatre in The Netherlands, where he has been invited three times to serve as a juror in the national theatre festival.
Associate Professor of art history Charles Lachman specializes in art theory and the history of Buddhist art, especially in China, though his research and teaching occasionally extend to India, Japan, and Korea as well. He is currently working on a book concerning problems of interpreting Chan Buddhist painting. Professor Lachman is also a consulting curator at the UO Museum of Art, where he has overseen the reinstallation of the Asian galleries and organized numerous exhibitions.
Career Prospects
A background in humanities will serve you well in any number of fields—education, journalism, law, communications, community service and private business. Medical and other professional schools are turning to majors such as humanities to supply the sort of broad literacy that is required of students and professionals carrying out advanced study.