How Humanities Programs Are Evolving

The humanities are evolving in undergraduate education, and the story of that evolution begins with hard truths. Many students not only have little understanding of what the humanities encompass, they don’t even know what the word means.

In spite of these challenges, some colleges have achieved noteworthy successes in drawing students to the humanities — and demonstrating the value of the field.

Building a Thriving Humanities Program examines robust and growing humanities programs at both two- and four-year colleges and describes how they've achieved their success.

In this report, you’ll learn about how those programs developed, what choices leaders made, and what obstacles they overcame.

Readers will be able to:

• Better interpret and explain the data on humanities enrollments.

• Communicate how successful humanities programs have built student interest.

• Describe how humanities study contributes to student success.

• Translate skills learned in humanities courses into attributes employers seek.

• Understand the obstacles to expanding the humanities and envision solutions.