Mission

The Humanities express and explore what it means to be human through words, ideas and images. They empower us to create our sense of self, to shape the world around us, to appreciate how the past has shaped the present, and to be creative in all that we do. The Humanities are central to a general education, one that prepares us for lives and careers.

Honors Humanities Video from University of Maryland on Vimeo.

Who We Are

  • One of the University of Maryland’s highly esteemed and nationally-ranked living and learning programs
  • A hub for University undergraduate research
  • A community of diverse students who value great books, lively arts, and the humanitarian impulse to serve others
  • A small liberal arts experience within a large research context

What We Do

  • Equip students with critical thinking skills for college, career, and beyond
  • Empower students to use both sides of the brain, to be creative in what we see, say, imagine
  • Explore the history, present, and future of human experience
  • Discover and transform the self for extraordinary futures

What We Value

Fearless and Challenging Ideas: Our curriculum challenges students to think, engage, and create at a level rarely experienced in undergraduate education. Our classes allow students to explore diverse areas of study and to connect that scholarship into a big-picture that prepares them to excel in upper-level undergraduate courses, and, for many, in graduate school.

Wide-spread Application: The methods of the Humanities can be applied to engage creatively in any field of learning. Humanistic fields such as literature, history, philosophy, visual and performing arts, and cultural studies, among others, have much to teach about ourselves and the worlds in which we live.

Diverse Perspectives: Diverse perspectives challenge students to engage situations from multiple angles, often leading them to new insights and discoveries. Multidisciplinary tools and perspectives are used by myriad innovators, including humanitarian organizations such as Oxfam as well as companies such as Google. Honors Humanities offers students the chance to make connections across the arts, literature and history and provides an ideal complement to majors in business, engineering, science, and social science.

Global Thinking: Our courses engage some of the most revolutionary thinkers and artists in history from around the world. Our students compose bilingual poetry collections, record original world music collections, and conduct original research in places from China to Chile. Our students receive credit in our curriculum for studying abroad and for exploring the arts and humanities throughout the world.