University of Texas Arlington

The mission of the College of Liberal Arts is to provide a learning community wherein students are provided both broad-based and specialized education and to vitalize the educational process by creating and transmitting knowledge through research, scholarship and creative activity.

The college is characterized by a diversity of intellectual styles and interests. Departments and programs cluster into social sciences, humanities and fine arts. Liberal Arts disciplines address the rich meanings of human experience and expression and liberate the imagination.

The traditional objectives of liberal arts in the University are: (1) to develop the tools for analysis, appreciation and communication; for written and oral expression; for comprehension, interpretation, and analysis of textual material; for analytic reasoning and scientific method; and for appreciation of aesthetic experience; (2) to prepare students for a range of careers in academia and public and private sector organizations. Graduates of the college contribute to the region, the state and the nation as college and university professors, elementary and secondary teachers, legal professionals, in government agencies, social services, international business and industry, media and advertising, health and recreation, and cultural and entertainment industries; and (3) to promote understanding and critical evaluation of the cultural milieux of the attitudes and the ideas that shape institutions and strategies in societies.

A liberal arts education prepares the student for leadership in whatever profession or vocation he or she chooses and is designed to help students live enlightened, purposeful, and effective lives in a challenging, complex, and global technological environment.

A center of learning and scholarship, the College of Liberal Arts and its departments and programs help students achieve an understanding and knowledge of the past, a comprehension of the realities of the present, and a sense of the vision and potential of the future. Our courses of study not only develop habits of mind (such as mastery in reading, communication, and critical thinking skills), but also address the meaning of human experience and expression.

The college promotes these goals in the following ways:

• By enabling students to develop the tools for analysis, appreciation and communication; for written and oral expression; for comprehension, interpretation, and analysis of textual material; for analytic reasoning and scientific method; and for appreciation of aesthetic experience;
• By enabling students to prepare for professions or careers by offering specialized major programs; and
• By enabling students to understand and evaluate critically the attitudes and ideas that shape contemporary society.

Because they deal with the meanings of human experience, the Liberal Arts are the oldest and most central study in higher education, with a past that reaches back to the origins of the university in the Middle Ages. The disciplinary units of the college provide current perspectives on the individual, society, culture, and the cosmos; the various courses of study taken together offer students a range of approaches to the human condition. Through their research and teaching, the faculty of the college seek to prepare students to achieve success in many different professions, to contribute to the community, and to lead enriched and enlightened lives.

The College of Liberal Arts offers programs of study in 12 academic units.

The college also offers interdisciplinary programs of undergraduate study in the Centers for Post-Soviet and East European Studies, Mexican American Studies, Southwestern Studies, and Women's Studies. Military Science offers a program that leads to a commission in the U.S. Army.

Interdisciplinary Minors

Medieval and Early Modern Studies Minor

The medieval and early modern world saw major social and cultural changes - the rise of the middle class, the development of the individual, the emergence of the nation state, and the consolidation of many modern languages. The Medieval and Early Modern Studies minor fosters insterdisciplinary study of these periods, encouraging students to explore and connect topics in language, literature, history, art, and philosophy. The minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies comprises courses taught by members of various departments in the College of Liberal Arts.

Students seeking to minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies should first consult with advisors in their departments or programs for approval of the minor, then with the Director of the Minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies (currently Dr. Sarah Davis-Secord of the Department of History). A minor in Medieval and Early Modern Studies consists of six courses (18 hours total) selected from the courses listed below, with no more than nine hours to be completed within any single discipline. In addition, other relevant topics courses not listed below may be used to fulfill the minor, with the approval of the Director. Students should consult the catalog and/or the appropriate department for prerequisites.

ART 3306 Byzantine and Medieval Art

ART 3307 The Early Renaissance

ART 3308 High Renaissance

ART 4306 Mid-Reneaissance

ART 4396 Special Sudies in Art History (if topic relevant)

ENGL 2303 Topics in Literature (if topic relevant)

ENGL 3351 History of British Literature I

ENGL 4301 History of the English Language

ENGL 4321 Medieval British Literature

ENGL 4323 Seventeenth-Century British Literature

ENGL 4325 Chaucer

ENGL 4326 Shakespeare

ENGL 4334 Special Topics in British Literature (if topic relevant)

ENGL 4386 Dante

FREN 3311 French Literature and Culture I

FREN 4332 Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Culture

GERM 3318 Special Topics in German Studies (if topic relevant)

GERM 4321 Topics in Literature and Culture (if topic relevant)

HIST 2313 History of England

HIST 3376 Medieval Europe I

HIST 3377 Medieval Europe II

HIST 3378 Europe: The Renaissance

HIST 3379 Europe: The Reformation and Counter-Reformation

HIST 4330 Medieval Crusade and Jihad

HIST 4331 Medieval Travelers

HIST 4388 Selected Topics in History (if topic relevant)

PHIL 3302 History of Philosophy: Roman and Medieval Philosophy

PHIL 3303 History of Philosophy: Renaissance and Early Modern European Philosophy

SPAN 3302 Hispanic Literature in Translation (if topic relevant)

SPAN 4310 Topics in Peninsular Spanish Literature and Culture to the Eighteenth Century (if relevant)

SPAN 4313 Topics in Hispanic Culture (if relevant)

SPAN 4330 Topics in Spanish Linguistics (if relevant)

For information on the Medieval and Early Modern Studies minor, contact the Director at sdavis-secord@uta.edu

Individual degree programs in the College of Liberal Arts have undergraduate advisors who are available to help students with academic planning, course selection, and professional career advice. There is also a College of Liberal Arts advising office, in which an advisor is available to help students with more general questions and queries regarding their degree plans and career goals. This office is located in 210 University Hall.

Admission is determined by application to the academic unit offering the degree of interest. Individual departments and programs in the College of Liberal Arts may set more specific and restrictive requirements than those stipulated in the Core Curriculum statement (See Degree Program), and may set additional requirements for admission to the major. Information may be obtained in department and program offices.

The College of Liberal Arts has a modern and classical languages requirement. Students must demonstrate proficiency at the second year college level of a foreign or classical language. This requirement for the B.A. degree at UT Arlington is designed to help students become effective members of the global community. It is not only essential for a broad education, but also provides a basis for practical benefits to students with widely varying and highly specific objectives. Proficiency may be demonstrated through the prescribed score on the CLEP test for the language, transfer of credits from another institution, completion of the second year at UT Arlington, or proof of a secondary education in a foreign language (as evidenced by a diploma from a high school in which the language is the primary language of instruction). Students who choose to fulfill the requirement through proof of secondary education in another language must complete an additional six hours of English courses in order to ensure their mastery of English.

Computer Use and Oral Communication Competencies

Students majoring in Liberal Art disciplines are also required to demonstrate computer use proficiency and oral communication competency. Methods for demonstrating these competencies vary across departments and programs within the College of Liberal Arts and are detailed in the sections of this catalog pertaining to the various majors.

Transfer Credits

Students entering the College of Liberal Arts may transfer up to 72 hours of academic credit from two-year institutions to be applied to a degree.

The College of Education, in cooperation with the College of Liberal Arts, offers programs leading to elementary, secondary and all-level certification. Students interested in teacher certification should consult the advisor or his/her major department or the Advising Center of the College of Education for more information.

In addition to earning a disciplinary degree with Latin honors (summa, magna, cum laude), Liberal Arts students who wish to graduate with an Honors Degree in a Liberal Arts discipline must be members of the Honors College in good standing, have an overall GPA of 3.2, and complete the degree requirements in a disciplinary major. The Honors course requirements include:

At least twenty-four (24) hours of Honors course work, overall (all of which may also fulfill university core or disciplinary major requirements):

• Three hours in an approved research methods course
• Three hours in an approved thesis/project course
• Remaining Honors hours (to complete 24) to be chosen from special Honors sections of University core requirements, other Honors Interdisciplinary Seminars/Special Topics courses, Honors Independent Study, Honors electives, Honors Credit Contract courses, and Honors courses in the major. Students wishing to pursue an Honors degree must meet with an Honors College advisor as early as possible.

Study Abroad

The College of Liberal Arts offers many opportunities for students wishing to study abroad. Programs in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and other locations are led by faculty from different departments. Semester-long programs with affiliated institutions are also available.

Scholarships

Scholarships for outstanding undergraduate students are available from the College of Liberal Arts. Students may receive more information by contacting their academic advisor.

Students in the College of Liberal Arts may obtain a double major by completing all requirements for a degree in any one of Liberal Arts' disciplines plus the major area requirements in any other discipline in the College of Liberal Arts. Requirements in the second major will fulfill the minor requirement. The diploma and transcript will reflect both majors.

Any student majoring in the College of Liberal Arts may, with the permission of an advisor from his/her major department and of the department or academic unit offering the course, take any course approved with a pass/fail grading option on a pass-fail basis, provided that the course is not required for the student's degree and provided the student has sophomore standing (30 hours credit). Students seeking teacher certification may not take education courses on a pass-fail basis with the exception of student teaching which is offered only on a pass-fail basis. Junior-senior level military science courses also may not be taken on a pass-fail basis.

View Course Descriptions for:

Liberal Arts (COLA)