Humanities minor gets revamped

Abby Taylor Ora Nelson  The revised humanities minor is being introduced to students with new language classes and study abroad opportunities. “We’re basically starting out from scratch,” said Jay Valentine, an assistant professor of history who helped add classes to the minor. The previous humanities minor, created at the Troy Dothan campus, had 18 mandatory hours of classes. “Because (the minor) was created for the Dothan campus, several of the courses that were required were no longer offered regularly,” Valentine said. The minor now includes classes in language and literature, thought and belief, culture and society, fine arts, and travel and study categories. Hal Fulmer, the associate provost and dean of first-year studies, and Peter Howard, a professor and department chair of modern languages and classics, also helped update the minor. “The way we’ve got it set up, (the classes) have to come from three of the five areas,” Howard said. The updated humanities minor includes over 36 hours of classes to choose from and an opportunity to study abroad as part of the minor. Students can select from classes including Western philosophy, survey of art history and history of religion in the United States. Study abroad opportunities with a humanities focus can also be counted toward the minor. “(The study abroad trip) is an incredible opportunity the university is making available right now,” Howard said. Valentine said the humanities minor gives students the freedom to take classes they are interested in. “You might not have enough room to take a minor in a language, but say you want to take one or two classes and say you also want to do a study abroad, you can do that,” he said. “I think it’s a wonderful program for people who have a wide interest for the humanities,” Howard said.