The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences offers a number of graduate and undergraduate programs embracing several academic disciplines. In general, these programs are staffed collaboratively by faculty members from various departments and fields in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and, in some cases, from the Institute's other schools as well.
Concentrations within the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Requirement are available in most of these areas, with degree programs available in some of them.
Full information on subjects offered, names of participating faculty, and specific concentration and major requirements in these programs may be obtained from the individual program coordinator or from the HASS Information Office, Room 14N-410, 617-253-4441. The lists of subjects also appear in the Guide to the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.
Brief descriptions of the programs follow.
American Studies at MIT offers students the opportunity to organize subjects from various fields (e.g., history, anthropology, literature, political science, music, art and architecture, and urban studies) into personally constructed interdisciplinary programs as a way of gaining an integrated understanding of American society and culture.
American Studies is a field of concentration; it is also available as the humanities component of a joint major program (the 21E and 21S degrees), or as a full major by special arrangement. American Studies majors work out a coherent program of study with an advisor, usually including two subjects each in literature and history, although variations are possible. Major programs can center on a particular interest or aim more broadly at a comprehensive knowledge of various aspects of American life and culture.
The coordinator of American Studies is Professor Christopher Capozzola, Room E51-180, 617-452-4960, capozzol@mit.edu.
Through a wide variety of subjects drawn from a number of disciplines, this program provides a curricular framework for exploring topics in ancient and medieval studies which range from the history of ideas and institutions to that of material artifacts, literature, and certain of the original languages. The program spans the 6,500 years between 5000 BC and 1500 AD.
This program's goal is to develop knowledge and understanding of the more distant past both for itself, in its uniqueness, and as an object of specifically modern questions and methods of inquiry. The program has an interest in the structure of institutions and social systems, and in relationships between the social order and learned traditions, values, ideologies, and ideas. Ancient and medieval studies derive a special claim to our interest from the fact that the record is so full and multiform and that much of it is of exceptionally high quality at once in substance and form.
Ancient and Medieval Studies is available as a concentration, a minor, and as a major departure within Course 21. Individual programs are to be determined in consultation with Professor Wlliam Broadhead, Room E51-175, 617-258-6668.
The interdisciplinary HASS Minor in Applied International Studies prepares students for an increasingly global economy and international research environment by integrating international learning into their course of study. The six-subject minor is organized into three areas: language and culture; international politics, economics, and history; and third, a set of courses that prepares students for experiences abroad and helps them to reflect on their work, research, or study-abroad experience after the return to campus. The minor requires a stay abroad, which should be planned in consultation with the minor advisor. See the program description under Political Science in Part 2.
Additional information can be obtained from Bernd Widdig, Minor Advisor, Center for International Studies, E38-762, 617-253-3925, bwiddig@mit.edu.
The Middle East Program at MIT, an interdisciplinary course of study taken in conjunction with the graduate program in a student's chosen department, focuses on technology, development, and public policy. The program enables students with an interest in the Middle East (including North Africa and South Asia) to develop an expertise in the area within the context of a coherent program of study. It equips students with an understanding of the processes of socioeconomic change, technological development, political change, environmental management, knowledge networking, institutional development, sustainability strategies, and international business and investment patterns in the region.
This program draws on MIT's unique strengths in science and technology to offer a course of study distinct from a conventional "area studies" approach to the Middle East. The emphasis at present is on challenges of design and development in the reconstruction of the region following violent conflicts, as well as on innovations and applications of advances in information technology and knowledge e-networking to support development objectives.
The program is based on the participation of faculty from the Departments of Political Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Urban Studies and Planning; the History Section of the Department of Humanities; the Sloan School of Management; the Program in Science, Technology and Society; and the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture.
For further information, contact Professor Nazli Choucri, Department of Political Science, Room E53-493, 617-253-6198, nchoucri@mit.edu.
Psychology, the study of human mental life and behavior, is represented at MIT as a program in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and as a concentration within the undergraduate HASS Requirement. Faculty and subjects in psychology are found in many MIT departments, including Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Management, History, and STS. Students who wish to concentrate in psychology take a set of subjects from these departments, chosen in consultation with the concentration officer for the Program in Psychology (details are available at the HASS office).
Students who wish a more substantial education in the field may minor in psychology. A minor involves six subjects starting with 9.00 Introduction to Psychology. Detailed information about the minor may be found in the description of undergraduate study in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
In addition to taking psychology subjects, undergraduates may take advantage of a wide range of research opportunities (generally via the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program). Students should contact UROP coordinators from specific departments about projects currently available.
Psychology exists as a major at MIT only as a major departure within Course 21.
For other information about the Program in Psychology, contact Professor Alan Hein, Room 46-2047, 617-253-5759, hein@mit.edu.
The interdisciplinary HASS Minor in Public Policy is intended to provide a single framework for students interested in the role of public policy in the field of their technical expertise. The description of undergraduate study in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in Part 2 contains a detailed description and list of requirements for this minor.
The minor advisors are Professor Andrea Campbell, Room E53-461, 617-452-2295, acampbel@mit.edu, in Political Science, and Professor Judith Layzer, Room 9-328, 617-253-5196, jlayzer@mit.edu, in Urban Studies and Planning.
Women's and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary inquiry into the significance of gender in human society and thought, both in the United States and around the world. Drawing on 30 years of scholarly work centered on gender analysis as well as research in many traditional fields, the program explores questions such as how women and men learn their gender roles; how different societies define women and men; and how ideas of sex and gender shape and are shaped by language, individual behavior, and social institutions such as law, religion, and education. Students explore the varied roles gender has played in different cultures, times, intellectual disciplines, and forms of creative expression. Debates over sexuality, reproduction, feminism, masculinity, the roles of women in history, politics, and science, and the intersections of gender with other social categories such as race, class, ethnicity are all topics addressed within this interdisiplinary field.
Most subjects in the field of Women's and Gender Studies are cross-listed with other departments and are available to students in a wide range of fields of study. Through classes, UROPs, and events, both undergraduate and graduate students gain new perspectives on other disciplines such as computer science, law, philosophy, theater, management, literature, urban studies, psychology, and history. Women's and Gender Studies subjects are open to all students.
The curriculum includes a core subject, Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies, and a selection of subjects from many departments at the Institute, listed in the Special Programs section of Part 3. A full major (known as a major departure) is available by special arrangement. Women's and Gender Studies also offers a minor program and a concentration.
The Minor Program in Women's and Gender Studies is designed for students who, in addition to the focus of their major program of study, are seeking a fuller understanding of the ways in which gender and gender constructs have shaped human understanding of self and community. The minor program consists of six subjects, one of which may be taken at Harvard or Wellesley with the permission of the director, arranged into three levels of study as follows:
| Tier I | Required introductory subject: | |
| SP.401 | Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies |
|
| Tier II | Four subjects, at least one of which is drawn from each category: |
|
| Humanities and the arts | ||
| Social and natural sciences |
||
| Tier III | One advanced seminar: | |
| SP.412J | Feminist Political Thought | |
| or | ||
| an upper-level Women's and Gender Studies subject as determined by the director |
For more information, see Interdisciplinary Research and Study in Part 1 or contact the coordinator, Women's and Gender Studies, Room 14E-316, 617-253-8844, womens-studies@mit.edu, or visit the website at http://web.mit.edu/womens-studies/www/.
The Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies (GCWS) is a pioneering effort to advance women's studies scholarship by offering a series of interdisciplinary and cross-university team-taught graduate seminars. The consortium includes Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Harvard University (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Divinity School, and the Graduate School of Education), MIT, Northeastern University, Simmons College, Tufts University, and the University of Massachusetts Boston. The Consortium is currently administered at MIT.
For more information, see the section on Graduate Education in Part 1; contact the coordinator of GCWS, Room 16-287, 617-324-2085; or visit the website at http://web.mit.edu/gcws/.