The humanities are wherever you are — always present in the major and minor details of everyday life. You can find the humanities when we discuss the literature, essays and poems that changed the world. It’s there when we educate ourselves by untangling the complex thread of historical and current events to better understand our identity and other cultures. You can see it hiding in plain sight when influencers create reels with tens of millions of views to defend the motives of a mighty dragon queen or sympathize with the behavior of duplicitous and foppish vampire kings.
Essentially, the humanities are all about us, humankind.
In higher education, the humanities encompass academic disciplines that seek to understand the complexities of humankind and our lived experiences through culture, art, music, languages, literature, religion and history. “I think what people seem not to realize is that the humanities are not new to higher education,” said Scott Levi, professor and chair for the Department of History. “The value of a humanities-based education has a centuries-long tradition and it’s not going to just go away, nor are the faculty who teach these majors or the students who passionately pursue these degrees.”
Students who pursue the humanities find meaning and purpose in majors such as English, philosophy, religious studies, world literatures, Japanese, Italian and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
While there is no shortage of alumni who have joyfully answered the call of the humanities and found successful career outcomes, these majors can be misunderstood. For professor and chair of the Department of French and Italian, Sarah Grace Heller, “Language learning presents an opportunity for our students to expand their cultural awareness because to speak another person’s language is to honor them and appreciate their culture.” At Ohio State, the study of language isn’t just about the mechanics of speaking, reading and writing. She added, “As humankind continues to evolve into an increasingly global society, being able to speak a foreign language will be critical because it means you can communicate with cultures beyond your own and know how to understand their customs, history and perspectives; and this is how language strengthens the human connection.”
Professor John Grinstead is the chair of Spanish and Portuguese and appreciates how the humanities teach students to understand everyone has a reality that’s informed by history, culture and language. “Ultimately, we’re all living a philosophy, either implicitly or explicitly, and it’s shaped by our lives and experiences. What makes the humanities critical is that it specializes in opening our minds to that simple fact.”
Students who pursue the humanities at Ohio State have access to the College of Arts and Sciences Center for Career and Professional Success. By working with the center’s career counselors, Arts and Sciences students can understand the value and elasticity of their chosen degree and career possibilities. “We know it can be very intimidating for students to plan their career path, so we make it very easy to make an appointment with our center,” said Tricia Zelaya-Leon, assistant dean for the Center for Career and Professional Success. “We work side by side with faculty and departments to infuse our services into courses, and we work closely with students to learn about them and their career interests.”
Humanities degrees in areas like history, English and philosophy provide an excellent foundation for post-graduate studies or for entering the workforce because they help students develop critical thinking skills, hone their ability to analyze and interpret text, train them on how to identify and understand multiple perspectives when faced with a problem and make them persuasive and knowledgeable communicators.
“The College of Arts and Sciences is still preparing the best educated, most well rounded, critical thinking, highly qualified future leaders for Ohio and the world,” said Scott Levi. “A degree in the humanities is worth the investment so keep an open mind, and if you love reading, writing, learning about other cultures, languages and history, our college has dozens of humanities majors for you to pursue.” He added, “Our college is an incredible place for you to develop and grow and we look forward to being a part of your journey.”
Humanities majors account for 31 of the 80+ majors within the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University.
- African American and African Studies (BA)
- Ancient History and Classics (BA)
- Arabic (BA)
- Chinese (BA, BA/MA)
- Classics (BA)
- Comparative Studies (BA)
- English (BA)
- French (BA) French and Francophone Studies (BA)
- German (BA)
- Hebrew and Jewish Studies (BA)
- History (BA, BA/MA)
- History of Art (BA)
- Integrated Major in Math and English (BA)
- Islamic Studies (BA)
- Italian (BA)
- Italian Studies (BA)
- Japanese (BA)
- Korean (BA)
- Linguistics (BA)
- Medieval and Renaissance Studies (BA)
- Modern Greek (BA)
- Philosophy (BA)
- Philosophy, Politics and Economics (BA)
- Portuguese (BA)
- Religious Studies (BA)
- Romance Studies (BA)
- Russian (BA)
- Spanish (BA)
- Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (BA)
- World Literatures (BA)
Notable Humanities Alumni
R.L. Stine (BA, English)
Author of Goosebumps and Fear Street
Diane Gilliam Fisher (BA, Spanish; MA, Romance Languages & Literatures/French & Italian); PhD
French & Italian American poet
Phil Mattingly (BA, English)
CNN This Morning, former Chief White House Correspondent
Louie Pastor (BA, History)
Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation and Administrative Officer, Xerox Corporation
Bridget Salice (BA, English and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies)
Social Impact Senior Associate, GLG
Andrea Brookover (BA, History)
Executive Director, Ohio Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission
