Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts Overview and Requirements

Mission Statement

To enable our students to become creative, sophisticated thinkers, active citizens, and effective leaders in the global community, the department contributes to a broad liberal education, introducing students to a wide array of disciplines and traditions in the humanities and social sciences. In doing so, it provides learning experiences that, in addition to their intrinsic value, enrich a scientific and technical education.

Educational Objectives

The HSSA Department at Rose-Hulman is an interdisciplinary community of teachers and scholars in humanities, social sciences, and the arts.

We design our courses to foster the ability:

• to think critically, reaching conclusions, making judgments, and defining problems in the context of social and cultural systems that are complex and interactive,
• to communicate well with various audiences and communities, and
• to understand and appreciate others, alternative viewpoints, diverse cultures, and the challenges and opportunities that face the world

Areas of Study

The following disciplines are represented within the department:

Graduation Requirements 

1. General 

   All students must take a minimum of nine courses (36 credits) in Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts (HSSA) to graduate from the institute. These courses may be chosen from the HSSA offerings, within the restrictions below. 
   
   Two courses (8 credits), HUM H190 First-Year Writing Seminar and ENGL H290 Technical and Professional Communication, are required writing courses.

   The remaining seven courses (28 credits) must be taken in at least two of the three areas of study: Humanities and Arts (H), Social Sciences (S), and Modern Languages (L).

2. All students must take a First-Year Writing Seminar. 

   HUM H190 First-Year Writing Seminar   

   First-year students at Rose-Hulman take a writing seminar to help them transition into college-level writing and build their critical reading and thinking skills. Writing seminars are themed around engaging and timely topics.  

   Choosing themes that interest them, students cultivate scholarly skills and habits that will serve them throughout their college careers and beyond: considering diverse perspectives; reading for deep and nuanced understanding; exploring research questions with an open mind; engaging with others' ideas while developing their own; writing for specific audiences and purposes; revising existing writing to incorporate feedback and new information; and crafting well-supported, appealing arguments.

3.  Technical and Professional Communication ENGL H290 Technical & Professional Communication is a requirement for most majors, and counts toward the total requirement of nine HSSA courses. 

Modern Language

1. A minimum of two terms of the same language (or the equivalent thereof) must be completed in order to apply modern language credits toward Humanities and Social Sciences requirements. If only SPAN L111, JAPN L111 or GER L111 is completed, that course will not be allowed to satisfy an HSSA requirement.  For transfer credit, a single modern language course at 4 credit hours may be used to satisfy an HSSA requirement if it is higher than the entry level course (L111) in that language. Example: Transfer credit awarded for SPAN L113 could be used to satisfy one HSSA course requirement.

2. HSSA credit will not be awarded for a lower-level language course until the student takes and passes the next course in the language sequence with a grade of C or better.

3. No more than 16 credits of modern language may be counted toward HSSA requirements.  
4. Students may not earn modern language credit in their native languages.
5. Note: Students planning to study abroad should be sure to have their program approved ahead of time by the head of the HSSA Department and by the head of the Department in which they are majoring.