History of Art (BA)

College of Arts and Sciences

Program Website

Program Description

Department majors acquire a broad understanding of the history of art in several chronological (ancient to contemporary) and geographical areas: Europe, Africa, North America and Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, China and Japan. Additionally, majors practice a range of art historical methods and interpretive strategies, and are encouraged to locate the history of art within allied humanities fields and the applied arts by taking courses in history, literature, history of architecture, and fine arts. The study of foreign languages, especially as it pertains to study abroad opportunities, is strongly encouraged.

Declaring the Major

For admission into the major, students are required to have completed the 1000-level gateway class, ARTH 1100, and to have received at least a grade of B. Once this has been done, students should email the Undergraduate/Graduate Coordinator, Danielle Vander Horst, to state their intent of declaration and provide a list of additional classes taken or being taken that qualify them for admission to the major. If students have not completed ARTH 1100 by the Spring of their Sophomore year, then completion of a 4000-level tutorial course with a grade of B or higher is required for entry into the major.

Honors

Candidates for honors must be History of Art majors who have made consistent and satisfactory progress towards degree completion and who have a demonstrated interest in furthering their academic explorations within the field. Ideally, students pursuing Honors should have taken at least one course in which they wrote a formal research paper and have completed ARTH 4101 Proseminar: Introduction to Methods  during their Junior year.

Students interested in pursuing honors should be in communication with both the Undergraduate Coordinator and the Director of Undergraduate Studies about their intentions in the Spring of their Junior year. Students should begin contacting potential thesis advisors late Spring of their Junior year with work slated to begin either over the Summer if necessary or upon the start of the Fall semester of their Senior year.

In the Senior year, Honors students will take ARTH 4998 Honors Work I  (Fall) and ARTH 4999 Honors Work II  (Spring) as part of their course load. These courses address the research and writing of the senior thesis under the direction of the student's project advisor. Only one of these two courses, ARTH 4999 Honors Work II, may count as a major elective. Students pursuing honors will therefore require a total of 11 courses for major completion.

Students must participate in the Honors Writing Workshop hosted by the Knight Institute and also present their research at the Undergraduate History of Art Honors Symposium which takes place mid-Spring semester prior to Spring Break. Thesis defenses take place the last week of classes in the Spring semester at which point faculty advisors will determine the level of honors to be awarded.

First-Year Writing Seminars

Consult the John S. Knight website for times, instructors, and descriptions. These courses may not be used to satisfy the distribution requirement or the major.