The University of Mississippi College of Liberal Arts Prospective Student Guide—Humanities

H

ANITIES M U

COLLEGE of LIBERAL ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

VENTRESS HALL

Humanities Majors A f rican Am e rican Studies (BA) arabic (BA) chinese (BA) classics (Ba) em phases in classical c ivi lization, g reek, and latin

english (BA) em phases in creative w riting E diting, w riting & pu blishing lit e rature, justice & soc iety

F rench (BA) ge rman (BA) H istory (BA) int e rnational studies (BA) linguistics (BA) english (BA) em phasis in religious studies

rh etoric (BA) south e rn studies (BA)

Who we are

It’s no accident that the word “human” is in “humanities.” We are a community of knowledge seekers and problem solvers who seek to understand human experience and human expression. We gain deep knowledge of cultures and individuals by asking probing questions.

Scan this QR code to see all your choices

We will meet you where you are and guide you where you want to go.

The humanities go beyond the study of novels, historical accounts, and culture.

We put the power of expression into the hands of our students, teaching them how to use words to pinpoint their ideas with precise language and how to create a solid logical argument. We connect personally with our students, helping them find their passions and develop the in-demand skills of analysis and clear communication. and interpreting information to communicate new insights.

Together,

W e are a community of knowledge seekers

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Here are a few of our students’ favorites.

Business Creative W riting Criminal Justice Digital Media Studies EDUCATION

Intelligence & Security Studies INT ERNATIONAL STUDIES Linguistics

How

do we gain empathy for seemingly unsympathetic people?

What

role has race played in the development of America as a nation?

How

do we harness the power of language to defend our ideas?

Medieval Studies

Environmental Studies

Museum Studies

Entrepreneurship

Professional W riting

Ethics & Values

Recreational Therapy

Gender Studies Higher Education

Society and Health Teaching English as a Second Language

How

do we gain the linguistic and cultural literacy needed for success in a global society?

What

is the role of the South in an increasingly global world?

college of liberal arts

ba i n A f r i can A m e r i can S t u di e s

Mississippi’s only

AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES

JE’VON FRANKLIN

B r o o ks v i l l e , m i s s i s s i p p i

Dr . Ethel ScurlocK A s s o c i at e P r o f e s s o r A f rican Am e rican Studies & English

BAC H E L O R O F A RTS I N

UM offers a unique opportunity for students to explore the black experience in U.S. history, but especially in Mississippi and the Deep South.

Je’von drives positive change.

For Je’von Franklin, you have to be a “listening force” to effect positive change in the world.

As a mentor in the Center for Inclusion and CrossCultural Engagement, he listens hard to the words of the students he supports and encourages.

“You have to listen to someone to understand them, and you have to understand them to advocate for them,” he said.

His goal at the Center is clear: increase the retention of African American students at UM. “Male students, in particular, struggle,” he said. “If you’re a first-generation student, going to college can be overwhelming. When you have a problem, you need a safe space to talk about it. And you also need someone to hold you accountable for doing what you need to do to be successful.”

After transferring to UM from East Mississippi Community College, Je’von found unending support and an academic home in the African American Studies program.

“Our department is family,” he said. “And the program opens your eyes to social injustice with classes like Race, Space, and Place or the African Americans and Sports, where I learned the importance of athletes advocating for change.”

African American Studies “prepares you for every profession,” he said. “Whether you want to be a teacher, in business, or be a lawyer, it’s a good degree overall.”

Je’von, an inaugural Every Learner Everywhere Fellow, a national program to improve student learning, will be attending graduate school, studying higher education, a step toward his goal of becoming a college president.

“You have to understand why students are struggling and what to do about it. If you know that, you can be an effective leader,” he said. “At the Center, I see a lot of issues with time management skills. I sit the students down and we look at their transcript and GPA. We set goals. That’s how you help people stay in school.”

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CLASSES

across 3 specializations A f r i can an d A f r i can A m e r i can H i sto ry Po l iti cal & Soc ial I nstit uti ons af ri can am e ri can C u lt u r e

examples include » Black Women’s Enterprise & Activism » The Blues Tradition in American Literature » History of African Americans in Sports » The Civil Rights Era » Modern Africa » African American Politics » Racism and Religion » African American Musical Tradition » Studies in Black Popular Culture

CLASSICS

BA i n c lass i cs a n d b i o c h em i st ry

department of

Extensive scholarships available for fieldwork The Ancient Graffiti Project Document and digitize Latin graffiti etched into ancient plaster walls in Pompeii and Herculaneum as you humanize these ancient people and remove some of the distance of time.

The Eternal City: Ancient Rome

MARHSALL ST. AMANT

b AT O N R O U G E , L O U I S I A N A

Study ancient Roman history, civilization, art, and archaeology through on-site visits to museums, archaeological sites, monuments to get a sense of the city as both a setting for and player in Roman civilization.

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COLLECTION

of Greek & Roman

antiquities is one of t h e n at i o n s f i n e st collecti ons

with approximately 2,000 OBJECTS

Marshall inspires school spirit.

Marhsall is a devoted sports booster as a member of the Cardinal Club, the official student spirit organization at UM. The club is a bridge between students and UM Athletics and reaches out to students to get them psyched to support sports teams.

Marshall and his fellow club members serve food at freshmen prep rallies, and hold fundraisers like SinkCancer, where students raised funds by “making” the basketball coach pay one dollar for every student who attended, ten dollars for every free throw sunk, and 500 dollars for successful half-course shots.

“We have fun giveaways, too,” Marshall said. “Students love the nights we give away bobbleheads. He had one of [Mississippi native and UM donor] Morgan Freeman and one of [football] Coach Lane Kiffin.”

Marshall’s enthusiasm is refueled in his Classics courses.

“It’s a tightknit community where we make meaningful connections with our professors,” he said. “The professors bring a lot of energy to the classroom and show a true enjoyment of what they do. They also make sure that students are taken care of.”

A double major in classics and biochemistry, Marshall loves being in the lab, where he’s worked side-by-side with professors on research projects. He plans to attend medical school after he graduates.

“It’s a great combination” he said. “Biochemistry is preparing me for the science part of medicine.

Classics is all about human experience. That will prep me for the people part of being a doctor.”

Lauren travels abroad.

Lauren Burns lives a spicy existence.

During a year abroad studying intensive Arabic in Morocco, she learned to cook using rass el hanout, a Moroccan blend of a dozen spices.

“I bought all my groceries in the street or at small markets,” she said.

“There would be people selling fruit piled on huge wheelbarrows, and amazing little stores. One of my favorites is owned by a man who is famous for selling the best nuts in Morocco, and people from all over the country would travel to come there.”

As a student at the Croft Institute of International Studies, Lauren double majored in international studies and Arabic. She was in the Arabic Flagship program, a one of six federally funded programs in the nation.

Lauren spent two summers in Amman, Jordan, studying as well as volunteering. During her first summer, she interned at a small refuge for women in domestic crisis.

Later, she worked at PartnersJordan, a nonprofit organization committed to promoting a civil society and conflict management, as well as mediation.

She loved Croft because of its small class sizes and style of teaching.

“We had no more than 15 people in a class, and we had detailed “roundtable” discussions and very few lectures,” she said. “A lot of the

Croft Institute for

time was spent discussing readings, what they meant and why they were important.”

Croft students select a region (East Asia, Europe, Latin America, or Middle East) and a thematic area (business, culture, politics, or health).

INTE STUD

After graduation, she plans to work for the Arabic Flagship Program and, someday, get a master’s degree.

In the meantime, she loves to cook Moroccan food in her kitchen.

“It’s like being in Morocco in Mississippi,” she said.

International Studies Students

EXPLORE s p e c i f i c r e g i o n s • t h e m at i c a r e a s • f o r e i g n l a n g uag e s

and spend a semester abroad

Lauren Burns

g u l f p o rt , m i ssi ssi p p i

S t u d e n t s m u st b e a d m i t t e d i n t o t h e C r o f t I n st i t u t e t o p u r s u e t h e m aj o r i n i n t e r n at i o n a l s t u d i e s .

BA i n A R A B I C A N D C H I N ES E

ERNATIONAL DIES

D E PA R T M E N T O F

MODERN LANGUAGES th

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in the nation with

CHINESE & ARABIC LANGUAGE flagship programs

Briana Slowinski

g r e envi lle, g eorgia

BA in Chinese; BS in computer science

現代語言 LINGUAGENS MODERNAS LENGUAJES MODERNOS MODERNE SPRAC

You can study Briana embraces culture.

When Briana recently got her miniature Schnauzer, Zoe, as a present from her parents, she was adding yet another member to her family of ten.

Briana is one of eight siblings, all adopted children. She, her younger sister and four of her brothers are of Chinese heritage.

Two brothers were born in Guatemala.

“Dinner is always a lively event when we’re all at home,” said Briana. “All the siblings get along well, and there so much going on among us that there’s always something interesting to report.”

Briana’s parents—her mother is a physician at University of Mississippi Medical Center and her father is a stay-at-home dad—were “very careful to make sure that each of us always had a sibling very close to their own age,” she said. “There was always someone for us to play with.”

That was especially important because the family moved frequently as Briana’s mother developed her career.

“We’ve lived in Wisconsin, Georgia, and Mississippi,” she said. “I came to UM from Greenville, Georgia, so I call that my hometown.”

• Arabic • Chinese • French • German • Italian • Japanese

• • • • • •

Korean Linguistics Portuguese Russian Spanish Swahili

and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (T ESOL)

Briana is a student in the Chinese Language Flagship program at UM, which is one of only 12 federal Chinese Flagship Programs across the United States.

The program provides undergraduate students with pathways to professional-level proficiency in Mandarin Chinese alongside the academic major of their choice. Briana chose to pair her Chinese degree with a second degree in computer science.

“When my family went to China to bring home my sister, I went with them and we traveled around for two weeks,” she said. “It was eye-opening to hear different dialects and to see so many cultural differences between China and the United States.”

When she was still in high school, Briana had her first taste of college on the UM campus when she attended the STARTALK program, a federal grant program for high school students funded by the National Security Agency to encourage the study of world languages in the United States.

“It was a great taste of what college would be,” she said. “And I realized that UM would be the perfect place to learn more about Chinese language and culture.”

CHEN ‫ ةثيدحلاتاغللا‬Cовременные 현대 언어 LINGUE MODERNE 現代語 LUGHA ZA KISASA

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

Lexie Burns

Brandon, Ms

o p t i o n a l e m p h a s i s i n r e l i g i o u s st u d i e s

Bentley Burns

Brandon, Ms

D E PA R T M E N T O F

Lexie finds a home.

If you ask Lexie Burns the names of some of her closest companions, she’ll tell you all about her rescue dogs.

Lexie has been rescuing dogs and working at shelters since she was 13. And she continues to have a soft spot for canines needing tender care.

“Six or seven months ago, I was on my way to driving north on I-55, and I saw six puppies on the side of the road. I had a kennel in the car and scooped them all up. They were four-to-five weeks old and were covered in fleas. I fostered

them for a few weeks until I could find homes for them.”

Lexie has volunteered for Mississippi MUTTS, a transport group that is dedicated to facilitating rescue, foster, transport, and adoption for homeless animals in Mississippi.

In addition to her rescue dogs, Lexie has a Pomeranian, Bentley, who is by her side through the ups and downs of life. She loves walking him around campus and Oxford’s many dog-friendly public parks.

“Dogs deserve a good home,” she says. “I want all dogs to have the love that Bentley has.”

Lexie has found her academic home in the

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HAVE SOME OF THE HIGHEST LAW SCHOOL ACCEPTANCE RATES

because of skills like a n a ly t i c a l a n d c r i t i c a l t h i n k i n g , m a s t e ry o f f o r m a l a r g u m e n t , c l ea r ex p r e ssi o n o f i d eas .

BA i n p h i loso p h y

PAT L a m a r pa r k

Department of Philosophy and Religion. She feels a sense of community, where professors genuinely care for students and look out for their best interests.

“I came to UM as a nursing major, and I took a Philosophy 101 class as a freshman,” she said.

“My professor suggested that I take another philosophy class, and I couldn’t go back after that.”

A criminal justice minor, Lexie is headed for law school after she graduates.

“The department gave me the opportunity to truly find myself through a major that welcomes me and my opinions wholeheartedly. That’s a great background for a career in law.”

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH » Acclaimed literature and creative writing faculty. » Flexible degree with three optional emphases. » Located in a literary town for book lovers.

ba i n c lassi cs an d e n g l i s h

Anabelle tells stories.

Like many English majors, Annabelle has long dreamed of being an author; unlike many, she’s already written her premiere novel.

The first in what will be series in the fantasy genre, Ode to Rebellion was on the state bestsellers list of her native Oklahoma. The novel’s heroine, Ada, a native of the fictional country of Ode, is a hybrid: half human and half Oderian. After a violent coup of Ode’s government, she works to free her country of its usurpers.

On campus, she writes for UM’s award-winning student newspaper, the Daily Mississippian, for which

she’s reported on the Oxford Film Festival. She’s also chronicled her experience on Destination Unknown. This trip, sponsored by UM Student Housing, chooses 30 students to board a bus to a surprise destination. Annabelle’s group went to Nashville.

She also visits area high schools to give inspirational talks to students about following their true passions in life.

“UM English department is a very special place because of the literary ties that exists here,” she said. “There is also such an amazing fostering of each student’s interests here,

Annabelle Harris t u l sa , o k la h o m a

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Creative Writing hon e you r c raf t with som e o f th e most award -wi n n i n g w rit e rs i n th e nati on

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Literature, Justice & Society Desi g n e d es p ec ial ly for st u de nts w ho ar e pu rsu i n g car e e rs i n :

Law and politics.

Non-profit management.

Marketing & publicity.

Community organizing.

Policy making & grant writing.

Education.

Ode To REbellion and inspiration everywhere,” she said of a department with several professors whose books have been New York Times Best Sellers.

She particularly loved a poetry class where the professor “offered amazing critiques to my classmates and me. This allowed us to workshop our writing then edit and make it even better than before.”

She says that the English faculty nurture her ideas.

“There is a story in everything,” she said. “It’s just waiting to be told.”

three Editing, Writing & Publishing

Desi g n e d es p ec ial ly for st u de nts w ho ar e pu rsu i n g car e e rs i n :

Book and periodical editors.

Copy editors and writers.

Production editors.

Literary agents and scouts.

Publicists.

Marketing, advertising, and sales agents.

A r c h Da ly ry m p l e I I I

BA i n H i sto ry

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

“The University is steeped in history.

One of our buildings was used as a hospital during the Civil War! Studying history at UM is an immersive experience on a historic campus.”

Grayson Mays

ox f o r d, m i s s i s s i p p i

Complete an internship and earn credit at historical institutions and sites across the United States.

than

100 more

COURSES OFFERED

including

» History of the Holocaust » Women Who Ruled in European History » Social Revolutions in Latin America

Grayson hangs out.

“My friends and I pick a beautiful spot and go ‘hammocking’ together,” he says. “We each bring our own portable hammocks, hang them between two trees, and read or listen to music. It’s very relaxing.”

Grayson prefers hammocking by lakes, particularly Lake Sardis, or Puskus Lake in Holly Springs National Forest—each a 20-minute drive from campus.

Once recumbent, he listens to classic rock from the ‘60s and ‘70s, dives into a historical novel or does some reading for class.

“The history program at UM has professors who are experts in many areas,” Grayson said. “I’ve taken a lot of classes in both U.S. and European history. “ Currently, he’s working on his senior capstone project, a study of Native Americans living on the Gulf Coast during the 18th century.

» Gender and Sexuality in East Asian History » History of Religion in the South

» Black Women’s Enterprise and Activism » Samurai in Film » Alcohol in the Americas » The Military History of the Civil War » History of African Americans in Sports

Grayson, an education minor, would like to teach history one day or work in a museum, as he did last summer when he interned at the Arkansas National Guard Museum. During his internship, he curated an exhibition centered on the state’s national guardsmen during the Vietnam Era. “The exhibit was a tribute to my grandfather, who served in the Arkansas Reserves during that time,” he said.

Directly after graduation, Grayson will follow into his family’s tradition of military service and take deep dive of a nonliterary sort. He’ll be enlisting in the navy and has applied to become a SEAL.

d e pa r t m e n t o f

WRITING & RHETOR

Kellie Smith p e r k i n sto n , m i ss i ss i p p i

RIC

Kellie knows dough.

When things get tough, Kellie turns up the heat.

A master baker, she destresses by creating bread, croissants, cupcakes, brownies, cheesecake, and tarts.

speakin g cent e r and w riting cent e r h e l p a l l st u d e n ts becom e be tt e r c o m m u n i c at o r s .

“I love the process of making baked goods,” she said. “I have family recipes that have been passed down from my great-grandmother.”

The croissants are the most labor intensive, she says.

BA i n e n g l i s h an d r h e to r i c

“It’s a vigorous process and timing is everything. To get flaky layers, you have to keep adding butter in phases—and that butter has to stay solid.”

Her deft kneading of dough is matched by a creative hand in making podcasts and webinars—both requirements for the speech component of her rhetoric major. (She also double majors in English.)

At the Writing Center, Kellie works one-onone with students, helping them brainstorm ideas for topics, fine tune thesis statements, and organize the structure of academic papers.

“We’re learning all about business and professional speech,” she says. “It has really given me confidence in the many ways I can communicate ideas: in writing, in speaking, and through technologies.”

“I love working with other students on their papers,” she said. “The Center serves thousands of students a year across disciplines.

No matter what you are studying, we’re a great resource.”

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Kellie has also served as an editor of the Landshark Literary Review, named in honor of the UM mascot.

She plans to work in the publishing industry after she graduates, and she’s gotten a head start on her career by contributing articles to the UM website as part of an on-campus writing internship.

“I’m excited to move to New York when I begin my career,” she said. “And I want to edit young-adult fiction.”

Until then, she’ll continue to enjoy her two loves: books and bread.

SOUTHERN STUDIES

BA in COM PU T E R SC I ENCES

MATTIE FORD

b row n sv i l l e, t e n n e ss e e

Home of national award winning initiatives

» Southern Foodways Alliance » Living Blues » Southern Documentary Project

Mattie pushes the limits.

Mattie Ford knows which way is up. Since her sophomore year, Mattie, a native of Brownsville, Tennessee, has been an avid climber, learning the sport through the Ole Miss Outdoors Program.

“I started learning on the climbing wall in the South Campus Recreation Center,” she said.

“Climbing has really helped me come into my own. It’s validating.”

Whether she’s scaling cliff faces at Red River Gorge in Kentucky or New River Gorge in West Virginia, Mattie has become “more versatile and more capable” by surmounting demanding physical challenges.

She sees a clear carryover to academics: greater confidence, especially when speaking in class.

As a Southern Studies major and environmental sciences minor, Mattie has come to understand the South in all its complexity.

“The goal is to get beyond a one-dimensional view of this region,” she said.

Mattie’s relationship with the Center for the Study of Southern Culture began during the summer before her freshman year. She did an internship at the Southern Documentary Project, which produces works of documentary storytelling from the perspective of studying the American South.“ I made a short video about Rowan Oak, where Faulker lived in Oxford,” she said. “I did all the shooting and editing and learned a lot of skills.”

Mattie plans on attending graduate school after she gets her BA. In the meantime, she’ll keep ascending in every part of her life.

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COURSES in

anth ropology • art • economics E n g l i s h • g e n d e r st u di e s • h i sto ry journalism • music • political science • sociology Southern Studies

examples include » History of Jazz » Anthropology of Blues Culture » African American Politics » Women in Southern History » Faulkner » Race, Place, and Space » The Cinematic South

» Heritage Tourism in the South » Introduction to the South and Food » Southern Mythologies and Popular Culture » History of Religion in the South » The South in the 20thCentury

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Our research is among the best in the country.

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Our humanities alumni work in all kinds of fields.

We are proud to say that the University of Mississippi is classified as an R1 research university, placing us among top 2.5% research universities in the country. And, unlike many R1 universities, our extraordinary faculty are teaching and mentoring undergraduates! They are trained at the top universities like City University of New York, Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Princeton, UNC, Berkeley, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of London, Michigan and many more.

You are our #1 priority.

OFFICE OF PRE-LAW ADVISING

we have the pre- law resources you neEd

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»

Assistance with selection of major/minor

»

Preparation for LSAT exam and law school

»

Prelaw events and opportunities on and near campus

»

Discussions with law school admissions representatives

»

Guidance in researching law school options

»

Advising for the accelerated (3+3) law program with UM Law School

»

Feedback on personal statement

»

Help with the application process on the Law School Admissions Counsel (LSAC) website

»

Answering questions related to a law career

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We will meet you where you are, and guide you where you want to go.

BUILD YOUR LEGACY

olemiss.edu/libarts