IUPUC Programs
Undergraduate Programs
Division of Liberal Arts
A liberal arts education begins with the premise that one’s world and one’s self are at the core of the pursuit of knowledge. It leads to viewing the world from more than one perspective and learning something about its social, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions. Those different perspectives within the liberal arts encompass two major groups of academic disciplines: the humanities, which explore the history and experience of human culture; and the social sciences, which examine the social and material foundations of human life.
Regardless of the perspective, the focus in the liberal arts is on knowledge itself, on both its substance and the tools for pursuing it, on what is known and what is worth knowing. Skills for acquiring and generating knowledge, as well as the preservation of knowledge, are contained within the School of Liberal Arts curriculum.
Visit the IUPUC website to view degree requirements for the Division of Liberal Arts.
Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies
Students may complete the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies at IUPUC. Communication studies students will learn about communication theories, research methods, and competencies from a variety of contexts: rhetoric, public address, organizations, family, health, and media. The department offers a diverse curriculum for students interested in majoring or minoring in Communication Studies. Students learn about the communication process inherent in the areas of interpersonal, group, organizational, public, and media studies.
Courses in Communication Studies aid students in enhancing their critical inquiry, oral performance, message design, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. Students who pursue Communication Studies degrees are well-suited for graduate work in various areas of communication studies, humanities, and in professional programs such as law and business. Course work also assists those students pursuing career fields: public relations, marketing, training and development, human resources, public affairs and social advocacy, and event planning.
Bachelor of Arts in English
Students may complete the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing or the Bachelor of Arts in English with a Concentration in Literature at IUPUC. The IUPUC Undergraduate Program in English provides opportunities for personal and professional achievements. Our multi-dimensional program offers courses in professional writing, creative writing and literature that seek to foster students’ abilities to read closely, think deeply and critically, research effectively, and to write with clarity and purpose. Our English degrees prepare students for meaningful lives and a variety of careers.
Bachelor of Arts in English with Concentration in Creative Writing
Creative Writing students will improve their creative expression through a range of courses and workshops. In addition, they will work closely with published faculty; read and critique a variety of experimental, canonical, and original texts; participate in intensive workshops while practicing the craft of writing with a community of writers; consider wider audiences for their creative work through internships, educational field trips and travel, readings, community projects, and capstone course. They should consider submitting original creative work to the university’s student literary magazine Talking Leaves, as well as other venues. Students may aspire to publish an original book.
Bachelor of Arts in English with Concentration in Literature
Literature students will read, discuss, and analyze a range of written works. For example, students may study historical complexities of Elizabethan drama in the plays of Shakespeare; views of American transcendentalists in New England such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; the golden age of high society and aristocracy in novels by Edith Wharton and Henry James; life in the southern United States by writers like William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, and Flannery O’Connor; or the nuanced aesthetics of modernist and contemporary poetry and prose in the works of Gertrude Stein, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and Toni Morrison. In reading and analyzing works like these, students will develop broad and deep understandings of the human condition across many cultures. Students will sharpen critical thinking skills that will serve them well, personally and professionally.
Sociology
Students may complete the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in Socioloogy at IUPUC. Human beings are social animals. We live in groups and do most things with other people. Much of what we think, say, and do is influenced by what others expect of us and by how others treat us. Sociologists study the patterns of interaction between people in all sorts of settings: at work, at play, at home, etc. They try to clarify what is going on, what lies behind it, what is likely to come from it, and what might be done differently. Their theories and research findings can provide insights into processes and events that affect us in our everyday lives.
Perhaps you have wondered why some families get along fine while others seem mired in problems, why some people get involved in criminal careers while others resist temptations, why some companies are much more productive than others, why some government programs succeed while others backfire. These are the kinds of issues sociologists look into in systematic ways.
Other Liberal Arts Degrees
The following liberal arts programs are jointly offered by IUPUC and IUPUI. Successful IUPUC students automatically have access to specialized courses on the Indianapolis campus required for graduation.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of human culture, biology, and social interaction across time and place. It includes the archaeological investigation of past and present human material culture; ethnographic study of contemporary cultures around the work and in the United States; research into human evolution and the origins of human physical diversity; and analysis concerning the origins, structure, and social use of language.
Geography
Geography, like history, is a way of looking at the world. Whereas historians study variation through time, geographers study variation through space: how and why the earth’s natural and human features vary from place to place. Underlying this spatial approach are such recurring themes as spatial diffusion of people, goods, and ideas; the significance of location in human interaction; the power of place in human conscience; and the interaction of physical and human processes to create landscapes. Geographers work at the intersection of social and natural sciences, using the concepts and methods of both to examine human-environmental relationships in their full complexity. This integrative approach is a hallmark of geography and one of its main attractions. Geographers can be found in a great variety of positions often not specifically identified as geographic: environmental management, urban planning, conservation, recreation and tourism, transportation planning, international affairs, and many others.
History
The Department of History offers students the opportunity to better understand the human social condition through the systematic study of the human past. A variety of courses are offered, dealing with the history of the United States, Europe, Latin America, and some non-Western areas. The history major not only provides opportunities to serve the avocational interest of the liberal arts student, but also provides a foundation for continued work at the graduate level. Courses in history serve the student admirably in fulfilling the tradition of a liberal education. They also provide a solid basis for professional training in fields such as law, business, environmental affairs, historic preservation, public administration, and government.
Philosophy
Philosophic inquiry aims, ultimately, at a general understanding of the whole of reality. It draws on the insights of the great historical philosophers, on what has been learned in all other major fields of study, and on the rich perspectives embodied within ordinary ways of thinking. Philosophers address a diverse array of deep, challenging, and profoundly important questions. Examples include the nature of the self and of personal identity; the existence or nonexistence of God; the nature of time, mind, language, and science; the sources and limits of human knowledge; the nature of the good life; the foundations of state authority; the requirements of social justice; and the nature of art, beauty, and aesthetic experience. Philosophical questions are addressed not by reference to empirical information alone, but by means of analysis, synthesis, argument, and the construction and evaluation of philosophical theories.
Political Science
Politics is about power: who has it and how it is used. The study of political science provides students with an understanding of the many different and intriguing ways in which power is given, taken, distributed, limited, manipulated, and used, and helps them better appreciate and understand the many different forms taken by systems of government around the world.
Religious Studies
Religious studies offers students opportunities to explore the patterns and dimensions of the many different religious traditions of the world from the perspectives of the academic study of religion. The courses are designed to help students develop basic understandings of the many ways in which religions shape personal views of the world, create and sustain the communities in which we live, and interact with politics, economics, literature and the arts, and other structures of society. Through this curriculum, students are provided the skills that will allow them to understand religions as a part of the study of human history and traditional and nontraditional values.
Public and Environmental Affairs
This discipline is dedicated to applied interdisciplinary learning combining the study of public affairs and environmental sciences. The following areas are covered by this discipline: criminal justice, environmental science and policy, finance and economics, law, nonprofit management, policy and administration, public safety, and urban affairs.
Criminal Justice, B.S.
A degree in criminal justice gives students a broad understanding of the operations of the criminal justice system. Students take courses in research methods, criminological theory and policy, criminal law, courts, corrections, and policing. Students may also study such specialized topics as homicide, terrorism, juvenile justice, and cyber crime. A criminal justice major is a great option for any student who is interested in the criminal justice system or law, wants a rewarding career that involves helping others, and enjoys working and interacting with people.
Public Affairs, B.S.
The Bachelor of Science in Public Affairs provides students with an overview of the issues that engage the public and nonprofit sectors such as: (1) how organization and management differ among sectors, (2) the tools required to solve public problems and undertake leadership roles in the community, and (3) the policy processes that lead to effective decision making.
Minors available in Liberal Arts
A minor can enhance the breadth and depth of your academic experience, strengthen your marketability and employment opportunities, or enable you to fulfill a life goal to simply learn more about a particular topic.
* Anthropology
* Communication Studies
* Creative Writing
* History
* Leadership Studies
* Literature
* Medical Sociology
* Sociology
* Women’s Studies