Courses - Fall 2025
ARHU158D
Explorations in Arts and Humanities; Mapping Biographies of the Enslaved in America
Restricted to first semester first year students in the College of Arts and Humanities.
This course engages students in first-hand archival, historical, and digital work on the history of enslavement in America so that we might better understand its long-reaching effects. Students will work with public databases and biographical materials in an effort to recover what we can of the histories of the enslaved and the industries of enslavement. Though this course takes a broad approach to American slavery, we will also pay special attention to the history of slavery in Maryland.
This course engages students in first-hand archival, historical, and digital work on the history of enslavement in America so that we might better understand its long-reaching effects. Students will work with public databases and biographical materials in an effort to recover what we can of the histories of the enslaved and the industries of enslavement. Though this course takes a broad approach to American slavery, we will also pay special attention to the history of slavery in Maryland.
ARHU158K
Explorations in Arts and Humanities; From Parasite to Mutualist: Redesigning Human Relations with Earth
Restricted to first semester first year students in the College of Arts and Humanities.
How can human societies shift from parasitic to mutualistic environmental behaviors? This interdisciplinary course examines paths to solve our great challenges: climate change and habitat degradation caused by fossil fuels and rampant consumer culture. Themes include evolutionary mutualism, group selection, permaculture, Indigenous knowledge, post-petroculture, closed loops, and zero waste. These mutualisms reveal how humanist subjects like identity, culture, narrative, and environmental injustice affect our relationship with Earth. Creative assignments and guest speakers will inform in-depth projects that redesign parasitisms to be mutualisms in green infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, greenwashing, environmental psychology and sociology, and creative "righting."
How can human societies shift from parasitic to mutualistic environmental behaviors? This interdisciplinary course examines paths to solve our great challenges: climate change and habitat degradation caused by fossil fuels and rampant consumer culture. Themes include evolutionary mutualism, group selection, permaculture, Indigenous knowledge, post-petroculture, closed loops, and zero waste. These mutualisms reveal how humanist subjects like identity, culture, narrative, and environmental injustice affect our relationship with Earth. Creative assignments and guest speakers will inform in-depth projects that redesign parasitisms to be mutualisms in green infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, greenwashing, environmental psychology and sociology, and creative "righting."
ARHU158M
Explorations in Arts and Humanities; Theatre as a Tool for Societal Transformation
Restricted to first semester first year students in the College of Arts and Humanities.
Because theatre is a live, character-driven art form, it is uniquely situated to encourage audience members and collaborators to put themselves in someone else's shoes and empathetically engage with different backgrounds and perspectives. Theatre can be a powerful tool to wrestle with the great societal and political challenges of our times, and pave the way for societal transformation. Through field trips to see productions at DC-area professional theatres, guest artist visits, play analysis and creative projects, students will gain firsthand knowledge of the creative roles in theatre, including the contributions and processes of a director, designer, actor, and playwright.
Because theatre is a live, character-driven art form, it is uniquely situated to encourage audience members and collaborators to put themselves in someone else's shoes and empathetically engage with different backgrounds and perspectives. Theatre can be a powerful tool to wrestle with the great societal and political challenges of our times, and pave the way for societal transformation. Through field trips to see productions at DC-area professional theatres, guest artist visits, play analysis and creative projects, students will gain firsthand knowledge of the creative roles in theatre, including the contributions and processes of a director, designer, actor, and playwright.
ARHU158N
Explorations in Arts and Humanities; The Art of Public Health
Restricted to first semester first year students in the College of Arts and Humanities.
Artists explore and document public health disparities by collectively creating a multiverse of expression. Public health offers a technical framework to address the challenges faced in the United States and beyond. Artists, over the ages, have expanded our understanding of health inequities through advocacy and giving voice to the experiences of marginalized communities. Through literature, film, music and visual art, students will explore the power and essentiality of the humanities in public health.
Artists explore and document public health disparities by collectively creating a multiverse of expression. Public health offers a technical framework to address the challenges faced in the United States and beyond. Artists, over the ages, have expanded our understanding of health inequities through advocacy and giving voice to the experiences of marginalized communities. Through literature, film, music and visual art, students will explore the power and essentiality of the humanities in public health.
ARHU158Q
Explorations in Arts and Humanities; The Power of Youth
Restricted to first semester first year students in the College of Arts and Humanities.
20-something influencers such as Kylie Jenner and Shawn Mendes use social media to reach their millions of followers and to help shape what they think about, talk about, and purchase. Former Parkland, Florida student David Hogg shows how young people can affect social change by advocating for stricter gun control laws on national media outlets. Starting with these examples and drawing from literature, politics, and gender and sexuality studies, we will analyze youth and its power in our culture.
20-something influencers such as Kylie Jenner and Shawn Mendes use social media to reach their millions of followers and to help shape what they think about, talk about, and purchase. Former Parkland, Florida student David Hogg shows how young people can affect social change by advocating for stricter gun control laws on national media outlets. Starting with these examples and drawing from literature, politics, and gender and sexuality studies, we will analyze youth and its power in our culture.
ARHU158W
Explorations in Arts and Humanities; Language and Antiracism
Restricted to first semester first year students in the College of Arts and Humanities.
This sociolinguistics seminar is addressed to incoming ARHU majors, particularly those seeking a degree that will allow them to teach any language (including both L1 and L2) at any educational level. It is anchored in a critical interdisciplinary approach -- sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, Hispanic applied linguistics, linguistic anthropology, sociology, social psychology, race studies, Latinx studies, language acquisition, education, Hip-Hop studies -- that emphasizes the social, political and ideological dimensions of language. Its objective is to raise linguistic awareness through the implementation of antiracist language teaching methods in the language classroom.
This sociolinguistics seminar is addressed to incoming ARHU majors, particularly those seeking a degree that will allow them to teach any language (including both L1 and L2) at any educational level. It is anchored in a critical interdisciplinary approach -- sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, Hispanic applied linguistics, linguistic anthropology, sociology, social psychology, race studies, Latinx studies, language acquisition, education, Hip-Hop studies -- that emphasizes the social, political and ideological dimensions of language. Its objective is to raise linguistic awareness through the implementation of antiracist language teaching methods in the language classroom.
ARHU230
Introduction to Humanities, Health, and Medicine
Restriction: Permission of ARHU-English Department.
Cross-listed with: ENGL254, HIST219N, WGSS230.
Credit only granted for: ARHU230 , ENGL289C, ENGL254, ARHU298A, HIST219N, or WGSS230.
An overview of the historical, cultural, ethical, and spiritual dimensions of medicine, human health, disease, and death from the points of view of various humanistic disciplines.
ARHU240
Arts Organizations and Audiences in the United States
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Cross-listed with: TDPS240.
Credit only granted for: TDPS258C, TDSP240 or ARHU240.
Formerly: TDPS258C.
An introduction to the history and role of arts organizations in the U.S., as well as the respective audiences and populations they serve. This grounding allows artists and emerging administrators to understand the events and questions that have shaped the field, and develop strategies for advancing sustainable arts organizations in the future.
Cross-listed with TDPS258C. Credit granted for ARHU240 or TDPS258C.
ARHU275
Writing for the Stage and Screen: An Introductory Workshop
Cross-listed with: ENGL275.
Credit only granted for: ENGL275 or ARHU275.
Introduction to the theory and practice of scriptwriting with an opportunity to read, view, evaluate, write, and revise texts meant to be performed. Students will practice writing for the stage, film, and television and also examine selected scripts, performances, and film and television clips as models for their own creative work. Students will complete frequent writing exercises, participate in workshops, and learn to apply scholarship to the analysis and critique of scripts.
ARHU286
Experiential Learning
Credits:
3 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: Permission of ARHU-College of Arts & Humanities.
Restriction: Minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5; and must be in a major or minor in ARHU - College of Arts and Humanities.
Designed for students who are in their first semester at the University of Maryland and/or students who wish to complete legislative internships, some start-up internships and some remote internships. All students must be enrolled in an ARHU major or minor and the internship must be in one of the academic fields covered within the College of Arts and Humanities. In addition to completing their required hours on site, students will be required to attend three bi-weekly seminars at the beginning of the semester to help develop their para-professional goals and understandings.
ARHU300
Writers' House Colloquium: Welcome to Writers' House; Writing Your Manifesto
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Restriction: Must be in the Jimenez-Porter Writers' House Living-Learning Program.
Welcomes new students into Jimenez-Porter Writers' House, a literary center for the study of creative writing across cultures and languages, and helps them to understand, develop and write their own artist statement (aka Artist Manifesto). Students will explore the creative and intellectual traditions of our community, their craft and future careers, understand what these traditions are, how they have evolved over time and place, and why they matter. Emphasis will be placed on community building, engagement and participation, with presentations from the editorial staff of Stylus, executive board of Terpoets, Novelist Support Group as well as other professional development opportunities.
ARHU309
Writers' House Colloquium: Creative Writing in Community
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg
Restricted to Jimenez-Porter Writers' House students.
ARHU338
Undergraduate Teaching Assistantship in a Living Learning Program
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg
ARHU340
Arts Entrepreneurship and the Creative Profession
Recommended: ARHU240.
Cross-listed with: MUSC448E.
Credit only granted for: ARHU340 or MUSC448E.
Introduces students to arts entrepreneurship in preparation for diverse and ever-changing careers in the creative fields. Students will practice and develop their entrepreneurial mindsets and learn about different frameworks for audience engagement. Topics include financial management, revenue development, business planning, and the "need-to-knows" of the gig economy. Throughout the semester, students will have the opportunity to learn from a variety of entrepreneurs in the arts and to evaluate their future career paths.
ARHU358
Becoming Worldwise and Worldready: Finding Success in College and Life
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Restriction: Must be enrolled in a major in the College of Arts and Humanities. Repeatable to 3 credits if content differs.
Designed to help students navigate the various resources that exist at a large, Research 1 university like the University of Maryland. The course focus is helping them better understand the groundwork needed to transition successfully from underclassman to upperclassman, from an outside major into ARHU or from an external school to UMD, and ultimately from college into life post-graduation.
Designed to help students navigate the various resources that exist at a large, Research 1 university like the University of Maryland. The course focus is helping them better understand the groundwork needed to transition successfully from underclassman to upperclassman, from an outside major into ARHU or from an external school to UMD, and ultimately from college into life post-graduation.
ARHU375
The TV Writers Room Screenwriting for Television and Video
Prerequisite: ARHU275, ARHU318, or FILM370; and permission of instructor.
Additional information: Priority in enrollment will be given to students participating in the Jimenez-Porter Writers' House and FILM studies programs.
Students engage with the theory and practice of screenwriting for television and video. Students read and watch teleplays designed to teach advantages of the television format. Students apply what they learn to prepare frequent writing exercises, share and provide feedback for peers scripts in a workshop format, and work together as a Writers Room to prepare an original pilot episode.
ARHU376
Writing the Feature Film
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: ENGL275, ARHU275, ARHU375 or THET340; or permission of instructor.
Cross-listed with: CINE376.
Credit only granted for: ARHU376 or CINE376.
Examines the creative process of developing and writing a feature-length screenplay. Students will experience a collaborative workshop environment, researching stories, pitching feature film ideas, creating a logline, developing a detailed beat sheet and, ultimately, writing a complete first draft of the screenplay.
ARHU386
Experiential Learning
Prerequisite: Permission of ARHU-College of Arts & Humanities.
Restriction: Junior standing or higher.
ARHU458
Graduate School Preparation
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Restriction: Must have earned a minimum of 60 credits. Repeatable to 3 credits if content differs.
Designed for Juniors and Seniors who are interested in applying to graduate school. Topics include skills needed for the graduate school search and application process, evaluation and reflection of application materials, preparation for GRE exam, and exploration into career options after graduate school. Focus on the Humanities fields.
Designed for Juniors and Seniors who are interested in applying to graduate school. Topics include skills needed for the graduate school search and application process, evaluation and reflection of application materials, preparation for GRE exam, and exploration into career options after graduate school. Focus on the Humanities fields.
ARHU468A
Peer Mentoring Program; Arts and Humanities' Ambassador Program
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg
Restricted to current ARHU students who will serve as ambassadors for the College of Arts and Humanities.
ARHU486
Internship Practicum in Arts and Humanities
Credits:
3 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: Have completed previous internship at U of MD.
Restriction: Must be in a major in ARHU-College of Arts & Humanities; and permission of ARHU-College of Arts & Humanities; and minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5; and must have earned a minimum of 60 credits; and completed 12 credits at U of MD.
An internship intended for students who have already completed an internship for credit. ARHU486 must be a different experience from the internship students have already taken for credit. Generally students intern with a different company, but they may continue working for the same company if the job is significantly different. See ARHU internship coordinator for details.
ARHU489
Advanced Internship Practicum in ARHU
Credits:
3 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Prerequisite: Permission of the College of Arts and Humanities.
Flagship Institution of the University System of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
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301.405.1000
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