The Aequitas Fellowship Program in Public Humanities and Arts prepares students to bring humane letters and arts—literature, history, philosophy, arts, languages—into the public sphere to faithfully engage questions of communal memory, justice and advocacy, media and communication, and cultural literacy for Christ and His kingdom. The public humanities and arts, which seek to inform contemporary debates, amplify community voices and histories, help individuals and communities navigate difficult experiences, expand educational access, and preserve culture in times of crisis and change (https://humanitiesforall.org/essays/goals-of-the-publicly-engaged-humanities), offer major avenues for Christian participation and witness. This fellowship program gathers diverse readers and makers being trained in multiple majors, disciplines, and arts. Together, fellows will engage in shared inquiry and experiential learning, becoming a collective of learners and socially engaged members of the public. Fellows bring their diverse interests and practices together to develop projects in the public humanities that form them for vocations involving cultural engagement and Christian witness in the public sphere.
The Aequitas Fellowship Program in Public Humanities and Arts has two central learning goals:
(1) that students will be able to create and evaluate projects in public humanities and arts; and
(2) that students engage theologically with the aims, processes, and products of public humanities and arts.
To achieve these goals, students will share coursework in arts and humanities; experience and analyze public humanities projects in various locations, both locally and abroad; engage with practitioners in the public humanities; read theory of the public humanities; and participate in a set of sequenced public humanities and arts projects culminating in an internship and a senior project. The fellowship program is arranged to work well with study abroad and other off-campus study experiences.
This fellowship program prepares students for lives of cultural engagement, transformative creativity, and community service as they bring the humanities and arts into diverse public spaces for the glory of God.
Aequitas Fellowship Program in Public Humanities and Arts: 24 Credits
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements | ||
| AQTS 121 | Public Humanities and Arts Studio 1 | 2 |
| ENGL 221 | Contemporary Literary Conversations | 4 |
| HIST 102 | Exploring the Global Past | 4 |
| or HIST 103 | Exploring the American Past | |
| AQTS 122 | Public Humanities and Arts Studio 2 | 2 |
| PHIL 217 | Philosophy of Art | 4 |
| AQTS 221 | Public Humanities and Arts Summer Experience | 0 |
| 300- or 400-level course(s) in Modern and Classical Languages | 4 | |
| AQTS 497 | Aequitas Public Humanities and Arts Internship (approval required, can be for credit in another department/program) | 0 |
| AQTS 421 | Public Humanities and Arts Project (approval required, can be for credit in another department/program) | 0 |
| 4 credits from among the following: | 4 | |
| Community Art I | ||
or COMM 476 | Theater and Culture | |
or ENGW 233 | Writing Chicago | |
or ENGW 333 | Writing for Social Change | |
or HIST 205 | From Palaces to Sky Parks: A Historical Tour of Modern Korea | |
or HIST 354 | Race, Justice, and Reconciliation in US History | |
or BITH 322 | Theology and the Arts | |
| Total Credits | 24 | |
Substitutions for coursework/experiences may be granted by the fellowship program coordinator.
In addition to these course requirements, students will have the opportunity to arrange and participate in cohort events.
- Students are advised to take AQTS 121, ENGL 221, HIST 102 / HIST 103 during their first year in the program.
- Students are advised to take AQTS 122, PHIL 217, AQTS 221 during their second year in the program.