Online Humanities Partnership

Through a grant from the Council of Independent Colleges and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation students may take innovative online humanities courses, with an applied public dimension, through Carlow University, Saint Vincent College and Ursuline College. The cost of each course is included in the regular tuition at the student’s home institution.

To participate, students:

• Must be full-time status (12 credits or more) at Carlow, Saint Vincent or Ursuline
• Are required to fill out the CIC Humanities Partnership form to be submitted to the registrar’s office at the student’s home institution

Spring 2021 offerings

Courses available Spring 2021 through the Humanities Partnership include:

Visions of the Future: Utopia, Dystopia, and Science Fiction (instructor: Csaba Toth, Carlow University; 3 credits; Jan. 11-May 7) will use classic and recent texts that embody utopia or dystopia or science fiction, sometimes all three in one stroke. Major assignment for the course expects students to create their own utopia, to turn their fantasy of an ideal world into reality.

Making Caribbean History (instructor: Pamela McVay, Ursuline College; 3 credits; Jan. 19-May 8) offers a study, analysis and interpretation of Caribbean history, culture and geography from the pre-Columbian to the present, including island and mainland regions, using original sources and scholarly literature. In digital and/or hard copy, students will use close and distant reading methods to interpret original sources in manuscripts, print, and the visual and performing arts.

Digital Humanities (instructor: Lauren M. Churilla, Saint Vincent College; 3 credits; Jan. 25-May 6) encompasses a wide variety of computationally assisted historical scholarship methods, tools and publications. This course will introduce the rapidly evolving field of digital humanities with a focus on digital history. Students will learn how to use and critique digital methods; assess and employ digital tools; evaluate the merits and pitfalls of digitally publishing various forms of scholarship; and generally navigate this digital research environment. They will learn how to develop sound research questions that can be answered with DH methodologies and tools. They will create DH projects using the tools taught in the courses.

Past courses

Past course offerings through the Humanities Partnership have included: