The Humanities at Hopkins
Do you want to...
Tackle research through our archaeological museum?
Comb through manuscripts in our rare books collection?
Create an original documentary at our state-of-the-art film centre?
Pursue a creative writing career?
All this and more is possible as a humanities student at Hopkins. Our interdisciplinary culture transcends traditional academic boundaries, allowing students to take courses in seemingly disparate areas of study where they can develop their scholarly ambitions and discover new interests along the way. There are endless possibilities to craft your own story here.
How do you define humanities?
As a field, the humanities intersects literature, art, philosophy, history, and cultural studies among other areas. Humanities scholarship aims to better understand the human condition through intellectual curiosity, flexibility, open-mindedness, and careful reading and criticism.
At Hopkins, some of our humanities majors and minors include: archaeology; classics; English; German and romance languages and literatures; history; history of art; history of science, medicine, and technology; Near Eastern studies; philosophy; and Writing Seminars. With a flexible curriculum, students have the freedom to choose the subjects that matter most to them and combine areas of interest in unique ways, with plenty of interdisciplinary courses to try out.
The vital role of a humanities education
"Hopkins believes in the essential value of humanistic inquiry and its capacity to aid you in realizing your aspirations and building lives you want to live and of which you will be proud."—Ronald Daniels, Johns Hopkins University President
Why Hopkins
Interdisciplinary Study
The study of arts, cultures, community, and the self is fundamental to understanding the human experience. The essence of studying the humanities at Hopkins is collaboration, exchange, and intellectual freedom. Here, renowned professors eagerly collaborate with students to break new ground and make an impact on society.
Incredible Resources
Our humanities students take advantage of being at the top funded research institution to pursue research of their own design. Just one of our incredible resources is the rare book collection containing over 400,000 volumes, including medieval and Renaissance manuscript books, a collection of incunabula, and fine printed books.
Core Identity
Although we are the nation’s oldest research university, we are a liberal arts college at our core. Our liberal arts focus is designed to guide students from all perspectives, to cross educational boundaries, and to teach students how to think, thereby preparing our graduates for success in any field they choose to pursue.
World-class faculty
Lawrence Jackson, English and History
Vesla Weaver, Racial Politics and Criminal Justice
Christopher Cannon, English and Classics
The best opportunities
As the university with the nation's most research funding, our resources and opportunities ensure students are uniquely prepared to tackle societal issues, regardless of their post-Hopkins ambitions.
Hopkins offers several research funding fellowships and special programs for undergraduates:
- Woodrow Wilson Undergraduate Research Fellowship
- Dean’s Undergraduate Research Award (DURA)
- Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award (PURA)
- Honors Program in the Humanities
- Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research (HOUR)
- Alexander Grass Humanities Institute
- Peabody Double Degree
- Summer Programs
- Study Abroad Programs
Creating better portrayals of disabilities through the transformational power of fiction.
There are so many ways our students are changing the world.
Mapping the unspoken “rules” that govern the way a person writes through one letter.
Humanities in the news
- A message from President Daniels to students on the humanities
- Investor Bill Miller commits $75 million to Johns Hopkins Philosophy Department
- Hopkins philosophy professor receives 2018 Hiett Prize in the humanities
- Four Johns Hopkins PhD candidates in the fields of humanities and social sciences receive fellowships
- To be a good doctor, study the humanities
- TED Talks Daily: Why tech needs the humanities
- JHU Press to digitize more than 200 out-of-print books