The Special M.A. in Humanities Concentration

Wilson College has created an option within the M.A. in Humanities that will allow students to craft their own concentration—in other words, you will design your own Master’s degree. Read below to find out how this innovative program works.

Students choosing the special concentration in the M.A. in Humanities Program will have the opportunity to both design and name their own course of study. For this concentration area, students work with the M.A. in Humanities Program Director to select five courses from among the graduate curriculum offered at Wilson and use those five courses as the basis of their M.A. degree. These courses are not limited to the Humanities subject areas, but can be pulled from a wide variety of graduate coursework that Wilson offers in over a dozen fields, including

Students create their five-course concentration, name the concentration, and write a description of their degree’s goals. The possibilities are truly endless. One student created a master’s in Communication Metrics focusing on coursework in Data Mining, Media Law/Media Theory, English Syntax, Web Design, and Aesthetics, using courses from the Business, Communications, English, Fine Arts, and Philosophy departments. Another student combined courses in Cultural Theory and Cultural Interpretation with coursework in film studies, contemporary literature, and pop phenomena to create a master’s degree in Popular Culture Studies. A third combined coursework in Communication, Interpersonal Relations, and Business Leadership to create a degree in Leadership and Communication. 

Once the concentration is set, the student submits the degree to the College’s Graduate Studies Council for approval. Once approved, the student’s M.A. in Humanities degree will bear the name of the concentration that the student has created. This process must be finalized prior to the completion of the student’s third course in the program.

All M.A. in Humanities program candidates are required to complete the following:

HUM 510 Methods and Materials of Humanities Research
Plus one of the two thesis options available for M.A. Humanities students. 

The successful M.A. candidate will complete 10 course while maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Graduate course credit will be awarded only for earned grades of C (2.0 on a 4.0 scale) or better.