CSUDH MA Humanities and Teaching

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by dcv, Sep 23, 2004.

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  1. dcv

    dcv New Member

    Hypothetical situation... One gets an MA in Humanities with a concentration in Philosophy from CSUDH. That requires 18 hours of "Philosophy" course work. Do these 18 hours show up as philosophy hours, for the purpose of satisfying the common 18 hour requirement for teaching at a community college?

    If not, what could I teach with an MA in Humanities from CSUDH?
     
  2. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    They show up as HUX courses and would qualify you to teach humanities.
     
  3. dcv

    dcv New Member

    I've never seen nor taken a course called 'Humanities.'

    Are you saying that junior colleges would consider me qualified to teach history, literature, philosophy, art history, and/or music with this degree? Sounds like a sweet deal, if that's the case.
     
  4. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    My wife is a Humanities major at UMUC. She has classes that are listed specifically as Humanities. She also took courses specifically listed as Humanities at Yuba College (a Califonia community college).
     
  5. dcv

    dcv New Member

    Hmmm...

    A quick look through my local community college's website didn't reveal any courses listed as humanities. Obviously the humanities are taught, but they're not specifically listed as such.

    This is the kind of info I was looking for... but if I could only teach classes that were listed specifically as humanities, the MA Humanities would have a very limited usefulness (in the realm of teaching at community colleges, at least.)

    Let me put it this way - I'd like to teach sociology, maybe philosophy, and perhaps some history at a CC some day. What is the likelihood that a MA Humanities would allow me to do that?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 23, 2004
  6. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I think that's up to the community college. The classes have the "HUX" prefix, but have philosophy course titles.

    I have seen people with humanities MA degrees from either CSUDH or SFSU teaching community college English, philosophy and music classes, as well as the typical arts-and-ideas type humanities classes.

    But probably most of the teachers who earn HUX MA's are high school teachers.

    Community colleges typically offer an Introduction to Philosophy survey, a World Religions class and often a one or two semester History of Philosophy offering. Most of them offer a Critical Thinking class and some will offer an Introduction to Logic course as well.

    But very often community colleges don't have a philosophy department and the philosophy courses are offered by a general humanities department.

    Here's the Humanities course descriptions from the College of San Mateo, a community college in my vicinity.

    http://gocsm.net/webpages/studytracks_details.asp?MajorID=69

    HUM_101_INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES: GREECE THROUGH REFORMATION Major cultural and intellectual movements of western civilization through the reformation. Literature and the arts; religion; science. Credit/ No Credit or letter grade option. Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/UC)

    HUM_102_INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES: REFORMATION TO PRESENTSurvey of major esthetic and intellectual movements in Western Civilization since the Reformation; ideas on man, nature and God. Credit/ No Credit or letter grade option. Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/UC)

    HUM_111_RELIGION, LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY IN ANCIENT GREECEGreek views on the gods, man, freedom, fate, justice as seen in Greek epics, tragedies, religious practices and philosophy. Credit/No Credit or letter grade option. Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/UC)


    HUM_114_FILM AND LITERATURE AS COMMUNICATION IN THE 20TH CENTURYHuman communication through drama, literature and film in the 20th century. Credit/No Credit or letter grade option. Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/UC)

    HUM_125_TECHNOLOGY/CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY/ HUMAN VALUESCritical humanistic analysis of development and impact of modern technology in diverse areas (e.g. warfare, work, genetics, information, politics, environment). Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/UC)

    HUM_127_SCIENCE AND ART I: PREHISTORY TO RENAISSANCEWorld as seen by the scientist and artist. Major concepts of science and culture, prehistory to renaissance. .Completion of HUM. 127 and 128 satisfies three units of Physical Science and three units of Humanities credit for the AA/AS degree. Either course taken alone satisfies three units of Humanities credit only. Credit/No Credit or letter grade option. Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/UC)

    HUM_131_CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANSIntroduction to Black aesthetics; emphasis on religious, philosophical, literary, musical and art forms of Africa and African-Americans. Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/ UC)

    HUM_133_CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF ASIAN-AMERICANSStudy of Asian-American cultural heritage with emphasis on religion, family, literature, music, arts, crafts and foods. Recommended Preparation: previous Ethnic Studies courses and eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU/UC)

    HUM_140_CULTURAL HERITAGE OF SAN FRANCISCO AND ITS ENVIRONSHistory, art, architecture, music, literature and geography of San Francisco and its environs. Recommended Preparation: eligibility for ENGL 800 or 836(CSU)

    I'm not sure that any one degree would allow you to do that.

    The humanities degree is probably most appropriate for teaching humanities classes. A humanities degree with a philosophy concentration might work for teaching philosophy, particularly at a smaller community college that doesn't have a philosophy department and which might be looking for somebody who can handle many of their humanities-type courses. History might be a little tougher, because community colleges typically offer more history courses than philosophy courses, and may be more likely to want somebody with a degree in that subject to concentrate on teaching history classes. Sociology is unlikely, since that's not one of the HUX subjects.
     
  7. dcv

    dcv New Member

    Thanks for the replies - very informative.

    I didn't intentionally put sociology in my wish list. That must have been a freudian slip since that's my undergrad major. :)
     
  8. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    Now that I think about it, doesn't John Bear's wife teach philosophy with a humanities degree?
     
  9. adireynolds

    adireynolds New Member

    I think so, and I've seen the opposite -- a friend of mine with an MA in Philosophy teaches (and is chair of) Humanities at a CC in northern California.

    I think a lot depends on the school. My best friend has her MA in Humanities, and has taught at 3 CC's in Florida. All have humanities departments, with HUM designations for courses. Indeed, she was hired based on the strength of specializing in Asian humanities. She doesn't teach anything but -- no philosophy, film, etc.
     
  10. marilynd

    marilynd New Member

    dcv:

    As has been said, it depends very much on the school and their needs at the time--and the competitors applying.

    One of my colleagues had to jump through numerous hoops in a recent SACS visitation. He teaches philosophy. He has a Ph.D. in Humanities (concentration in the History of Ideas), did all his course work on philosophical topics, and wrote his dissertation on Husserl. However, he had to justify to the SACS committee that he met the 18-hour requirement, since all the courses on his transcript were "HUM" courses, not "PHIL" courses. Eventually, he satisfied them, but it required considerable documentation and, I think, a few letters from his professors. In my experience, which is fairly broad, I would say accreditors don't much like interdisciplinary degrees (American studies, Humanities, etc.) unless the school has that interdisciplinary program. They tend to be, at least initially, suspicious of degrees that are not firmly rooted in a specific discipline or subject.

    That said, getting hired is a crap shoot. It depends on who you are, what your background is, who's doing the hiring, what their background is, what the school's needs are (in some cases: how desperate their needs are--do they need someone now), and who your competitors are. Some schools will recognize your philosophy courses as philosophy courses, others not. Some might recognized them but prefer a competitor who is coming from a philosophy department.

    I would say to someone (this being a hypothetical discussion), finish your degree and start applying. Schools will always cast an eye toward the accreditor, but if you can make a solid case for teaching philosophy with a humanities degree, do it. The only way to not have any questions raised, in this scenario, is to have your 18-hours come from a philosophy department from an RA school.

    No school, I think, would question your credentials for teaching humanities courses with a CSUDH humanities degree, however. Whether you would be competitive is another matter.

    Hope this helps, :)

    marilynd
     
  11. colmustard

    colmustard New Member

    CSDH Humanities

    I have a MA in Humanities from there and have not found any schools interested in using it to teach. Yes, there are courses in humanities and courses called humanities, but it is not a degree very marketable for teaching at say the junior college level.
     
  12. plumbdog10

    plumbdog10 New Member

    My understanding of the California Education Code (and I could be wrong) is that the legal requirements for teaching in a community college are a master's degree in the subject taught, or a bacheolor's degree in the subject taught with a master's in a related field. I think anyone would agree that a MA with 18 units of philosophy would be related and qualify the candidate if he had earned a BA in philosophy. Of course this doesn't mean he would be hired over a candidate with a traditional MA.

    My community college (Rio Hondo) offered humanities courses that were interdisiplinary, usually combining music and art, while offering traditional courses in philosophy, art, literature, ect. The approach each individual college takes to humanities may impact how the value your degree.
     
  13. ternahan

    ternahan New Member

    I noted a Ventura County community college recruiting for Spring that stated, "The requirement to teach a humanities class is an M.A. in Humanities." Notwithstanding the fact that I have that particular HUX degree, I'd feel pretty unprepared to teach Intro to Film (the Humanities course in question), since my degree concentration was American Lit. By the way, I didn't apply :).
     
  14. Farina

    Farina New Member

    Interesting post, glad to have found it, even if it ended in 2004. However, I would be curious to know if an instructor has a MA in Interdisciplinary Studies, could they too teach Humanities courses? Or are they restricted to the prefixes of the courses that make up their degree?
     
  15. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Depends on how anal retentive your department chair and your accreditors are. If they are totally anal, they'll probably get all bent out of shape about how one can teach HUM courses when all the courses you took in grad school were INT. On the other hand, if your department chair and your accreditors have any brains or any common sense, they would compare the foci of the humanities courses you will be teaching to the foci of the interdisciplinary courses you took. Thus, if you have an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies with dual concentration in History & English from Western New Mexico University and some Humanities program needs a professor who can teach history and/or literature, then I'd say you're qualified (and you might even get hired, depending on your competition).
     
  16. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Wonder if Marilynd's friend had his PhD in the History of Ideas from the University of Texas at Dallas?
     
  17. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    Does anyone have a suggestion re a distance humanities degree besides CSUDH? I made a short list of a few possibilities, all RA schools:

    Holy Apostles College & Seminary (general MA)
    http://www.holyapostles.edu/link.php?action=expand&ID=30
    $10,000

    Excelsior College (Liberal Studies)
    https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/School_of_Liberal_Arts/Master_of_Arts_Degree_in_Liberal_Studies
    $13,530

    Tiffin University
    http://www.tiffin.edu/mhhumanities/
    $15,000

    California State University, Dominguez Hills
    http://www.csudh.edu/HUX/
    $20,250

    (Listed in order of approximate tuition cost ...)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 5, 2018
  18. Farina

    Farina New Member

    To answer my own previous question, I am finding position vacancies for Humanities adjuncts that ask for a Masters degree in any field plus 18 graduate credits in Humanities. In addition, they are allowing 18 graduate hours in a mixture of Literature, History, Art History, Art, etc.
     
  19. ternahan

    ternahan New Member

    HUX Survey

    This is not really connected to the thread, for which I apologize, but HUX has sent a survey out due 1 September asking graduates about the utility of the degree, whether their expectations were fulfilled, etc.. This is apparently part of a larger assessment of the program--whether periodic or situational I do not know. After one finishes a program, there's really no way to judge whether current students consider it relevant or outdated. Personally, I thought the humanities are very hard to "date." I enjoyed my program.

    Ternahan
    HUX 2004
     
  20. Farina

    Farina New Member

    I sincerely hope this is for the expansion of the program, not for closing it or anything like that. I have noticed a good amount of colleges, brick and mortar and online, who are reshaping, dismissing, closing programs due to "budget considerations". I'll have to keep an eye out on them!
     

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