Department of Humanities. The department maintains a unique position within City Tech. The department offers courses in art history, communication, foreign language, music, and theatre, providing students with laboratories for creative expression, cultural and historical understanding, and practical tool sets for work and living. These enriching competencies help students appreciate multiple perspectives and synthesize ideas, ultimately laying the groundwork for a sense of possibility and a clearer recognition of an individual’s place in society.
Our courses complement the study of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and human services. The integration of the arts and communication studies into a general education curriculum produces demonstrably positive results in academic performance. By engaging with the humanities, students become more deeply invested in learning, cultivate a sensitivity to cultural diversity, think more critically, and develop superior problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills.
Courses taught. During my tenure at City Tech I have taught three theatre courses, two communication courses, one course for the Entertainment Technology department, and a Special Topics Interdisciplinary (ID) course. I regularly teach the ID version of History of Theatre: Stages and Technology (THE 2280 ID), Play Analysis (THE 2380 WI) as a Writing Intensive course, and the ID course Learning Places: Understanding the City, co-taught with instructors from the library or architecture technology. History of the Theatre follows the guest lecturer model of ID, employing instructors from Architectural Technology (Profs. Ting Chin and Anne Leonhardt). Because of the great demand for ID courses at the college, a second section of History of the Theatre (ID) was added to the Humanities department MCF in 2016, and since that time the department regularly offers two sections. Based on my own curriculum proposal and syllabus design, Play Analysis (WI) was recently included in the Gender and Sexuality concentration at City Tech. Learning Places (ID) is a 5-credit course with a lab component and is currently co-taught with Prof. Nora Almeida from the Library.
