Lewis Department of Humanities

Kathryn Riley, Chair
http://www.iit.edu/csl/hum/

Degrees Offered

B.S. in Humanities
B.S. in Journalism of Technology, Science & Business
B.S. in Professional & Technical Communication
M.S. in Technical Communication & Information Design
M.S. in Information Architecture
Ph.D. in Technical Communication

Minors

Communication
English Language & Literature
History
Linguistics
Literature
Philosophy
Professional & Technical Communication
Web Communication

Interprofessional Minors

with Social Sciences

Law and Society
Philosophy & Sociology of Science
Technology & Human Affairs
Urban Studies

Overview

The Lewis Department of Humanities provides students with both a liberal arts education in communication and culture, and an applied professional education in technical fields. The department offers courses in art & architectural history, communication, English as a second language, foreign languages, history, linguistics, literature, philosophy, and writing. The department offers three undergraduate majors and eight minors; it also participates with the Department of Social Sciences to offer four additional minors.

Bachelor of Science in Humanities

The Bachelor of Science in Humanities requires 33 hours of coursework in humanities disciplines such as art & architectural history, communication, history, linguistics, literature, and philosophy. The selection of courses is tailored to reflect each student's individual interests.

Students may, if they choose, develop a concentration in a particular discipline such as history. In this case, a student would take at least 8 courses in history. Other areas of concentration include art & architectural history, communication, history, linguistics, literature, and philosophy.

Bachelor of Science in Journalism of Technology, Science & Business

The Bachelor of Science in Journalism of Technology, Science, and Business specializes in these topics because of IIT's strengths in all three areas. But we also take seriously journalists' responsibilities to their communities — large and small, present and future — and to the world at large. That's why our curriculum has two large concentrations of courses: journalism, including related subjects such as humanities and social science; and technology, science, and business. In fact, you'll do about three and a half semesters of your eight semesters of coursework in technology, science and business.

News outlets such as magazines, cable TV and satellite radio channels, Websites, and even cellphone news services are increasing and specializing, so the opportunities for journalism graduates are also increasing. In fact, our search of online employment databases suggests that over 5,000 journalism-related jobs open up each year in the United States alone. Salaries in the Chicago area range from $34,000 for beginning reporters to $152,000 for upper-level editors, according to Salary.com (June, 2007).

Bachelor of Science in Professional & Technical Communication

The Bachelor of Science in Professional & Technical Communciation (PTC) program encourages student to define their own career goals and, with their advisor, to choose elective coursework to reach those goals, in areas as diverse as 3-D computer modeling and international relations. A required ethics component focuses on moral issues in communication, business, engineering, or computer science. Finally, through elective coursework in science, technology, and society (STS), students also gain new awareness of the power of language and image to shape thoughts, values, and actions in a variety of public, private, and professional contexts.

Specialization in Internet Communication

PTC majors can choose to specialize in Internet Communication, which adds Web design and management courses and a minor in computer networking that includes invaluable experience in programming, data structures, and communication.

To gain even more expertise, students may choose to build on a Bachelor of Science in PTC by pursuing a Master's degree in Technical Communication and Information Design, Information Architecture, Computer Science, Marketing Communication, or Design.

Sample Curriculum

To view a sample curriculum for Lewis Department of Humanities, please click here.