Humanities
The Humanities Department at the Maritime College plays two roles. The majority of students take eight or nine courses in the department, fulfilling seven SUNY General Education requirements: Basic Communication, Critical Thinking, Western Civilization, Other World Civilizations, American History, Arts, and Humanities. Humanities coursework also contributes to the fulfillment of two other General Education requirements, Information Management and Social Science.
The Humanities Department also offers two major courses of study:
The B. S. in Marine Business and Commerce
The Humanities Study Area Concentration is an interdisciplinary program leading to a B.S. in Marine Business and Commerce, with a Humanities minor, and a License as a United States Coast Guard Third Mate. Typical candidates complete thirty upper-division credit hours in the humanities beyond the core requirement of eighteen credit hours in English and History. Each student’s program is shaped through personal consultation with a faculty advisor. The student’s individual program may emphasize literature, history, the arts, or language and culture, according to the interests of the student and availability of staff.
The Marine Business and Commerce degree combines this program with a broad foundation of General Education coursework, coursework that provides essential preparation for a business career, and coursework leading to the Coast Guard license. Some who have obtained this degree have gone on to graduate work, particularly in law school; others have gone into the merchant marine, or through NROTC into the Navy; the remainder have gone into shoreside areas of the maritime industry, particularly its international components.
The curriculum leading to the B. S. degree in Maritime Studies combines a broad grounding in technical and scientific coursework with the study of two clusters of courses in the Arts and the Humanities; the curriculum leads to a capstone “Seminar in Maritime Studies,” which provides the student with an opportunity to demonstrate mastery of all aspects of these studies. Each student’s program is shaped through personal consultation with a faculty advisor. The student’s individual program may emphasize any two of literature, history, the arts, or language and culture, according to the interests of the student and availability of staff.
The student who graduates with a B. S. degree in Maritime Studies will be able to pursue multiple opportunities: graduate study in the humanities or law; employment in shoreside areas of the maritime industry; employment in a field that demands both technical training and analytical communication skills; or the U. S. Navy.
If you have questions about either the Humanities Department’s coursework in General Education, or the department’s two degree programs, please contact the Humanities Department office at 718-409-7247.
