Classics

Gilman 113

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA, PhD

The civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome continue to delight and engage us with their history, literature, art, philosophy, and perennial relevance. Students of the Classics ground their enthusiasm for the ancient world in the study of the languages, thought, and physical remains of these amazing societies.

The Department of Classics offers a rigorous yet flexible BA program, while also accommodating a variety of interests in and approaches to the ancient world. Classes are small and students work closely with their professors and instructors.

The department offers courses in ancient Greek and Latin language and literature at all levels, as well as a variety of courses on the history, civilization, religion, art, archaeology, philosophy, and mythology of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Students are also encouraged to spend a semester or summer overseas in Italy or Greece.

Undergraduates have the option of working toward a five-year BA/MA co-terminal degree.

What can you do with your degree?

There are many possible professions and career paths for Classics majors. The ability to speak other languages can lead to positions all over the world. In addition, the knowledge of languages such as ancient Greek and Latin is a rare skill that sets you apart in a competitive job market. Many doctors, lawyers, politicians, and historians have a background in classical studies.

Some students go on to do graduate work in classics or related academic areas. Others apply to professional schools, especially law and medicine. Some students elect to enter the workforce directly after graduation in fields such as publishing, museum work, or government service.

Related Programs and Centers

History of Art

History of Art Website

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Gilman 182

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA, PhD

Thanks to the university’s proximity to remarkable collections in Baltimore and Washington, the Department of the History of Art offers unique opportunities for the study of art history. Students work closely with a faculty of research scholars on aspects of European and American art. In small classes and informal excursions, they integrate their direct experience of works of art with knowledge acquired through historical research.

The department’s faculty members are among the most distinguished in the fields of ancient Roman, medieval, Renaissance, baroque, and modern art history; in addition, Johns Hopkins routinely welcomes visiting scholars and museum curators to offer courses on the arts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.

Internationally renowned artists and art historians visit campus to discuss their work in lectures and seminars. Intensive classroom study is complemented with excursions to world-class museums in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Access to these collections supplements undergraduate course work with the excitement of direct interactions with great works of art.

The university also maintains an extensive art library, which includes the Fowler Collection of treatises on architecture. Research materials in numerous regional libraries and museums and in the Library of Congress are also accessible to art history students.

What can you do with your degree?

Because the department emphasizes the historical, cultural, and social context of art, art history is an excellent program for undergraduates interested in a humanistic education as well as for those preparing for a career in the field.

English

English Website

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Gilman 14

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, PhD

The Department of English at Johns Hopkins is an intimate, highly selective department with a long history of innovative scholarship, research opportunities, and superior teaching.

The department’s distinction begins with its renowned faculty. Every professor teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, and they all teach primarily in small seminars, so undergraduates get the best of what a research university has to offer while getting the kind of personal attention ordinarily only possible at a small liberal arts college. Courses provide both the core of a liberal arts education and the basis for the advanced study of literature.

Faculty members’ specialties range from early modern to contemporary, with particular strengths in critical theory and interdisciplinary approaches to literature.

Courses provide the core of a liberal education in the humanities and, for those who intend to pursue careers in teaching and scholarship, the basis for advanced study of literature. These range from historical surveys of English and American literature and introductory courses in critical methods to advanced courses and seminars in particular periods, authors, genres, and literary questions.

What can you do with your degree?

Earning a degree in English at Johns Hopkins will enhance your appreciation of some of the world’s finest literature and help you develop a variety of skills. Through reading and writing about literature in classes led by distinguished scholars, you will learn to think critically and argue persuasively about complex issues, while also having the opportunity to pursue independent research. Many of our undergraduates go on to pursue graduate studies in English or in fields such as history, philosophy, psychology, and education. Others choose to pursue professional careers in medicine, government, law, business, publishing, and media.

Related Programs and Centers

Philosophy

Philosophy Website

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Gilman 281

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA, PhD

Philosophy poses such fundamental questions as: What can we know? How should we live? and How do the results of human inquiry, obtained so far, hang together? It is an excellent preparation for professional studies such as law and medicine; it provides perspective on other disciplines such as psychology, mathematics, literature, and political science; and it centers on a set of questions that thinking people cannot avoid. At Johns Hopkins, philosophy can be studied in a variety of ways.

When Johns Hopkins University was founded in 1876, it was the first university in the United States designed as a center for research and doctoral education. Among its earliest graduate students were Josiah Royce and John Dewey; C.S. Peirce was an early faculty member.

The Department of Philosophy maintains a distinctive character, providing its students with a broad but analytically rigorous philosophical education. Continuing a long Hopkins tradition (the tradition of Dewey, Lovejoy, Boas, Mandelbaum, and Schneewind), we offer programs that combine the systematic study of philosophical problems with sensitivity to their history.

What can you do with your degree?

The philosophy major is excellent preparation for professional studies such as law and medicine.

Graduate students are prepared to make original contributions to the field and to pursue careers in college and university teaching.

Related Programs and Centers

Berman Institute of Bioethics

History

History Website

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Gilman 301

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, BA/MA, PhD

The Department of History offers students the opportunity to work intensively in the classroom and with individual faculty to discover the richness and complexity of history. The department emphasizes European history, United States history, and the histories of Africa, Latin America, and China.

Undergraduates begin with general courses, but progress quickly to courses that explore topics in depth and provide experience in researching, analyzing, and writing about the past. Graduate students work independently and with faculty advisers on reading and research in their fields of interest, while departmental seminars bring them together to discuss their research, forging a collegial intellectual culture.

History at Hopkins is both a social scientific and humanistic discipline, and for this reason history courses are coded both "H" (for humanities credit) and "S" (for credit in the social sciences). In practice, students will find that the "hard" side of history (demographic and economic history, and certain aspects of social history as well) mixes quite well with the "soft" side, with its emphasis on cultural and intellectual history.

What can you do with your degree?

The history major offers strong preparation in writing, reading, and the critical analysis of inconsistent information and data. Our graduates find these skills valuable for a variety of careers, including business, law, public service, and teaching.

Related Programs and Centers

Romance Languages

Romance Languages Website

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Gilman 401

Students can: Major

Degrees Offered: BA

With more than 200 courses offered a year, the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures is one of the largest departments in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. Students can choose courses that range from introductory language classes to advanced graduate seminars in literature and theory.

The department—the birthplace of the Modern Language Association and home to Modern Language Notes, one of the leading academic journals in literary studies—continues an illustrious tradition at Johns Hopkins of scholarship on the languages, literatures, and cultures of the French-, German-, Italian-, Portuguese-, Spanish-, and Yiddish-speaking worlds.

Undergraduates who major or minor in one or more of the department's languages emerge with a profound understanding not only of the language, culture, and literature they have studied, but of the importance of cultural difference for how one sees the world.

Graduate students and undergraduates regularly study in major universities and institutes abroad. Every year, students and faculty from partner universities abroad study and teach in the department, creating a dynamic intellectual scene.

What can you do with your degree?

The major prepares students for graduate school should they choose to continue their study, while other students pursue a variety of careers, benefiting from their immersion in the language and literature of another culture. Our graduate students come from around the United States and the world to earn their doctorates with this faculty, and go on to teach at some of the finest institutions in the U.S. and abroad. During their time here, they take advanced seminars while developing their own research program, and are supported by a combination of fellowships and graduate teaching. An emphasis on literary analysis in the original language provides students with powerful cognitive tools of immeasurable value in any walk of life.

Related Programs and Centers

Anthropology

Anthropology Website

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Macaulay 404

Students can: Major Minor

Degrees Offered: BA, PhD

The Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins is one of the few in the country that focuses exclusively on socio-cultural anthropology, one of the four traditional subfields of the discipline.

The anthropology major combines the study of social and cultural theory with the empirical study of everyday life, social organization, cultural and political expression, and forms of imagination across the diversity of human cultures past and present, including those of the students themselves.

The department’s faculty has field research experience in the Americas, South Asia, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. Students and faculty explore themes such as the everyday, the state, religion, media, and health, building on interdisciplinary dialogues across the humanities, social sciences, and health sciences, focusing particularly on the challenges of our own moment in history.

What can you do with your degree?

With a degree in anthropology, you can work with government agencies or NGOs. You can pursue careers in medicine, international relations, politics, education, or community building.