Academic Programs Catalog

College of Arts and Letters

School of Residential Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities (RCAH)

Scot Yoder, Director

The School of Residential Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities (RCAH) offers an academic program where students live and learn together in Snyder-Phillips Hall, a historic building on the MSU’s north campus. RCAH draws on the full range of the arts and humanities to provide students with collaborative, community-engaged methods for addressing the complex problems facing our local and global communities and to reimagine and build a more inclusive and sustainable world. 

Residential Community Engaged Arts and Humanities is an excellent choice for students interested in community engagement, the creative arts, culture, languages, history, and literature. RCAH students have the benefit of being part of a residential program while also having the diverse resources of one of the nation’s most distinguished public research universities available to them. Many RCAH students choose to add a second major in the arts, humanities, social sciences, or a STEM discipline, or to pursue a minor in one of the many programs available at the university. 

RCAH’s Design Justice minor is an example of how RCAH programs can creatively bridge two or more disciplinary foci or majors. RCAH students graduate with vital writing, communication, problem-solving, critical-thinking, research, and collaboration skills that are desirable and transferable across a range of workplace settings. Graduates have pursued careers in the nonprofit sector, education, social work, business, and government and graduate study at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities.

The school provides abundant opportunities for learning and hands-on training outside the classroom, in settings that include the RCAH Poetry Center, the LookOut! Art Gallery, the RCAH
Theater, and the Language and Media Center. Student-initiated groups include a theatre company, music ensembles, and a photography club, among many others. Students can often be found creating art at impromptu studio events, music at informal jam sessions, and poetry at the college’s popular slam programs.

Professors in RCAH draw from a wide range of disciplines, including literature, art, theatre, philosophy, history, music production, rhetoric and composition, anthropology, education, and the
study of languages and culture. Our faculty view community-engaged learning in the broadest sense – from workshop immersion experiences to collaborative action in local communities to
study abroad – as a hallmark of good education for teachers as well as students. As an educational space built on the ongoing transformative work of radically reciprocal teaching and learning, we strive to be accessible and accountable to communities as co-producers of knowledge. 

In addition to meeting the requirements of the university, students must meet the requirements specified below.

Undergraduate Programs


Arts and Humanities

This interdisciplinary major provides RCAH students the opportunity to live and learn together in Snyder-Phillips Hall, a historic building on the MSU north campus. From this home base, students have the benefit of being part of a residential academic program while also having the diverse resources of one of the nation’s most distinguished public research universities available to them. The major mobilizes the arts and humanities through a wide range of programming to create collaborative, community engaged methods for addressing the complex societal problems facing our local and global communities and to reimagine and build a more inclusive and sustainable world. RCAH provides abundant opportunities for learning and hands-on training outside the classroom, in settings that include the RCAH Poetry Center, the LookOut! Art Gallery, the RCAH Theatre, and the Language and Media Center.

Requirements for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Arts and Humanities

  1. The University requirements for bachelor’s degrees as described in the Undergraduate Education section of this catalog; 120 credits, including general elective credits, are required for the Bachelor of Arts degree in the Arts and Humanities.

    The completion of  RCAH 111 referenced in item 2. a. below satisfies the University’s Tier I writing requirement.

    The University’s Tier II writing requirement for the Bachelor of Arts degree in the Arts and Humanities is met by completing RCAH 492. That course is referenced in item 2. g. below.

    The completion of IAH 207R and IAH 231R referenced in item 2. a. below satisfies the University’s Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities requirement.

    The completion of at least 30 credits in courses at the 300-level or above, which may include courses from items 2.d., 2.e., and 2.f. below.
  2. The following requirements:
    a. All of the following courses (32 credits):
    IAH 207R The Presence of the Past (D) 4
    IAH 231R Themes and Issues: Transcultural Relations (I) 4
    RCAH 111 Writing in Transcultural Contexts 4
    RCAH 112 Writing, Research and Technologies 4
    RCAH 150 Introduction to the Arts and Humanities 4
    RCAH 215 Introduction to Theory and Methods in the Arts 4
    RCAH 225 Introduction to Community Engagement 4
    RCAH 235 Foundations of Language and Culture Studies 4
    b. Complete one of the following pathways (10 credits):
    Arts Pathway
    The following course:
    RCAH 315 Methods in the Arts 4
    Two enrollments in the following course:
    RCAH 316 Topics in the Arts Community Engagement Pathway 6
    The following course:
    RCAH 325 Methods in Community Engagement 4
    Two enrollments in the following course:
    RCAH 326 Topics in Community Engagement Language and Culture Pathway 6
    The following course:
    RCAH 335 Methods in Language and Culture 4
    Two enrollments in the following course:
    RCAH 336 Topics in Language and Culture 6
    Humanities Pathway
    The following course:
    RCAH 345 Methods in the Humanities 4
    Two enrollments in the following course:
    RCAH 346 Topics in Humanities 6
    c. Complete 6 to 8 credits in any of the following courses not used to fulfill item b.:
    RCAH 315 Methods in the Arts 4
    RCAH 316 Topics in the Arts 3
    RCAH 325 Methods in Community Engagement 4
    RCAH 326 Topics in Community Engagement 3
    RCAH 335 Methods in Language and Culture 4
    RCAH 336 Topics in Language and Culture 3
    RCAH 345 Methods in the Humanities 4
    RCAH 346 Topics in Humanities 3
    d. A minimum of 15 credits at the 300-level or above taken outside of RCAH chosen in consultation with the student’s academic advisor.
    e. Completion of a minimum 50-hour volunteer or paid experiential learning opportunity. This requirement can be satisfied with one of the following options in the junior or senior year.
    (1) An approved internship
    (2) An approved undergraduate research, creative, or community engagement project directed by a faculty member through enrollment in RCAH 450 (1 to 4 credits)
    (3) An approved study abroad/study away with at least one course at the 300-400 level.
    f. Completion of the language and cultural studies requirement.
    a. For students entering RCAH before Fall 2027, this requirement is met by completing one of the following two options:      
    (1) Participate in an approved language-intensive study abroad program
    (2) Complete one of the following combinations of language and cultural studies courses:
    (a) Complete 2 years of language courses in no more than two languages and complete one of the approved cultural courses from the list maintained by the student's academic advisor.
    (b) Complete 1 year of language courses in a single language and three of the approved cultural courses from the list maintained by the student's academic advisor. 
    (c) Complete a minor in one of the approved area studies programs as approved by the student's academic advisor.
    b. For students entering RCAH Fall 2027 and later, this requirement is met by completion of second–year competency in a foreign language which is more closely aligned with the language requirement in the College of Arts and Letters. 
    g. The following capstone course (4 credits):
    RCAH 492 Senior Seminar (W) 4

Minor in Design Justice

The Minor in Design Justice prepares students to address the challenges of global conflict, globalization, climate change and sustainability and how we design for justice and human sustainability. Students will learn to identify, design and implement creative solutions that address and acknowledge human conflict. The minor also offers experiential learning opportunities in community-engaged design projects, education abroad programs and collaborations with organizations working to find solutions to complex design problems at home, at work, in community, and around the globe.

The minor is available as an elective to students who are enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs at Michigan State University. With the approval of the department and college that administer the student’s degree program, the courses that are used to satisfy the minor may also be used to satisfy the requirements for the bachelor’s degree.

Students who plan to complete the requirements of the minor should consult the undergraduate advisor in the School of Residential Community Engaged Arts and Humanities.
 
Requirements for the Minor in Design Justice

Students must complete a minimum of 16 credits from the following:

1. Both of the following courses (6 credits):
EGR 100 Introduction to Engineering Design 2
RCAH 205 Transcultural Relations through the Ages: Design Justice 4
2. One of the following courses (3 or 4 credits):
RCAH 235 Foundations of Language and Culture Studies 4
RCAH 316 Topics in the Arts 3
3. One of the following courses (4 credits):
IAH 207R The Presence of the Past (D)  4
RCAH 112 Writing, Research and Technologies 4
4. One of the following courses (3 or 4 credits):
RCAH 325 Methods in Community Engagement 4
RCAH 326 Topics in Community Engagement 3