Residential College in the Arts and Humanities
Dylan Miner, DEAN
The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) is an interdisciplinary college offering a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts and Humanities for students interested in and enthusiastic about the growing global connections between literature, history, ethics, culture, world languages, the visual and performing arts, and their own civic engagement in these fields of work and study. Its faculty, staff, and visiting artists are committed to teaching and to scholarship that enhances the collaborative learning process that defines the life of the college.
RCAH students live and learn together in Snyder-Phillips Hall, a historic building on the MSU north campus. From this home base, students can explore the diverse resources of one of the nation’s most distinguished public research universities. They also learn to communicate and navigate within the evolving cultures of our contemporary world through study abroad and study away programs.
The mission of the college is to weave together the passion, imagination, humor, and candor of the arts and humanities to promote individual well-being and the common good. Students, faculty, and community partners in the arts and humanities have the power to focus critical attention on the public issues we face and the opportunities we have to resolve them. The arts and humanities not only give us the pleasure of living in the moment, but also the wisdom to make sound judgments and good choices. The mission, then, is to see things as they are, to hear things as others may, to tell these stories as they should be told, and to contribute to the making of a better world.
Seeing today’s rapidly changing world clearly, hearing its many voices, and then interpreting these sights and sounds persuasively takes time, care, and empathy. By living, studying, and learning together, students in the college acquire the communication skills, the visual literacy, and the composure and poise to perform well and work collaboratively. They learn how to bring the arts and humanities into the conversation that we have only just begun to have as citizens.
RCAH students graduate with the vital writing, communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and research abilities that are desirable and transferable across different workplace settings. Through upper-level course work, students deepen their knowledge of particular fields in the humanities so that they can effectively compete in the marketplace in their chosen area of study. The college is an excellent choice for students interested in global community service, the creative arts, culture, languages, history, and literature. Graduates have pursued graduate study at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities and careers in the nonprofit sector, education, social work, business, and government.
RCAH students may choose to dual major in a traditional humanities or social science discipline or pursue a minor in one of the many programs available at the university, such as Museum Studies; Film Studies; Dance; Peace and Justice Studies; Muslim Studies; Jewish Studies; Women's and Gender Studies; and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems. A high percentage of RCAH students are members of the Honors College, and individual and small group Honors options are offered frequently.
The college 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. 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. The RCAH student government takes an active part in discussions that shape the college’s living and learning environments.
World language proficiency is a primary goal for students in the program. Students graduating from the RCAH are required to achieve at least functional competence in one modern language other than English, which they demonstrate through an oral test. Entering RCAH students with advanced placement credits must still pass the RCAH proficiency requirement. Certification in American Sign Language may substitute for meeting the proficiency requirement.
During the four-year program, students will engage with a range of authors, artists, and thinkers, through the required College Colloquium sessions. All students will attend 12 sessions in order to graduate, with attendance at 6 sessions required in the first year. These sessions will engage students and faculty with artists, authors, thinkers, and recent RCAH graduates across a diversity of disciplines in order to inspire them with career possibilities in the arts and humanities.
The college faculty is drawn from a wide range of disciplines, including literature, art and art history, theatre, philosophy, world history, music, rhetoric and composition, anthropology, education, and the study of languages and culture. They have a wide range of research interests and view engaged learning in the broadest sense – from workshop immersion experiences to civic activism in local communities to study abroad – as a hallmark of good education for teachers as well as students.
The total enrollment for the college is currently projected to be 450-600 students. Typically, students live in the Snyder-Phillips residence complex for their first two years. Students admitted to Michigan State University are also admitted to the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities. Because enrollments in the college are limited, prospective first-year and transfer students should notify the Michigan State University Office of Admissions as early as possible of their desire to enroll in the college.
In addition to meeting the requirements of the university, students must meet the requirements specified below.