The Humanities Scholars Program provides the students with a unique experience.
- All first-year Humanities scholars take two seminar-style interdisciplinary classes (one in the fall and one in the spring). In addition, to help these students form a close-knit group, the content taught in these classes allows them to see the possibilities that interdisciplinary work and experiences can bring to their lives.
- During their sophomore year, scholars begin preparing for the study-abroad semester that they will participate in during their junior year. With the help of the Humanities Scholars Program director, Timothy Phin, and UMBC’s Education Abroad Office office, the students select a study-abroad program that matches their academic and career goals.
- During their junior year, scholars participate in their study-abroad programs and attend classes related to their academic programs and professional goals. Humanities scholars return from the semesters abroad with changed perspectives and a renewed enthusiasm for the Humanities.
- All senior Humanities scholars meet with their first-year seminar instructors to revisit their first-year seminar’s content. The education received at both UMBC and abroad provides these scholars with a mature and sophisticated perspective of the previously studied topics.
Every semester, the Dresher Center for the Humanities hosts a lecture series that features prominent thinkers and scholars in philosophy, history, culture, language, literature, and the arts. Each year, the Humanities Scholars Program hosts dinners for the students to meet and share ideas with visiting lecturers. The scholars are also given the opportunity to live together on the Humanities Floor.
All the scholars are encouraged to participate in UMBC’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day during which they present an independent research project.