Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities

Please note that the Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities major will be under review by a faculty committee during the 2019–20 academic year. While the program structure and curriculum are reevaluated, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities will not be accepting applications to the major. For current program members, those in the Classes of 2019 and 2020, the major requirements will remain the same. Information about the future of the program will be announced upon completion of the review, and no new students will be accepted in the meantime. For discussion of complementary programs of study, please see your College adviser.
The bachelor of arts degree program in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities (ISHum) offers qualified undergraduates the opportunity to shape an interdisciplinary plan of course work centered in, but not necessarily restricted to, study in the humanities. The program is meant to accommodate a course of study that could not otherwise be carried out easily within the structures of a single disciplinary major.
One of the notable features of the program is the requirement that all ISHum majors complete a formal BA paper at the end of their term of study that integrates the disparate fields of each student's study in a truly interdisciplinary manner. A BA paper will normally consist of an analytical research paper. An alternative option is a creative BA project, which would be accompanied by an analytical write-up of the project's background, conceptual problem(s), and methodology.
To be considered for admission to this BA program, a student must submit an application. This application consists of the student's selection and rationalization of a plan of courses that form a discrete field of interdisciplinary study. (The specific materials and protocol necessary for the application are described below.) The application process is designed to make clear in each individual case what intellectual concerns are to be related to one another through interdisciplinary study and what method of comparative analysis is suited to such an approach.
Students should discuss plans and proposed courses with the ISHum chair. These meetings will help students evaluate the available courses of study to arrive at a balanced and coherent interdisciplinary plan.
Once a student is admitted to ISHum, she or he will come to have the support also of the BA preceptor and, by the end of the third year, a faculty BA adviser. The preceptor is typically a graduate student with interdisciplinary expertise who will help the student to progress towards successful completion of the degree program, including completion of the BA paper. The faculty adviser is a faculty member who has expertise in the student's main field of study, and agrees to supervise the development of the BA paper specifically. (The student is responsible for securing a faculty BA adviser, but can ask the ISHum staff for assistance in doing so.)
A student in the ISHum BA program will take courses in two or more academic departments, and it is common for ISHum majors to have two or three sets of chosen courses that do not intersect with each other at all. (Your program is interdisciplinary; your courses, individually, need not be interdisciplinary.) There is, however, a required structure to the distribution of courses that a student takes, and there are two specific courses that every ISHum major must take. These requirements are explained below.
Each student's program of study must meet the following six distribution requirements. Students can ensure that these requirements are met by completing the application worksheet that is available from their College adviser or ishum.uchicago.edu:
In order to maintain good standing in the program, fourth-year ISHum majors are expected to meet certain deadlines as they move toward completing their BA paper: (This schedule is based upon a normal Spring Quarter graduation plan; students planning to graduate in another quarter should adjust the various deadlines accordingly.)
Fourth-year ISHum students will meet with the BA preceptor at least twice during the Autumn Quarter and twice again during the Winter Quarter. In these meetings they will discuss their work with the preceptor and show him or her drafts of the BA paper or, in the minimal case, evidence of their progress toward the completion of the paper. By the end of the Autumn Quarter, fourth-year students will turn in a preliminary draft/first iteration of the BA paper to the preceptor. There will then be a pre-final draft due to the faculty BA adviser, the ISHum chair, and the preceptor for perusal and critique by the end of the Winter Quarter. The final BA paper should be turned in to each of these three people by Friday of fifth week in Spring Quarter.
In addition to these departmental requirements, a student's faculty BA adviser may impose earlier deadlines and further conditions in relation to the work expected of the student in ISHU 29900 Preparation of the BA Project.
While the potential for developing individual BA programs in Interdisciplinary Studies is as great as the combined ingenuity, imagination, and interest of each student in consultation with his or her advisers, there are identifiable patterns in the choices of fields and lines of inquiry currently being implemented in the ISHum program. The most prominent of these include the following:
Interested students should make application to the ISHum program as soon as possible upon completion of general education requirements (typically by the end of the second year and, except in extraordinary circumstances, no later than the end of Autumn Quarter of the third year). Transfer students in particular are urged to apply at the earliest point that they can. An application is initiated by securing an interview with the ISHum chair, to discuss the feasibility of shaping and implementing a given set of interdisciplinary concerns into a course of study for the BA.
After consultation, students who wish to pursue an application to the ISHum program must submit a recent course transcript (with a minimum B average in preceding course work) and a two-part written proposal according to the following guidelines:
The first part of the proposal consists of a personal reflective statement of approximately 500 to 1,000 words in length, explaining the character of their interdisciplinary interests and stating as thoughtfully as possible how they propose to channel and expand them within course offerings currently available. Some consideration of prospects and possibilities for a BA paper or project is a desirable part of these statements, if it can be provided.
The second part of the proposal consists of a list of courses to fill the headings given in the above set of guidelines. This list will include courses the student has already taken as well as ones he or she intends to take. While a list of courses the student proposes to take is a required part of the application, it is understood that these will undergo modification. Any changes to the course prospectus should be discussed with (and approved by) the ISHum chair.
After the application materials have been reviewed by the ISHum chair and academic adviser, a twenty-minute interview will be scheduled with the ISHum chair. The ISHum chair will inform the student via email of the result of the application.
All courses in the major must be taken for a quality grade (that is, A, B, C, D, or F, with + and – grades), with the exception of the zero-unit course ISHU 29802 The BA Colloquium, for which students will receive a grade of Pass or Fail.
To be eligible for honors, a student must maintain an overall GPA of 3.25 or higher and a GPA in the major of 3.5 or higher. Special honors are reserved for the student whose BA project shows exceptional intellectual merit in the judgment of the faculty adviser, ISHum chair, and master of the Humanities Collegiate Division.
Close contact with the faculty and staff relevant to the student's career in ISHum—including the student's College adviser, chair, and preceptor, and the faculty adviser of the BA paper—is essential in a program that involves so much individual initiative and experimentation. Students are encouraged to seek their advice whenever they have an intellectual or practical concern about progress in the major.
Since ISHum is an interdisciplinary major whose field of study encompasses all the offerings in the various departments and programs of the University (particularly in the Humanities Division), all faculty members of these varied departments and programs are related to ISHum. ISHum students may approach any University of Chicago faculty member who works in his or her field of interest with a request to serve as faculty adviser for the BA paper. Similarly, ISHum students may take courses with any faculty member from any department of the University.
For the same reason—that ISHum is an interdisciplinary major whose field of study encompasses all the offerings in the various departments and programs of the University (particularly in the Humanities Division)—all substantive and methodology courses offered in these varied departments and programs are viable courses for the program. ISHum students may take any courses offered in the University that fit in with their program of study, provided these are approved by the ISHum chair.
In addition to the above courses that are grounded in particular fields of study, the program requires all ISHum students to take two courses that are related to the preparation of the BA paper:
ISHU 29802. The BA Colloquium. 000 Units.
The purpose of this course is for each student to begin working on the structure and argument of the BA paper that he or she will complete the following year. At the end of the course, each student will have written a proposal for the BA paper, which will generally be a précis of the argument that the student anticipates making.
Terms Offered: Spring Prerequisite(s): Consent of IS-Hum chair Note(s): Required of third-year students who are majoring in IS-Hum. This zero-unit, noncredit course must be taken for P/F grading. To meet requirements for full-time student status, students must carry at least three additional courses while registered for this course.
ISHU 29900. Preparation of the BA Project. 100 Units.
This course is structured as an independent study. The instructor will be the student's faculty BA adviser. It should be taken in the Autumn or Winter Quarter of fourth year, but in special circumstances may be taken in Spring Quarter of fourth year. The faculty adviser will devise a plan of reading and writing for the student and will critique drafts of the student's BA paper as they develop.
Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Consent of faculty adviser and IS-Hum chair Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.
More details of these two courses have been provided earlier in the Program Requirements section.
Moreover, inasmuch as the ability to write clear, effective prose is part of the essential skill set required of the humanist endeavor, ISHum students are encouraged (but not required) to take a course on academic writing such as:
ENGL 13000. Academic and Professional Writing (The Little Red Schoolhouse) 100 Units.
Academic and Professional Writing, a.k.a. "The Little Red Schoolhouse"or "LRS" (English 13000/33000) is an advanced writing course for third- and fourth-year undergraduates who are taking courses in their majors or concentrations, as well as graduate students in all of the divisions and university professional programs. LRS helps writers communicate complex and difficult material clearly to a wide variety of expert and non-expert readers. It is designed to prepare students for the demands of academic writing at various levels, from the B.A. thesis to the academic article or book--and for the tasks of writing in professional contexts.
Instructor(s): L. McEnerney, K. Cochran, T. Weiner     Terms Offered: Spring Winter Prerequisite(s): Third- or fourth-year standing Note(s): This course does not count towards the ISHU program requirements. May be taken for P/F grading by students who are not majoring in English. Materials fee $20. Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 33000
Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies Tahera Qutbuddin P 219 773.834.8786 Email