Study of Liberal Arts through Great Books Certificate Program

Undergraduate Catalog

Certificate Program Information

Study of Liberal Arts through Great Books Certificate

The process for officially enrolling in the Certificate Program is a simple one. Interested students should contact ...

David Mulroy
Program Coordinator
Foreign Languages and Linguistics
Curtin Hall 803

Phone: 414-229-4675
e-mail: dmulroy@uwm.edu

To sign-up for the certificate program you will need to complete a Declaration of Certificate Program form.

Program Information

The program provides an incentive for students to devote their college years to the development of broad intellectual abilities through meeting the most difficult challenges that undergraduate education has to offer. Course requirements have been designed with an eye towards increasing general verbal and quantitative abilities rather than imparting narrow skills needed for particular jobs. In addition, certificate holders will have an intimate knowledge of some of the best books ever written and their historical contexts. Sponsoring faculty members believe that such an approach to education yields the greatest returns in personal satisfaction as well as practical success. Many leaders of business and the professions agree. Certificate awardees will have the satisfaction of knowing that their educations rival the best available anywhere; prospective employers will soon learn that the Certificate is a sure sign of intellectual ability and a capacity for hard work.

Though challenging, the Certificate is within the ability of average students. Students who begin working towards the Certificate early in their career will normally be able to earn it and fulfill the requirements of their major program without increasing the number of credits needed for graduation.

Program Requirements

The Certificate Program in the Study of Liberal Arts Through Great Books is designed to provide guidance to students seeking a rigorous liberal arts education. It provides an incentive for such students to select courses that traditionally compose the nucleus of a liberal arts education and still are considered especially valuable by a large number of faculty members, i.e., courses in foreign language, mathematics, the history of Western civilization, and the great books (original works widely regarded to be of fundamental importance within various disciplines).

Any student in good standing at UWM is eligible to participate in the program. To earn the certificate, students must fulfill the requirements listed below with an average GPA of 2.75 or better. At least half of the courses must be completed in residence at UWM. Certificate requirements are as follows:

1. 4 credits in courses at the 200 level or above offered by the Department of Mathematical Sciences;
2. two courses (at least 6 credits) in a single foreign or Native American language (not including literature in translation) at the 200 level or above; this requirement may be fulfilled by four years of a single foreign language in high school;
3. either an additional 3 credits in mathematics at the 200 level or above or an additional 6 credits of foreign language at the 300 level or above;
4. Hist 101 and 102 (Western Civilization); and
5. 15 credits in courses designated by the program coordinator as great books courses

Great books courses offered regularly at UWM include, but are not limited to, the following:

Anthropology

460 Anthropological Theory

Classics

180 Readings in Greek and Roman Literature: (Subtitle)

201 Introduction to Greek Life and Literature

202 Introduction to Roman Life and Literature

301 The Life and Literature of Classical Athens: Herodotus and Dramatists

302 War and Politics in Ancient Greece

303 The Life and Literature of the Roman Empire

304 The Graeco-Roman World: (with appropriate subtitle)

Communications

435 Rhetoric in Western Thought 436 Recent Rhetorical Theory

Comparative Literature

207 World Literature in Translation

208 World Literature in Translation

230 Literature and Society: (with appropriate subtitle)

309 Great Works of Modern Literature: (Subtitle)

350 Topics in Comparative Literature: (with appropriate subtitle)

444 Myths, Legends, and Poems of the Celts

Economics

405 Breakthroughs and Debates in Economic Thought

English

247 Literature and Human Experience: (with appropriate subtitle)

301 Survey of English Literature: Beginnings to 1500

302 Survey of English Literature: 1500-1660

303 Survey of English Literature: 1660-1798

304 Survey of English Literature: 1798-1900

305 Survey of English Literature: 1900 to the Present

306 Survey of Irish Literature

307 Survey of American Literature to 1865

308 Survey of American Literature: 1865-1965

342 Comedy: (with appropriate subtitle)

343 Tragedy: (with appropriate subtitle)

360 The Art of Poetry: (with appropriate subtitle)/dd>

451 Chaucer

452 Shakespeare

454 Milton

458 Writers in English Literature, 1798-1900: (Subtitle)

460 Writers in American Literature, 1500-1900: (with appropriate subtitle)

461 Writers in American Literature, 1900 to the Present: (with appropriate subtitle)

465 Women Writers: (with appropriate subtitle)

530 Studies in Shakespeare: (Subtitle)

628 Seminar in Literature by Women: ("Women Writers of the Eighteenth Century" subtitle)

685 Honors Seminar: ("Reading Chaucer" subtitle)

French

510(665) Seminar on Masterpieces of Literature Written in French: (Subtitle)

Hebrew Studies

231 Introduction to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

235 The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible

History

215 History of Capitalism

332 The History of Science Since Newton

Honors

200 Honors Seminar: The Shaping of the Modern Mind - ("Ovid and Mythic Imagination" subtitle)

680 Honors Seminar in the Humanities: (with appropriate subtitle)

Italian

257 Italian Culture and Civilization: Medieval and Renaissance

333 Dante’s Divine Comedy in Translation

Latin

502 Readings in Latin Poetry: ("Ovid" subtitle)

L&S Humanities

101 Great Books Seminar: (Subtitle)

Philosophy

272 Philosophical Classics: (Subtitle)

349 Great Moral Philosophers

430 History of Ancient Philosophy

475 Special Topics in Indian Religious Thought: ("The Vedanta and Bhagavad-Gita" subtitle)

Political Science

381 The Development of Western Political Thought

Russian

235 Survey of Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature in Translation

236 Survey of Twentieth-Century Russian Literature in Translation

Sociology

375 History of Sociological Theory