Humanities

The Humanities Department advances interdisciplinary teaching and learning necessary for equipping MassArt students with the knowledge, tools, skills, and habits to participate in and shape culture through their creative practice. The department is home to a range of disciplines within an integrated Humanities curriculum: Literature, Creative Writing, Film Studies, Music History/Musicology, History, Civic Literacy, and Political Philosophy, among others. Our faculty teach foundational skills of reading, writing, critical thinking, and research, as well as historical methods that emphasize transcultural and global perspectives. Our curriculum supports MassArt’s mission to “prepare artists, designers, and educators from diverse backgrounds to shape communities, economies, and cultures for the common good” by weaving the Humanities into the College’s fabric.
In Humanities, students practice analytical and critical skills for understanding history, literature, and film narratives. Our teaching offers concrete examples of how to adjust to new perspectives; how to tell new stories and imagine new realities; and how to give voice to visions relevant to oneself and one’s communities. We study texts and engage with histories across differences and commonalities alike, as these deepen our understanding of a shared humanity.

Humanities Faculty

Cheryl Clark, Assistant Professor
BA, Knox College
MFA, University of Iowa

Joshua Cohen, Professor
BA, Haverford College
MA, Boston University
PhD, Boston University

Jeanette Luise Eberhardy, Associate Professor
MFA, Creative Nonfiction Writing, Goucher College
PhD, Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota;
MA and BA, Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine

Jennie-Rebecca Falcetta, Professor
BA, Gordon College
MA, Baylor University
Ph.D, University of Connecticut

Robert Gerst, Professor
BA, Wesleyan University
MA, University of Pennsylvania
PhD, Suny, Buffalo

Lisong Liu, Professor
PHD - University of of Minnesota, Minneapolis
MA - University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
BA - Wuhan University

Marika Preziuso, Professor
BA, Universita delgi Studi di Salerno
MA, University of London (UK)
Ph.D, University of London (UK)

Maura Smyth, Associate Professor
BA, University of Maryland
MA, Indiana Universiry, Bloomingtom
Ph.D, Indiana University, Bloomington