Undergraduate

Overview

The Department of History of Art and Architecture is committed to exploring how the world has been imagined in visual form and how that world has been constructed in objects, spaces, and environments. We believe that by investigating the purposes and meanings of these cultural products, shaped and reshaped over time, we better understand ourselves and each other.

As liberal arts majors in a strong research university, our undergraduates are empowered to pursue a variety of academic and professional goals. We teach them to think critically, speak confidently, write effectively, engage in interdisciplinary study, and learn from cultures beyond their own. Most fundamentally, we encourage students to develop an informed perspective for observing and analyzing the world around them. Increasingly, in a global environment, this perspective on the world is valued not only in art professions but in business, law, public policy, engineering, and a host of other endeavors.

Many HAA majors shape their individual academic interests by majoring in other fields; anthropology, studio arts, psychology, communications, history, political science, business, neuroscience, English literature and writing, Spanish, Italian, and French are popular choices.

Click here for more information about the HAA programs and requirements.