FAQ: The Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts         

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The Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts (HSA) is a third of every Harvey Mudd student’s curriculum. An incredibly important part of our education here, our HSA classes teach us to address problems from multiple dimensions, and get a really well-rounded education. Here are some FAQ that come up about the HSAs here at Mudd:

  1. If Harvey Mudd is a STEM focused school, why is the HSA such a big part of the curriculum?

Harvey Mudd’s mission, in short, is to produce successful scientists and engineers that go out into the real world and problem solve. With the Core and our Major requirements, we have a really technical understanding of how to solve technical problems and with our HSA education, we learn the communication and broader skills to understand how society works. We learn how to apply the STEM education we’re receiving to the real world with the HSA courses we take.

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  1. What is the HSA department and what role does it play in Harvey Mudd’s curriculum?

The Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts department is one of the largest departments here, and their mission is:

“The members of the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts (the Department) seek to foster the intellectual and personal growth of Harvey Mudd College students by exposing them to the subjects and methods associated with our disciplines. We do this in order to promote an appreciation of different kinds of knowledge so as to enable critical analysis and synthesis, and to encourage the development of increased self-knowledge, a humane concern for society, and an examined and evolving set of values.”

We take our first HSA course in the spring semester of our first year – HSA10 Critical Inquiry. We have a number of themes to choose from, where we explore literature, writing styles, and research paper writing through that particular lens. An example of a few themes: English with an Accent, Religious Naturalism, Minimalism, Walking.

After HSA10, all Mudd students are required to take another 10 full courses (meaning 3 or 4 credits) and then concentrate in an HSA discipline.

  1. Is Harvey Mudd considered a liberal arts college because of the HSA curriculum?

Nope! Harvey Mudd’s style of education is considered one of the liberal arts. Small class sizes, really approachable professors and courses in which the fundamentals are taught first and then built upon is typical of a liberal arts education and exactly what you find at Mudd. We actually had to write an essay on this for HSA10 at the start of the semester.

  1. What guidance do you get on the HSA curriculum?

Just like we have academic advisors, we also have HSA advisors. Our HSA10 course professor becomes our HSA advisor for the four years and guides us through the distribution/Mudd Hum requirements. In addition to our HSA advisors, we get lots of advice from upperclassmen. Anyone you ask will recommend (or not recommend) HSA classes on campus or off campus. In the spirit of this collaboration and supportive culture, there is even an HSA recommendations Google doc that anyone can add information about.

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The shared Google Doc for HSA recommendations

  1. What HSA disciplines are represented at Harvey Mudd?

Here is a list of faculty and their disciplines:

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Taking off campus classes for disciplines that are not represented at Mudd is encouraged and a really great opportunity to break out of the Mudd bubble and meet new people too!

Hope that answers some of your questions about the HSA curriculum. I wasn’t that clear on what our HSAs entailed but now I love being able to explore different non-STEM fields!