DEPARTMENT OF LIBERAL ARTS

MISSION | AIMS & OBJECTIVES | ACCREDITATION| CONTACT

Programs in Visual and Performing Arts, Foreign Languages, Humanities, and Health Education comprise the Department of Liberal Arts. These programs encompass the varied disciplines of English language and literature, foreign languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish), religious and philosophical studies, humanities, music, art, theatre, dance, speech, and health education.

The department offers courses leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature, and to a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the Visual and Performing Arts; additionally, it contributes significantly to the interdisciplinary program of Africana Studies. Minors are available in English, dance, art, theatre, and music, as well as areas of concentration (15 credit hours) in religious and philosophical studies and foreign language. The department serves a crucial need of the University by offering courses to satisfy the core curriculum requirements in Area A-Essential Skills, Area B-Institutional Options, Area C-Humanities/Fine Arts, and university mandated "Additional Requirements."

MISSION

The mission of the Department of Liberal Arts is consistent with that of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences as well as that of Savannah State University . Specifically, we are in concert with the following ideals:
•  To graduate students prepared to perform at higher levels of economic productivity, social responsibility, and excellence in their chosen fields of endeavor in a changing global community;
•  To embrace cultural, ethnic, racial and gender diversity supported by practices and programs that embody the ideal of an open, democratic, and global society;
•  To develop high quality programs that utilize appropriate technology and support a variety of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and professional programming;
•  To commit to a high level of scholarly and creative work;
•  To serve the needs of African American students as well as those of all other students, regardless of race, ethnicity, or culture;
•  To embrace health and wellness as lifelong pursuits;
•  To use student-centered instruction, scholarship, research, and effective support services that nurture the intellect and value honesty and human sensitivity;
•  To provide effective programs and levels of service to meet the ever-changing needs of a coastal urban area;
•  To serve as an educational resource for cultural enrichment and economic growth through southeast Georgia ; and
• To promote a desire for learning, a concern for humanity, and the ideals of equality, citizenship, and social justice.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The department's programs aim to develop the following essential interdisciplinary skills:
•  Creative skills: skillful and thoughtful self-expression in varied genres and media;
•  Analytical skills: the ability to think rigorously and critically about ideas and propositions and to assess the validity of arguments;
•  Synthesis skills: the ability to draw interdisciplinary relationships and to reach valid conclusions;
•  Reading and interpretative skills: the ability to understand, with sensitivity to nuance and effect, the complexities and varieties of the ways in which oral, written and artistic texts communicate meaning;
•  Oral, written, and artistic skills: the ability to formulate a point of view and to present, develop, illustrate, and defend it;
•  Research skills: the ability to distinguish relevant data, to locate and gather it from a variety of sources, and to record it in an accessible fashion, using acceptable bibliographical and typographical conventions;
•  Time management skills: the ability to plan work ahead, to structure time purposefully, and to carry out what is planned to meet deadlines;
•  Independent learning and study skills: the ability to work alone, to locate useful information, and to record and deploy it pertinently;
• Interpersonal skills: the ability to collaborate, to participate in joint projects, and to accept criticism .

ACCREDITATION

Requirements for matriculation in and graduation from SSU are in accordance with published regulations of the Board of Regents. In 2001, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools reaffirmed Savannah State University 's accreditation for ten more years.

CONTACT

Dr. April Gentry, Chair
Payne Hall 126
912.356.2368

gentrya@savstate.edu