The Humanities Center at USD is dedicated to the exploration of the human condition and the limitless ways in which human beings understand and interact with our world.
The Center's Five Elements
Made up of five elements — collaborative research, technology and humanities, interdisciplinary curriculum, public humanities and the Humanities Center Gallery — the Humanities Center enriches the campus community with research grants, public seminars and workshops, major and minor programs, a gallery for hosting exhibitions, faculty development, an adult continuing education program and much more.
With a foundation of interdisciplinary learning, USD's College of Arts and Sciences has been committed to holistic liberal arts and sciences education since our beginning. Becoming a student of the liberal arts and sciences will challenge the way they learn, see the world and feel connected to it. With a liberal arts and sciences education, students carry the skills of multi-faceted thinking and self-guided inquiry through any chosen career.
Students embark on a desert sublime journey as part of an interdisciplinary studies course team taught by Professor of Environmental and Ocean Sciences Bethany O’Shea, PhD, and Professor of Philosophy and A. Vassiliadis Distinguished Director of the Humanities Center Brian Clack, PhD. The Desert Sublime course is a significant part of a wider, multi-year exploration and undertaking by the Humanities Center called Natural Landscapes and Human Meaning. Over the course of three years, the Humanities Center is hosting expert panels, lectures and classes on oceans, deserts, forests, ice and glaciers, mountains and cities.
What's Happening in the Humanities Center
View 2024-25 annual report
The Humanities Center continually references external articles and relevant outside sources to build upon its curriculum and programs.