The Digital Humanities Minor is a new, interdisciplinary minor for undergraduate students at Wayne State University. The minor is open to students in all schools and colleges.
By incorporating a wide range of courses eligible to fulfill minor requirements, we seek to create as many pathways as possible for students who are interested in completing the program. The minor currently includes courses from 12 departments across 5 schools/colleges. You can find a complete list of approved courses in the Undergraduate Bulletin. As the minor expands and new courses are developed, we will continue to add courses to the list of options for skills and electives courses. If you encounter a course that is not on the list and wish for it to be included, please contact the faculty coordinator. Courses with significant digital humanities content may well be eligible, pending approval.
Some of the courses listed have prereqs or other restrictions attached. We are working to expand the number of open offerings for students, and there are currently a number of skills courses that do not require prereqs (particularly in Graphic Design). However, we recommend that students think carefully about the kinds of skills they are interested in developing and work to plan out any necessary prereqs in their course schedules.
Winter 2020 Courses
Required Course
HIS/ENG 2435: Introduction to Digital Humanities
Skills Courses
ISM 5570: Data Mining and Analytics
ISM 5670: Special Topics in Information Systems
ISM 5994: Software Tools for Business Applications
CSC 1050: Introduction to C and Unix
CSC 1100: Problem Solving and Programming
CSC 2000: Introduction to C++ Programming Language
CSC 3020: Java Programming
ADA 3220: Introduction to Interactivity in Graphic Arts
AGD 2230: Introduction to Typography: Skills and Concepts
AGD 2240: Introduction to Graphic Design: Skills and Concepts
AGD 3260: Introduction to Interactivity in Graphic Arts
COM 1610: Fundamentals of New Media Production
COM 2290: Fundamentals of New Media Communication
COM 2310: Introduction to Web Design
COM 5390: Digital Animation
GPH 3600: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
Electives Courses
COM 5500: Journalism and New Media
COM 6270: New Media Theory
ENG 5020: Topics in Media and Modern Culture
HIS 3995/HON 4250: Seminar: Technology Cultures
Who might be interested in the Digital Humanities Minor?
Digital humanities is a great field for a wide range of students:
- Students who want to build bridges between their interest in STEM fields and the humanities
- Students from humanities/social science/arts fields who want to gain digital literacy skills
- Students who work with technology and want to think more deeply about how that technology works and becomes meaningful in the world
- Students who are interested in computers but might struggle with math.
What might a student do with a Digital Humanities Minor?
Digital skills – and digital literacy – are in demand in many sectors of the workforce and that demand is only likely to grow and become more urgent over the next several years. Particularly as technology changes so rapidly, being able to think about technology is increasingly as important as the technical skills associated with jobs like programming. We hope to be able to bridge those fields for students to help better prepare them for the 21st century marketplace, but also as citizens in a highly digital society.
Digital Humanities Options for Graduate Students
While this is an undergraduate minor, the required course and many of the electives courses are also offered at the graduate level or can have a graduate section added. Many of these courses are offered as part of the new Digital History track in the Master’s in Public History Program. The School of Information Sciences, the Department of Communication, the Department of English, and other units also offer graduate-level courses in web development, digital writing, and other related skills. Please contact the faculty coordinator for more information.