The Department of the History of Art and Architecture offers the BA in the History of Art and Architecture and three minors: A minor in the History of Art and Architecture, the Cities Minor, offered jointly with the Department of Geography, and the Museum Studies Minor, offered jointly with the Departments of Anthropology, and History. Its programs engage students in sophisticated discussion and critical analysis of diverse cultural, ethnic and gender traditions in the visual arts within and outside of the student’s own culture, and encourage an in-depth awareness of the history of art as a discipline, with an emphasis on its most compelling theoretical issues and its various methodological approaches.
Interdisciplinary by its very nature, the program teaches students to see connections beyond the classroom which help prepare them for life after the degree. Faculty use the city of Chicago as an extension of the classroom with assignments that encourage practical engagement with real objects at local museums and galleries as well as with the living architecture that distinguishes this great urban capital. By requiring a range of geographic, chronological and cultural courses at different levels, the program ensures mastery of general knowledge about the problems and issues within the discipline but also in-depth study of complex intellectual content.