About the Department

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Looking at Life Beyond Technology and Science

At WPI, engagement with the humanities and arts provides the perfect balance to the technological and scientific topics that command considerable attention in the world today.

While we offer several majors, minors, and concentrations, you don’t have to major in a Humanities & Arts discipline to reap the full benefits of what the department has to offer. Here you can study mathematics, an engineering discipline, or one of the life sciences while still embracing your inner musician, poet, artist or philosopher. And through your engagement with the humanities and arts, you’ll learn to understand the often-subtle nuances of language, cultures, and unique individual perspectives that will make you a more well-rounded person and professional – no matter what path you choose to travel.

Creative Productions & Performances

Each year faculty members and students participate in several major musical productions, including seasonal concerts by our stage band, orchestra, chorus, jazz ensemble, brass ensemble, string quartet, and percussion ensemble. There are also numerous highly regarded theatrical productions and performances by Vox, Masque, and New Voices, the country’s oldest continuously running collegiate play festival of original works, currently in its 30th year.

Conducting Global Research

Humanities & Arts (HUA) faculty members are involved in groundbreaking research at home and abroad. In addition to the many professors who serve as advisors at IQP Project Centers, the department also has HUA-centric project centers in London and Morocco. Our Inquiry Seminars and Practicums allow students to study such diverse topics as early American history, the gothic imagination, philosophy of film, music technology, playwriting, the philosophy of technology, Darwin and society, and Asian history.