Arts and Humanities

Welcome to the College of Arts and Humanities!

The College of Arts and Humanities is home to six academic departments with ten academic programs. Our 810 students share in experiences that promote cross-cultural understanding, empathetic initiative, and innovative productivity. The arts and humanities disciplines drive a desire to explore what it means to be human. Students articulate values, define identity, and interpret discourse as they navigate a rigorous, intellectually challenging curricula. The College is ideal for makers, thinkers, readers, writers, and actors who aspire to hone their craft and gain greater depth in their artistic, civic, and scholarly pursuits.

Students in the Arts and Humanities contribute to a vibrant campus environment through numerous scholarly, professional and creative enterprises. I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Gatepost, our award-winning weekly student newspaper; to attend a play performed by our Communication, Media and Performance Department's theater program in the Dwight Performing Arts Center; to visit a senior thesis exhibition highlighting work by students in Graphic Design or Studio Art; or to experience the annual FSU Fashion Show featuring costume and apparel from students in our Fashion Design and Retailing Department.

Our students also take advantage of FSU’s opportune location and its affiliations to visit cultural attractions. English majors travel yearly to “literary Concord”; History majors attend field trips to institutions such as the New Bedford Whaling Museum; World Languages majors participate in historical tours of Boston's Chinatown neighborhood; and students across the disciplines are able to visit FSU's Danforth Museum in Framingham, as well as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, courtesy of our institutional memberships.

The College of Arts and Humanities’ superb faculty exemplify the teacher-scholar model. Professors from the College are engaged in a broad range of compelling research and creative activities. Many have received grants from highly competitive sources such as the Fulbright Scholar program and the National Endowment for the Humanities. While their individual scholarly achievements distinguish them within their fields of expertise, they are equally motivated to excel in the classroom as well. Faculty in the College of Arts and Humanities provide students with unique opportunities for experiential learning, service learning, community activism, internships, and study abroad. In their teaching, our professors cultivate an atmosphere that encourages imagination and individual vision, while fostering the intellectual adaptability and analytical thinking skills necessary for communicating in a complex and shifting contemporary society.

Art student working

Art & Music

Student editing video

Communication, Media & Performance

Students listening in class

English

Fashion student working with fabric

Fashion Design & Retailing

Student thinking

History

Three students at laptop

Liberal Studies

Student signing in sign language

World Languages

Meet the Dean

Through active participation in speech, writing, performance, and design, the College of Arts and Humanities fosters the growth of creative, eloquent, and skillful individuals. Meet the Founding Dean of the College, Marc Cote.

Marc Cote
Marc Cote, MFA

Dean of Arts and Humanities

"As the Dean of Arts and Humanities, I am excited to serve in a spectrum of studies that so naturally sculpts a landscape for multicultural appreciation and interdisciplinary cooperation. Our students are curious and nimble, and it is my confident expectation that they will pass through our doors to emerge as thoughtful and capable world citizens."