Undergraduate programs

The school offers the following undergraduate degree options: B.A., B.S. in Art History, B.A., B.S. in Art & Design, B.A., B.S. in Cultural History of the Arts, B.F.A. in Art Practice, and B.F.A. in Graphic Design. 

Degree Maps and Learning Outcomes

Undergraduate Admission Requirements

Art Major and Minor Degree Requirements

Art History—B.A./B.S.

Art & Design—B.A./B.S.

Cultural History of the Arts B.A/B.S.

Art Practice—B.F.A.

Graphic Design—B.F.A.

Art History Certificate

Art History Minor

Minor in Art Practice

Design Management Minor

Minor in Graphic Design

Minor in Sustainable Fashion

Cultural History of the Arts - B.A./B.S.

This innovative flexible degree allows students to study the histories of art, music, theater, film, and architecture across cultures and time. We explore the important ways cultural history both reflects and shapes society, and by incorporating both musical and art history these connections can be made even more deeper and more nuanced ways.

The B.A. or B.S. in Cultural History requires 60 credit hours total, of which:

minimum 20 credit hours in Art History, Music History, or Theater History

minimum 52 credit hours need to be upper level courses (300-level or higher)

ArH 408 Advanced Research Workshop and additional research-intensive courses such as art history seminars (ArH 407 and ArH 449) are strongly recommended for all students in this program, and would be taken as part of your upper level course requirement.

Students should note when planning their coursework both that some of the upper level courses they are considering have prerequisites. Due to the general education requirements, you will not be able to use any of  the cluster courses that could be applied towards this major to satisfy the University Studies cluster requirement.

Course Offerings:

Ar 360	Arab Cinema	4
Arch 230	Architecture and Cultural History I	4
Arch 231	Architecture and Cultural History II	4
Arch 232	Architecture and Cultural History III	4
ArH XXX	Any Art History Course
Art 322U/TA 322U	History of Dress I	4
Art 323U/TA 323U	History of Dress II	4
BSt 353U	African Women in Film	4
BSt 356U	Cuban Film: Politics and Culture	4
BSt 363U	African Cinema and African Cultures	4
Des 290	Histories of Graphic Design	4
Eng 304	Critical Theory of Cinema	4
Eng 305U	Topics in Film	4
Eng 306U	Topics in Literature and Popular Culture	4
Eng 317U	Greek Mythology	4
Eng 318U	The Bible as Literature	4
Eng 332U	History of Cinema and Narrative Media I	4
Eng 333U	History of Cinema and Narrative Media II	4
Eng 335U/NAS 335U	Topics in Literature and Film	4
Eng 383U/WLL 383U	Topics in Comparative Literature, Film, and Comics	4
Eng 491	History of Literary Criticism and Theory I	4
Eng 492	History of Literary Criticism and Theory II	4
FILM 131	Film Analysis	4
FILM 331U	Understanding Movies	4
FILM 370U	Topics in Film, Media, and Culture	4
Fr 105	French Film	1
Fr 305	Topics in French Film	4
Fr 445	Representations of War in French Cinema	4
Grk 330U	Ancient Epic: Glory and Memory	4
Grk 332U	Gods and Mortals: Harnessing the Divine	4
Grk 335U	Tragedy, Fate, and Fragility	4
Grk 336U	Ancient Laughter: Ridicule and the Absurd	4
Heb 361	Israel through Film	4
Hst 297	History through Film	4
Hst 461	Topics in Jewish History	4
Hst 497	Film and History	4
Jpn 361U	Japanese Literature Through Film	4
JSt 431	The Arts and the Jewish Experience	4
Lat 330U	Roman Culture	4
Mus 105	Introduction to Music Theory	3
Mus 203	Music in the Western World	4
Mus 205	Listening	1
Mus 231	Survey of Popular Music Since 1950	4
Mus 274	Introduction to World Music	4
Mus 355U	Jazz History	4
Mus 356U	Jazz And American Culture: How History Shaped Our Music, Then and Now	4
Mus 360U	The Guitar: its History and Music	4
Mus 361U	History of Rock Music I (1950-1970)	4
Mus 362U	History of Rock Music II (1970-Present)	4
Mus 363U	The Music of the Beatles	4
Mus 365U	Film Music	4
Mus 366U	New Orleans: Jazz and Culture in the Storyville Era	4
Mus 367U	The Music of Nashville: From Honky Tonk to Hip-Hop	4
Mus 368U	Motown: Detroit’s History and Music	4
Mus 369U	Music and Social Change	4
Mus 374U	World Music: Africa and the Middle East	4
Mus 376U	American Musical Traditions	4
Mus 377U	World Music: Latin America and the Caribbean	4
Phl 317U	Philosophy of Art	4
Rus 331U	Russian Film Topics	4
Soc 456	Sociology of Horror Films	4
Span 430	Major Topics: Ibero-American Film	4
TA 101	Theater Appreciation	4
TA 369U	Women, Theater, and Society	4
TA 471	Theater History: Periods and Topics	1-4
TA 472	Theater History: Major Figures	1-4
Tur 361U	Turkey through Film	4
WLL 319U	Fairy Tales and Folklore	4
Wr 314	Intermediate Nonfiction Writing	4

Note that other upper level  architectural, art, film and music history classes offered at PSU might be applied to this degree, if you get  prior approval from the Cultural History of the Arts program coordinator.

Total Credit Hours: 60