玛德琳·克里特(Madeline Kriete)在冰球突破豪华版试玩(Great Bay Community College)读一年级文科专业时学习的人文学科课程，与她开始帮助新罕布什尔州弱势儿童及其家庭的愿望直接联系在一起.
她换了专业，将于12月毕业于Great Bay大学，获得心理学副学士学位. 但如果不是因为她在文科专业期间接触了一系列学科，她可能不会发现自己对这个领域的兴趣.
“My first year at Great Bay, I was able to take classes across many departments, which is the valuable aspect of a liberal arts 教育. It allowed me to realize specifically what I wanted to do,” Kriete said. “When I looked at all the classes I had taken, 75 percent of them fulfilled the requirement for a psychology degree. After seeing all the choices I was continuously going back to, I realized I should pursue psychology in more depth,”她说。.
After she graduates from Great Bay, Kriete expects to join the staff of Division for Children, 获得该领域的专业经验，然后在四年制大学攻读学士学位. 她是越来越多的学生中的一员，他们正在学习人文学科课程，以整理自己的选择和磨练自己的职业选择.
由于对STEM研究的重视，人们对人文学科的兴趣在经历了长达数十年的下降之后，现在又开始上升. According to recent research by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 高中生对人文学科的兴趣是其他学科的两倍. That analysis is based on course credits and Advanced Placement data from the U.S. Department of Education and the College Board. Students took more than 2 million AP humanities exams in 2020, while 1 million completed behavioral and social science courses. The natural sciences, math, and the arts followed.
近年来，大湾大学增加了人文学科师资队伍的规模，并深化了课程设置, adding to its catalog of options in 英语, 历史, 还有其他科目, 完善现有课程，为学生提供直接转到四年制大学的途径. 除了, 学院为学生提供定制他们的教育兴趣和成果的能力, including grant-funded undergraduate research opportunities.
The humanities and social sciences include such subjects as 历史, 英语, 美术, 外语, 和公民. 在高等教育承诺的结果导致特定技能的职业的时代, 人文和社会科学课程教授的技能对那些对各种职业感兴趣的学生很有价值, including in the sciences and medicine, 资讯科技, 教育, 业务, 工程执法, 还有很多其他的.
“Everyone still needs to write and tell meaningful stories, 不管这些有意义的故事是因为你想让客户购买你的产品，还是因为你需要解释如何构建某个东西,”医生说。. Aimee Huard, professor and chair of social sciences. “社会科学和人文学科的目标是教你如何围绕一个问题进行思考, 而不一定是针对他们. We are teaching students to think about the things they don’t know yet.”
Great Bay offers a range of humanities and social sciences options, including majors and concentrations in American studies, 英语, 历史, 美术, 以及文科. The humanities encourage students to think critically, 分析信息, 交流思想, and work cooperatively toward common-good solutions, 博士说. Emily Hinnov, professor of 英语 and program director at Great Bay.
“英语专业的学生不一定要成为高中英语老师或大学教授，也不一定要对这类学位抱有任何狭隘的想法,”她说。. “我们正试图让我们的学生拓宽他们的视野，让他们了解这些基础广泛的写作技能是如何发挥作用的, 批判性思维, 沟通, and creative thinking can apply to many different fields.”
Courses in the humanities and social sciences attract students across the curriculum, 不管专业是什么.
“Most of the students at Great Bay take 历史 or sociology or political science, 这意味着我们的院系对整个学院的很多学生都有影响,”医生说。. 社会科学教授、学院历史项目协调员乔丹·范斯勒说.
“我们可以与历史专业学生或社会科学家之外的学生交流和合作. For someone going into the tech field, 这是他们最后一门社会科学课程——对一些人来说，这也是他们的第一门课程. 所以给他们提供他们可能需要的一些背景是我们扮演的一个非常重要的角色, some of the perspectives they might not get from some of their other classes.”
For students who major in the humanities and social sciences, an associate degree is a springboard, 不是目的地, where Great Bay represents the beginning of an 教育al journey. 大湾所有的人文课程都强调转入四年制学院和大学的途径, 博士和. 霍华德指出，大湾最近与新罕布什尔大学卫生与公共服务学院签订了一项新的转学协议.
“大多数历史专业的学生来我们这里都是想转到四年制大学, and we are set up to do that,”医生说。. Fansler.
That is true in 英语, as well. “When I started at Great Bay almost 10 years ago, we did not have an 英语 major,” Dr. Hinnov说. “现在，我们在这里用英语教授的课程与UNH提供的课程相当.”
越来越多地, 大湾为人文专业的学生提供研究机会，帮助他们为自己的教育和职业理想做好准备. This past summer, four Great Bay students and two faculty members participated in Andrew J. Mellon Foundation-funded New Hampshire Humanities Collaborative research projects.
Melissa Shortt, an 英语 major and student of Dr. Hinnov, received a fellowship to pursue her research about gender inequity in literature. 夏洛特·金，最近 优等生 文科毕业生, 与新罕布什尔大学教授保罗·罗伯逊一起研究了一个关于性别和性行为随时间变化的项目. 历史 students Lexie Mcnew and Kristina Dube worked with Dr. Hansler的长期项目涉及纪念的想法和地标的意义, 纪念碑, 还有纪念活动.
今年春季学期，将于今年12月毕业的心理学专业学生克里特(Kriete)与布朗博士(Dr. 她获得了新罕布什尔人文学科合作基金的资助，在一个以“自由生活……有/脱离标签”为主题的研究项目中探索她对个人身份的兴趣.”
她在四月由UNH主办的研讨会上介绍了她的研究，并且是几位现在和过去的大湾学生之一，他们在大学级别的冰球突破豪华版试玩聚会上介绍了他们的工作. Former Great Bay students Marianne J. 柯林斯和瑞安·沙欣介绍了梅隆基金会资助的一项研究，主题是“但什么是真相??” at a humanities conference in 2022. 他们基于调查的研究探索了真相的概念，以及人们和社会派别对真相的解释是如何不同的.
Their research was well received at the conference, and they were encouraged to refine their work and prepare a paper for publication. “We’re fine-tuning it now and finishing the editing, and we will put it out for publication soon,柯林斯说, 她于2022年8月从大湾大学毕业，获得心理学副学士学位，目前正在南新罕布什尔大学攻读学士学位.
基于Dr. Huard’s advice and encouragement and her success at Great Bay, her goal is to go for her Ph.D. and become a research psychologist.
夏新, who intends to work as a nurse practitioner, also graduated from Great Bay with a psychology degree in 2022. He is slated to graduate from UNH with a bachelor’s in psychology this spring, and then pursue a master’s degree.
His humanities research at Great Bay set the path for his academic success, he said.
“It was a privilege,” 夏新 said. “For people to invest in my ability to do meaningful research was a huge compliment. 大家都很尊重玛丽安和我，在整个项目中支持我们，这是我作为学生的莫大荣幸. It was a milestone as a student, actually. 它对我的态度产生了很大的影响，就我现在的位置和我想要在我的学术旅程中去的地方而言.”
