Organization


Faculty of Arts

Campus in Summer; Old Arts

When you read through the list of Faculty of Arts alumni, you will recognize many people who have made and continue to make important contributions to Canadian society. These include people like poet Lorna Crozier, actor/director Paul Gross, and politician Preston Manning. Alumni in the fields of literature, drama, politics, education, and business have carved out remarkable careers since the faculty was founded in 1908. As the oldest faculty at the University of Alberta, the Faculty of Arts has the honourable tradition of providing programs in the liberal arts. Just as the ancient Romans viewed liberal arts as those taught to free people, so do the programs in the Faculty of Arts train students to free their minds so they can be creative and imaginative thinkers, applying their minds and skills to advance their participation in society as active, responsible citizens.

Today, the Faculty has 14 departments, more than 300 faculty members, and more than 6,000 students. The Faculty represents one-fifth of the University’s total undergraduate population. Many of the departments have high-ranking research chairs, such as the Departments of English and Film Studies, Art and Design, Sociology, History and Classics, Philosophy, and Political Science. Each year, the Faculty attracts over $6 million in research funding. Research institutes in the Faculty of Arts have been leading thought and study into Austrian and Central European studies and Ukrainian folklore, as well as into prairie immigration. The Parkland Institute, one of the province's public policy think tanks, resides within the Faculty of Arts and provides insightful commentary on important issues of the day. The Departments of Drama, English and Film Studies, Art and Design, Political Science, and Linguistics are considered to be among the top departments of their kind in the country. The vision of the faculty and the breadth of the programming draw visionaries and creative students to this faculty.

Campus in Summer; Old Arts

With the research dollars' coming in to the Faculty and with the research institutes' dedicated to specialized fields of knowledge also comes the fruit of much labour. In 2007, for example, the Faculty of Arts opened the Canadian Literature Centre to introduce readers and writers to one another. Local philanthropist Dr Eric Schloss enabled the Faculty to turn his idea into a new centre at the University. The community of writers and readers will benefit from this deliberate interaction between writers and readers of Canadian literature.

Departments

The Department of Anthropology offers undergraduate, MA and PhD programs. The emphasis is on archeology, social/cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, and linguistic anthropology.

Fine Arts Building (c. 1995-2007)

The Department of Art and Design offers programs in the history, theory, and practice of visual arts and design. Its graduate program is one of the oldest of its kind in Canada and the Department has garnered a number of research and creation grants, a Canada Research Chair, and over $1.5 million in faculty grants. The Printmaking Division is internationally recognized for its research excellence. Students in this department may pursue BDes and MDes degrees in Visual Communication Design and Industrial Design; BFA and MFA degrees in Drawing/Intermedia, Painting, Printmaking and Sculpture; and BA and MA degrees in the History of Art, Design, and Visual Culture.

Campus in Summer; Old Arts

The Department of Drama offers courses that lead to a BA and MFA in Drama; BFA in Acting; BFA and MFA in Theatre Design; BFA in Technical Theatre; MFA in Directing; and MFA in Theatre Voice Pedagogy.

The Department of East Asian Studies offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Japanese and Chinese literature, linguistics, and languages.

The Department of Economics offers courses of study about public economics, international economics, industrial organization, financial economics, and the economics of energy, the environment, and natural resources.

The Department of English and Film Studies offers graduate and undergraduate courses in English, Creative Writing, and Film Studies.

The Department of History and Classics offers courses such as Classical Archaeology, Classics, and History designed to explore the human past.

A number of departments are administered by the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies. Students can work toward BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Comparative Literature; an MA in Humanities Computing; a BA in Middle Eastern and African Studies; BA and MA degrees in Religious Studies; a BA in Science, Technology, and Society; and Certificate in Peace and Post-Conflict Studies.

The Department of Linguistics offers courses exploring the theory of language, as well as experimental and observational methods for the study of language. Research conducted within the Department into comparative experiemental lingustics has been deemed an area of emerging research excellence at the University.

The Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies offers courses in 16 languages and four complementary programs in cultural studies. A recognized increase in global travel in the twenty-first century necessitates an understanding of other languages and an appreciation for other cultures. The programs offered by this department celebrate the enriching human experience of studying other languages and developing a cultural literacy.

The Department of Music offers programs for the degrees of MA and PhD in Theory, Musicology, or Ethnomusicology; Master of Music in Applied Music, Choral Conducting, or Composition; and PhD in Music. Music alumni are celebrated by the Department for their continuing contributions of music to the community.

The Department of Philosophy offers traditional philosophy courses like metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and the history of philosophy, as well as robust courses in the philosophy of science, the mind, aethetics, biomedical ethics, and feminist and political philosophy. The Department's research efforts have been recognized with a Canada Research Chair, as well as grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

The Department of Political Science offers more traditional undergraduate and graduate programs in political philosophy and Canadian, comparative, and international politics, as well as more emergent courses in gender and politics, public policy and social movement theory, globalization and international political economy, North American Studies, Aboriginal politics, identity, and political ecology. The Department boasts two Canada Research Chairs and several faculty members have received grants to work on these emergent areas of political science. More than 10 percent of the undergraduate student body at the University of Alberta takes at least one course in Political Science. Several of the faculty been recognized with awards for teaching excellence.

The Department of Psychology offers 55 psychology courses for undergraduate and graduate students. Students may work towards BA, MA, BSc, MSc, or PhD degrees in Psychology. The Department also offers an Internship Program in Psychology for third-year students in Honours Psychology, Specialization in Psychology (Science) and Major in Psychology (Arts), for which students participate in paid work experience within government or industry.

The Department of Sociology focuses its programs on three areas: social structure and policy, theory-cultural studies, and criminology. Degrees offered by the Department include BA, BA (Honours), MA and PhD in Sociology, BA in Criminology, and MA in Criminal Justice.

The Women’s Studies Program offers courses that lead to a degree in Women’s Studies. The department’s 20 courses are combined with courses from other departments to provide study about women’s roles and the changing roles of women in society.

Deans of the Faculty of Arts
2007–2008 Gurston Dacks (Acting)
2002– Daniel Woolf
2002 Harvey Krahn (Acting)
1999–2001 Kenneth Norrie
1993–1994 Margaret Van de Pitte (Acting)
1989–1999 Patricia Clements
1988 Thomas L. Powrie (Acting)
1980–1987 Terrence H. White
1979–1980 B.R. Abu-Laban
1972–1979 R. George Baldwin
1963–1972 Douglas Elstow Smith
Deans of the Faculty of Arts and Science
1957–1963 Douglas Elstow Smith
1952–1957 Walter Hugh Johns
1945–1952 John MacDonald
1938–1945 George Malcolm Smith
1936–1938 William Hardy Alexander

1914–1936

William Alexander Robb Kerr



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