Applied Humanities

Through a grant from the Teagle Foundation, UND is creating interconnected Humanities education for UND students.

Cornerstone at UND

Through student-centered, discussion-oriented Humanities courses, the Cornerstone Program helps you broaden your understanding of the world and yourself, while strengthening your skills to read closely, write clearly, speak with confidence, and contend with differing viewpoints and perspectives. Courses in the program, which integrate transformative texts and great books, provide exposure to the big human questions and opportunities to talk in meaningful ways about them.

You will gain new ways of thinking and solving problems, no matter the area in which you are pursuing a career. Encouraging the importance of the “examined” life, the courses and readings in the humanities will expose you to what human beings, in the past and present, across cultures have thought and said. We all, at some point in our lives face feelings of loss, of uncertainty, of shifting goals, or a changing sense of self. Reading and discussing the human experience in college can give you ways of approaching these challenges throughout your lives.

How it Works

Designed to facilitate meaningful experiences in the Humanities without adding excessive numbers of requirements, the Cornerstone Program consists of two core steps, with options to continue for a Cornerstone Minor in Applied Humanities.

Core 1

Cornerstone: Leadership Through Public Writing - two courses taken together as co-requisites.

ENGL 100 Humanities Seminar in Self, Citizenship, and Community (1 credit)
ENGL 130 Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences (3 credits)

Core 2

Select one 3-credit Humanities course that continues ENGL100 examination of self, society, and citizenship.

ENGL 231 Literature and Society
HIST 260 Slaves, Citizens, and Social Change
LANG 250 Topics in World Languages and Cultures
PHIL 120 Introduction to Ethics
PHIL 130 Introduction to Political Philosophy

Cornerstone Minor in Applied Humanities

Starting in Fall 2025, the Minor in Applied Humanities is completed by taking three courses in one of five thematic clusters.
The Cornerstone Minor in Applied Humanities totals 16 credit hours
(Core 1 + Core 2 + 3 thematic cluster courses).
Because all courses included in the clusters will be validated as ES Humanities courses, a student who completes the ES Humanities requirement with one of the thematic cluster courses would only need 2 more courses to complete the Minor

Thematic Clusters

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Medical Humanities cluster designed for students pursuing careers in fields involving the care and well-being of others, including such majors as biology, nursing, medicine, physical or occupational therapy, psychology, counseling, physical therapy, and social work.