Message from Dean Karl Toepfer
The College of Humanities and the Arts seeks to instill in the student
an understanding of human existence that is both tolerant and moral
and to nurture an appreciation of human creativity as portrayed and
expressed in works of language and literature, visual and performing
arts, philosophy and theology, and by engagement in the creation of
art and criticism.
Through its programs, the College aims to develop concerned citizens
as well as employable graduates. College faculty educate students
in skills they can use throughout their lives as well as in their
first job after graduation. Building upon a foundation of excellent
oral and written communication, the College helps students pursue
a wide variety of paths to knowledge and careers, through specialized
study in such fields as art history, ceramics, comparative literature,
dance, film, foreign language, musical composition and performance,
painting, radio broadcasting, sculpture, television, linguistics,
comparative religion, philosophy, and technical and creative writing.
Faculty in all disciplines of the College engage in research that
is published by major scholarly journals and university presses, supported
by the major national grants and foundations, and presented at the
major international scholarly conferences. Artists within the College
publish in important literary journals, exhibit at nationally recognized
venues, or participate in prestigious performing arts productions.
Throughout the College, faculty seek to produce scholarship or creative
works that achieve national recognition.
The college seeks to develop the individual's ability to communicate
effectively and to analyze critically the foundations upon which cultural
perceptions are built. It attempts to reveal the inherent aspiration
toward beauty and truth in the human soul by exposing the student
to the humanities and the creative arts. In its many professional
arts programs, the college develops the talent of those who have the
skill to perform or create works of art, fixing in vivid form the
values of our diverse heritage. In its programs in language, literature,
philosophy, and other areas of the humanities, it helps students to
explore works of the human imagination and intellect from around the
world, and to exercise their own minds’ creatively.
Through its General Education, Arts, and many scholarly programs
and research units, such as the Center for Literary Arts, the Martha
Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, and the Beethoven Center,
the College of Humanities and the Arts makes an indispensable contribution
to the SJSU community and the region surrounding it.
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