The Bachelor of Arts in Humanities (BAH), offered by The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) as part of the Finish@UT program, is designed for self-motivated students wanting a broad, interdisciplinary liberal arts and fine arts degree. Working with your advisor, you will be able to tailor your degree with flexible options and the convenience of studying online so you can pursue your career interests and academic goals.
Degree Plan
The BAH degree plan requires 120 total credits for completion. Consult with your advisor regarding how many credits must be taken from UTPB. Courses may be used only once in the degree plan and a 2.0 GPA is required for graduation.
The degree plan consists of:
- General Education Core Curriculum (42 credits)
- Humanities Core (30 credits)
- Humanities Concentration (24 credits + 3 credit capstone course)
- Electives (19 credits)
Please refer to the downloadable sample degree plan for reference.
General Education Core Curriculum (42 total credits)
The State of Texas requires students to complete a core curriculum that encompasses a variety of disciplines. The list included here notes the areas that are required for completion of the UTPB core curriculum. Your transcript will be evaluated to determine which areas have already been fulfilled.
For more information, please contact your advisor.
- English Composition - 6 credits
- American History - 6 credits
- Political Science - 6 credits
- Language, Philosophy and Culture - 3 credits
- Mathematics - 3 or 4 credits
- Communication - 3 or 4 credits
- Life and Physical Sciences - 8 credits
- Creative Arts - 3 credits
- Social Science - 3 credits
Should you need to complete some areas listed, you may do so by:
- taking online courses through the Finish@UT in either accelerated sessions or traditional semesters;
- completing courses on site at UTPB's campus; or
- completing courses at another college or university and having them transferred into UTPB.
Humanities Core (30 total credits)
No courses chosen to meet the general education requirements above can also be used for the humanities core. Up to six credits of a foreign language may substitute for communication courses. The online humanities core coursework is offered via the Finish@UT in accelerated 8-week sessions or traditional 15-week semesters.
- ARTS 1303 Art History Survey I
- ARTS 1304 Art History Survey II
- COMM 1318 Interpersonal Communication
- COMM 2301 Modern Media and Society
- COMM 2302 Rhetoric in Western Thought
- ENGL 2322 British Literature to 1800 or ENGL 2323 British Literature Since 1800
- ENGL 2327 American Literature to 1865 or ENGL 2328 American Literature Since 1865
- HIST 2322 World Civilization since 1500
- HUMN 3301 Backgrounds and Foundations (UTEP)
- MUSI 1306 Music Appreciation
- MUSI 3318 Jazz History
Humanities Concentration (24 total credits)
A total of 24 credits distributed across at least two of the following areas with at least two courses in each chosen area are required. No courses chosen to meet the general education or humanities core requirements above can also be used as part of a concentration.
Courses listed below are suggested for each discipline based on the available accelerated format online courses from UTPB. Other appropriate courses not listed here, either accelerated format or face-to-face or online courses in semester-length format, may be used to fulfill requirements for each area.
I. Art
- ARTS 3301 Women Artists I
- ARTS 3305 Modern Hispanic Art and Its Foundation
- ARTS 3355 History of Printmaking
- ARTS 4302 History of African American Art
- ARTS 4344 A Survey of World Ceramics
II. Communication
- COMM 3304 Public Messages
- COMM 3311 Crisis Communication
- COMM 3312 Nonverbal Communication
- COMM 3355 Advanced Public Speaking
- COMM 3360 Theories of Communication
- COMM 4307 Organizational Communication
- COMM 4320 Communication and Instruction
- DRAM 3311 Drama: Comedy
- DRAM 4305 American Drama
- ENGL 3311 Drama: Comedy
- ENGL 3332 Literature and Art
- ENGL 3340 Advanced Composition
- ENGL 4305 American Drama
- ENGL 4321 Topics in British Poetry: Renaissance Sonnet
- ENGL 4332 The Nineteenth-Century British Novel
- ENGL 4371 Rhetoric and Composition
- ENGL 4372 Semantics
III. History
- HIST 3326 19th-Century Europe
- HIST 3346 Coming of Age, 1878-1929
- HIST 3348 Post-War America, 1945-Present
- HIST 4326 The French Revolution (previously HIST 4339)
- HIST 4362 American Foreign Relations Since 1920
- HIST 4363 Vietnam War
IV. Music
- MUSI 3312 History of Opera and Musical Theatre
- MUSI 3314 Survey of 20th Century Masterpieces of Music
- MUSI 3316 History of Music Education in America
- MUSI 4302 Film Music History
Capstone Senior Project (3 total credits)
The Capstone Senior Project is a three-credit senior thesis to be fulfilled with a “senior project” or contract-study with a faculty member in a Humanities-related field such as HUMA 4301 Virtual Reality.
Electives (19 total credits)
Sufficient semester credits to make a total of 120 credits. Twelve of these elective credits must be in upper-division courses. Elective courses are not required to be in humanities-related fields.
Frequently Asked Questions
For whom is this degree designed?
The BAH degree is designed for self-motivated students who desire a broad liberal arts and fine arts degree with an interdisciplinary perspective. Instead of pursuing a traditional major, the Humanities student creates, with the consent of their advisor, an individualized plan of study.
How many semester credits are required to complete the degree?
The BAH degree plan requires a minimum of 120 semester credits. The online concentration and humanities core coursework is offered via Finish@UT in accelerated 7- or 8-week sessions or traditional semester-length format.
How many semester credits should I have completed before enrolling in the BAH program?
The BAH is designed as a completion program, so you should have completed your general education core curriculum prior to enrolling in the humanities core and concentration coursework, if possible. If you don't have the required credits, additional online courses are available for you through UT institutions via the Finish@UT.
Finish@UT offers a wide array of General Education (GenEd) and Non-Program courses each semester that may help you complete these and other requirements for your degree. These online courses will likely be in a traditional semester-length format and will vary in cost.
What are my options when selecting the courses for the humanities concentration area for the BAH?
The goal of the humanities core and concentration coursework is to give you an interdisciplinary foundation that satisfies your individual educational and professional goals, while maintaining academic rigor and integrity. The four areas of courses being offered by UTPB that meet the humanities concentration requirement for the BAH are: Communication (includes English courses), History, Art, and Music.
What if I want to take a concentration of humanities courses from another Finish@UT degree plan?
It is possible to choose another suitable concentration in consultation with your advisor. Working closely with your advisor, you’ll be able to design an appropriate humanities concentration made up of some combination of Finish@UT courses from other partner institutions in a personalized degree plan that best fits your previous study and career goals.
What is the cost of BAH courses?
The cost of Finish@UT courses depends on the tuition and fees structures of the campuses hosting them and is based on residency status. Refer to the Cost Information page for more details.
What institution will issue my degree and what will the diploma read?
When you complete the BAH program, your degree will be from The University of Texas of the Permian Basin and your diploma will be for a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities.
