Contents

• Contributing Faculty
• Major
• Advising
• Honors in the Major
• Courses
• Core and Cluster Courses

Additional Information

• View faculty profiles
• View current course offerings

Medieval & Early Modern Studies is a multidisciplinary approach to European cultures and civilizations from late antiquity (ca. 500) to the beginning of the Enlightenment (ca. 1750). The major incorporates materials and methodologies from the fields of literary studies, history, art history, music, philosophy, and religious studies. Students in the program have considerable flexibility in the design and focus of their courses of study.

Contributing Faculty

Sylvie G. Davidson, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, John J. Curley '60 and Ann Conser Curley '63 Faculty Chair in Global Education (Director of the Dickinson College Center in Toulouse, Spring 2009)
Mara Donaldson, Professor of Religion (On leave 2008-09)
Phillip J. Earenfight, Associate Professor of Art and Art History, Director of the Trout Gallery
Christopher Francese, Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Carol Ann Johnston, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Martha Porter Sellers Chair in Rhetoric and the English Language (On leave 2008-09)
David Kranz, Professor of English and Film Studies (On leave 2008-09)
Andrea Lieber, Associate Professor of Religion, Sophia Ava Asbell Chair in Judaic Studies
Marc Mastrangelo, Associate Professor of Classical Studies
Ted Pulcini, Associate Professor of Religion
Abraham Quintanar, Associate Professor of Spanish, Coordinator
John Ransom, Associate Professor of Political Science
Thomas Reed, Professor of English
Alberto Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Spanish
Melinda Schlitt, Professor of Art History, William W. Edel Professor of Humanities
Wendell Smith, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Stephen Weinberger, Robert Coleman Professor of History
Blake Wilson, Associate Professor of Music

Major

Eleven courses:
I. MEMS 200
II. Core courses: five courses including HIST 105 and 106, and three courses focused in the time frame or on MEMS theory, one each in Music, Art & Art History and literature in any language
III. Cluster courses: four courses on a topic decided in consultation with a MEMS advisor, in more than one department and including courses above the 100 level
IV. Senior research: MEMS 490

Advising

Each student will choose his/her advisor from among participating faculty. The advisor's responsibility will be to ensure that the student's "cluster courses" have an appropriate depth and academic level; i.e., a cluster cannot be composed of four courses at the 100-level, or four courses from one department. The advisor will also guide the student in developing the cluster with an eye towards The Senior Experience. The Senior Experience will be an interdisciplinary research project drawn from the cluster topic and courses. The student will explore this topic at a more advanced and synthetic level than in the cluster courses.

Honors in the Major

Students may elect to pursue honors as part of their MEMS 490 Senior Experience. An abstract of the proposed project and a preliminary bibliography should be submitted before the end of the junior year for review by MEMS 490 faculty. Upon evaluation of the final project, MEMS 490 faculty will decide whether to award honors.

Courses

200 Discourse and Methods in Medieval & Early Modern Studies Sophomore methods course for the major in Medieval & Early Modern Studies. This is a team-taught, interdisciplinary course, with topics and faculty rotating among the participating departments. Each course will be offered under the umbrella of a single topic, such as a city, a subject, an idea. An introduction to critical and historical methods and discourses within the discipline of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, including reading, critique, research, and interpretation.

490 The Senior Experience Senior Projects and Research in Medieval & Early Modern Studies. Seniors in the major will work independently with a director and a second faculty reader (representing another discipline in the major) to produce a lengthy paper or special project which focuses on an issue relevant to the cluster of courses taken previously. Under the direction of the program coordinator, students will meet collectively 2 or 3 times during the semester with the directors (and, if possible, other MEMS faculty) to share bibliographies, research data, early drafts, and the like. This group will also meet at the end of the semester to discuss and evaluate final papers and projects. Prerequisite. 200; four-course "cluster."

Core and Cluster Courses

ARTH: 101, 102, 300, 301, 304, 306, 203, 205, 391
ENGL: 101, 339, 350, 390, 392, 394, 399, 403
FREN 361, 364
GRMN: 240
HIST: 105, 106, 121, 222, 223, 243, 253, 213, 313
ITAL 225 (offered in Bologna), 251, 320, 400
MUSC: 101, 107, 351, 352
PHIL: 242
RELG: 209, 211, 212, 214, 259, 260, 310, 390, 490
RUSS: 223, 260
SPAN: 310, 320, 380, 410