Coronavirus Update

Dickinson will invite students back for the spring. Campus buildings are closed and face coverings are required on campus.

Additional Information and FAQs.

Medieval & Early Modern Studies

Dickinson College

+ Share

Medieval & Early Modern Studies

Dickinson College offers a major and minor in medieval & early modern studies (MEMS). What makes our program unique is the flexibility students have to design their courses of study according to their own interests, enabling them to bring together courses from many different departments—English, history, art, music, philosophy, religion, classical studies and foreign language—around a topic involving European civilization from late antiquity to the 18th century.

MEMS is made up of 18 experienced faculty members, all of whom are accomplished and respected scholars in their fields of study. The major culminates with a senior seminar and a research paper or project developed with two faculty advisors from different disciplines who serve as mentors throughout the capstone experience.

The breadth and rigor of our program will prepare students who would like to continue their studies in graduate school, as well as a variety of other professions in the contemporary workplace. Your MEMS education, grounded in advanced competency in critical thinking, analysis and verbal expression (both written and oral), will be relevant wherever you go beyond Dickinson.

Chair: Melinda SchlittProf., Art & Art History, William W. Edel Prof. of Humanitiesschlitt@dickinson.edu
Department Coordinator: Michele KarperAcad Dept Coord Art & Art Histkarperm@dickinson.edu

Phone: 717-254-8705
Fax: ---
Location: 2nd Floor, Weiss Mailing Address

Department Features

Study Abroad

Current Courses

Student Outcomes

Where Our Students Go From Here

Jobs

University of Washington School of Medicine
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra
Light House for the Blind & Visually Impaired
Walnut Street Theatre
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Dickinson College
Chapman University School of Business
U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center
Taylor & Francis Group, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Graduate schools

University of East Anglia
San Francisco State University
Penn State Dickinson Law School
Fordham University
University of Pittsburgh
University of Washington Medical School
New York University
University of Toronto
Chapman University, School of Business & Economics
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Delaware
Syracuse University
UCLA

Where Our Students Have Interned

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian
State Museum of Pennsylvania
Carlisle Historical Society

Student Perspective

"The Department of Medieval & Early Modern Studies is the best of both worlds: As a MEMS major, I didn’t have to decide which department to major in, be it history, art or literature. I get to study all of my favorite areas within the humanities and social sciences in my favorite time period! The cross-disciplinary work and faculty support I receive in MEMS helped me direct my medieval passion into a career after Dickinson. The director and curator of education at Dickinson’s Trout Gallery are two fabulous medievalists who gave me the opportunity to work hands-on with art, programming and curation projects related to my MEMS studies."

—Bizz Fretty ’20 (art & art history, medieval & early modern studies)

Medieval & Early Modern Studies News

All News Department News

Student Snapshot: Zoë Jacks ’23

Student Snapshot: Zoë Jacks ’23

After a high-school research project, Zoë Jacks ’23 learned what she can accomplish when following her passion for Renaissance history and culture. Now, she's taking those studies to the next level.

Student Snapshot: Julia Chandler ’22

Student Snapshot: Julia Chandler ’22

Meet Julia Chandler ’22, an English and medieval & early modern studies double major who is one of six students recently accepted into the Mansfield Visiting Student Program at Oxford.

Internship Spotlight: Bizz Fretty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Internship Spotlight: Bizz Fretty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bizz Fretty '20 is applying what she's learned as an art & art history and medieval & early modern studies double major to her internship at the Met in New York City.

Dickinson College Hosts Performance by The Newberry Consort

Dickinson College Hosts Performance by The Newberry Consort

Dickinson artists-in-residence The Newberry Consort will perform “Forbidden Love: The Passion of Héloïse and Abélard," using period instruments, costumed actors and projected art and text.

A Fresh Look at Petrarch

A Fresh Look at Petrarch's Existential Crisis

The 2017 Medieval & Early Modern Studies Lecture takes a new look at two major Italian Renaissance works and finds an enlightening philosophical thread.