Academic Programs Catalog

College of Arts and Letters

Center for Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities

Ellen Moll, Director

Integrative Studies is Michigan State University’s unique approach to liberal general education, offering a core curriculum  that complements specialized work by students in their majors.  Integrative Studies courses integrate multiple ways of knowing and modes of inquiry and introduce students to important ways of thinking in the three core knowledge areas: the Arts and Humanities, the Biological  and Physical Sciences, and the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. They assist students early during their study to develop as more critical thinkers.  They also encourage appreciation of our humanity and creativity,  human cultural diversity, the power of knowledge, and our responsibilities for ourselves and for our world.

The Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (CISAH) has primary responsibility for the Arts and Humanities area of Integrative Studies at Michigan State University, working cooperatively with faculty and departments in the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Social Science (Department of History), and the College of Music. The mission of CISAH is to provide excellence in arts and humanities general education for students by introducing them to multiple ways of knowledge in an integrative approach; to support interdisciplinary arts and humanities teaching and research that engages with the community inside and outside Michigan State University; to integrate instructional technology and active service learning in teaching in the arts and humanities; and to facilitate cross-disciplinary intellectual and scholarly interaction.

CISAH courses seek to assist students to become more familiar with ways of knowing in the arts and humanities and to be more knowledgeable and capable in a range of intellectual and expressive abilities; to engage critically with their own society, history, and culture(s); to learn more about the history and culture of other societies; to focus on key ideas and issues in human experience; to appreciate the roles of knowledge and values in shaping and understanding human behavior; to understand the responsibilities and opportunities of democratic citizenship; to value the creative arts of literature, theater, music, and arts; and to apply their learning to important issues that occur among peoples in an increasingly interconnected, interdependent world.