Community Colleges and the Future of the Humanities

In an effort to fulfill student completion and retention goals, the English Department at the Community College of Baltimore County is developing contextualized composition courses for the newly implemented, five academic pathways: Pre-Allied Health; Technology, Science, and Math; Business, Law, and Criminal Justice; Fine Arts (performance, visual, and media); and Behavioral Social Sciences and Humanities. The effort reinforces rhetorical strategies and objectives for expository writing╤organization, grammar, usage, mechanics╤while preserving, despite emphasis in new content, the pedagogical approaches common to humanities education. The intent is to approach what is traditionally defined as non-humanities subject matter from a humanities perspective. Students are challenged with specifically designed curriculum content delivered through class discussions, reading and writing assignments that is more germane to their declared career goals. This new, synthesized approach to composition secures the civic, personal, and professional landscapes of the future. This program is receiving funding from a Mellon grant awarded to CCBC: Humanities For All.