School of Arts & Letters
A degree in Arts & Letters provides you with essential skills required in the workforce today. Oral and written communication, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving are highly valuable assets in both our personal and professional lives.
Coursework in the humanities allows you to engage with the creative and scholarly works of human expression. With courses in a wide variety of areas such as film and comics studies, Native studies, creative writing, ethics, acting, play analysis, and communication theory, you will be exposed to a diversity of viewpoints and ideas that will enrich your life as a human individual and help you develop your own viewpoint and understanding of the world.
In all, a humanities degree is a powerful source of knowledge, communication skills, and reasoning and thinking capabilities. The skills learned here hold value in a variety of different careers and real-world situations, empowering you with a flexibility to adapt yourself to whatever challenges and occupations you might encounter.
Skills and Competencies Gained in Arts & Letters
- Oral and written communication
- Critical Thinking
- Creative Thinking
- Ethical Reasoning
- Global Learning
- Inquiry and Analysis
Employment for Arts & Letters
Any discussion of future job prospects must consider recent research regarding the changing nature of employment in the twenty-first century.
Some key findings:
- Average number of times a person changes jobs during their life: 12.3 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- โnearly 50% of subject knowledge acquired during the first year of a four-year technical degree is outdated by the time students graduateโ (World Economic Forum)
- โhighest expected level of skills stability over the 2015โ2020 period is found in the Media, Entertainment and Information sectorโ (World Economic Forum)
- โSocial skillsโsuch as persuasion, emotional intelligence and teaching othersโwill be in higher demand across industries than narrow technical skillsโ (World Economic Forum)
- Top skills desired by employers: oral/written communication, critical thinking, collaboration, ethical judgment, independent work ethic (National Association of Colleges and Employers, Association of American Colleges and Universities)
An Arts & Letters degree is a smart choice in view of attaining those essential skills that prove to be stable and consistent across many different careers and throughout the long run. A humanities degree does not automatically confine you into a specific occupation, affording you a greater degree of freedom and flexibility in finding a career and a life that you wish to pursue.
Further Reading
The 10 most in-demand soft skills to master if you want a raise, promotion or new job in 2020
In the Salary Race, Engineers Sprint but English Majors Endure
Contact
Dr. Chad Barbour, Chair, Arts and Letters
Dr. Christy Wenger, Dean, College of Education and Liberal Arts
Sheri Garee, Academic Assistant, Arts and Letters
Journals
Border Crossing: Literary and Arts Journal
Snowdrifts: Undergraduate Journal of Writing and Art
Our Mission
Through rigorous intellectual and creative inquiry, we prepare our students for success in graduate and professional schools, along their career paths, and in an increasingly interconnected global society.
Our Vision
The disciplines in the Arts & Letters are essential to understanding the human condition. They provoke, uplift, inspire, challenge, and engage our minds and spirits. The Arts & Letters faculty are practicing artists and academics who regularly present, perform, and/or publish in our respective fields. Lake Stateโs faculty and students embrace interdisciplinary collaboration as we address the profound concerns of the human experience. Students leave our programs with broadened worldviews, an ethic of care for the Earth and its inhabitants, a sense of civic responsibility, and the tools for a successful life.
Faculty Publications
Collaboration
Faculty and students in the School of Arts & Letters enjoy interdisciplinary collaboration.

LSSU student Janessa Stutz, left, Prof. Mary McMyne, center,
and student John Keller, right, discuss line edits for a selected short story in the LSSU journal Border Crossing. (LSSU/John Shibley)

Nursing students Sarah Burnham, Sydney Holstege, and Michalla Fader work with theatre students Trinity Searles and Michael Oakes as part of our THEA 164 Healthcare Simulation practicum.