New Minor in Medieval Studies programs offered at U.S. universities

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrScbtkluozlQI24DQf8Bo8m3_U3NxbiiEcQv6GwxibAqbftDnwD-Q46PAdM_RvsPg7LJQLvicXd1Apr-sa_1xKPNVqZSkjK5Nk-y458TlbD6GKMbkTBuMkLw4d9vEp2QaKEAiTwIpeo/s1600/Seo_Jp_of_Graduation_to_Columbia_University_in_the_City_of_New_York,_1892.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrScbtkluozlQI24DQf8Bo8m3_U3NxbiiEcQv6GwxibAqbftDnwD-Q46PAdM_RvsPg7LJQLvicXd1Apr-sa_1xKPNVqZSkjK5Nk-y458TlbD6GKMbkTBuMkLw4d9vEp2QaKEAiTwIpeo/s1600/Seo_Jp_of_Graduation_to_Columbia_University_in_the_City_of_New_York,_1892.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't worry - medieval studies is a little more gender balanced!</td></tr></tbody></table>The University of Arizona and the University of Connecticut have both added a Minor in Medieval Studies to their program offerings for undergraduate students. <i>The Daily Wildcat</i> that the University of Arizona approved of the minor last December, after it was proposed by professors Fabian Alfie and Albrecht Classen. They were inspired by the creation of a minor in Hip-Hop Studies at the university to go ahead with their own.<br /><br />Professor Classen tells the newspaper, "“[The minor is] trying to give students a sense of a certain cultural period. [This] allows [students] to combine — in a unique way ­— philosophy, religion, art history, literature and economics. There is a lot of flexibility, yet with a concrete focus on a cultural period.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2014/02/new-minor-is-positively-medieval">Click here to read the article from the Daily Wildcat</a></b><br /><br />Meanwhile, the University of Connecticut will offer their students to gain a minor in Medieval Studies by taking courses from over 11 departments. <i>The Daily Campus</i> reports that the program is designed so that students take a wide variety of subjects.<br /><br />Graduate student Brandon Hawk explains, “It encourages people to take classes in music, art history and other subjects. It provides a greater spectrum of a liberal arts education.”<br /><br />Professor Fiona Somerset, who is one co-head of the program, finds that it will appeal to many types of students. “For aspiring novelists, it’s a great way to get an edge,” she said. “Much of the basis of our pop culture is in the middle ages. If you read fantasy, that’s medieval based.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailycampus.com/news/new-minor-offered-in-medieval-studies-1.3137282">Click here to read the article from the Daily Campus</a></b><br /><b><br /></b><b><a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2013/08/25/medieval-studies-programs-in-the-united-states/">Click here to see our page on Medieval Studies programs in the United States</a></b>

New Minor in Medieval Studies programs offered at U.S. universities

Don't worry - medieval studies is a little more gender balanced! The University of Arizona and the University of Connecticut have both a...

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Were Medieval Universities Catholic?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRwXSuI4XuzWUX7Q9i0wdVHKHMb5rrvY_Vtl_ZXdrOExDwV-cw0Jmth8ln3HkECza7iOmstil9_P_sXKC4cr9qEXKV8p0z85XnfTE4uRK7utuNqu_PMPLk-tkMPgpLdzceFSsdDRCU1uw/s1600/220px-Philo_mediev.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRwXSuI4XuzWUX7Q9i0wdVHKHMb5rrvY_Vtl_ZXdrOExDwV-cw0Jmth8ln3HkECza7iOmstil9_P_sXKC4cr9qEXKV8p0z85XnfTE4uRK7utuNqu_PMPLk-tkMPgpLdzceFSsdDRCU1uw/s1600/220px-Philo_mediev.jpeg" /></a></div>Perhaps the greatest and most enduring achievement of the Middle Ages was the creation of the university, an institution for which there was no precedent in the history of the West. It sprang into existence seemingly out of nowhere in the late 12th century primarily in two cities, Paris and Bologna. Both claim to be Europe’s first. By the early decades of the 13th century, others had emerged modeled on them—Oxford on the Paris model and Padua on Bologna. From that point forward, universities proliferated across the face of Europe and became a standard, important and self-governing institution in larger cities.<br /><br />Medieval universities, although they differed among themselves in significant ways, all quickly developed highly sophisticated procedures and organizational strategies that we recognize as our own today. The list is long: set curricula, examinations, professorial privileges and duties, a full array of officers of various kinds, division into different “faculties” (we call them schools) and the public certification of professional competence through the awarding of degrees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13577" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from America: The National Catholic Weekly</a></b>

Were Medieval Universities Catholic?

Perhaps the greatest and most enduring achievement of the Middle Ages was the creation of the university, an institution for which there was...

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How universities helped transform the medieval world

<br />We like to think that we have moved on from the Middle Ages, but do universities from that period have something to teach us about the role of government in education? This column thinks so.<br /><br />How does a new form of knowledge enter the public sphere and what are the consequences for economic activity? Today, thousands of students are pursuing university degrees in biotechnologies and computer sciences in order to enter the high-tech labour force or to become entrepreneurs. Do the institutions that train them generate economic growth? What roles can governments play in establishing educational institutions and supporting investments in the new forms of human capital they produce?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnquUSkk-qD34V_xUocM0sDceHF4_0zvKNMm5b-WKlmnYgSiNPGeDBzS7MUhYMVZCDNsrv-rxYasVQO0Ap6a8wVzf_HxYNxXhVWMiCCyYS5tiuswWlMo-NIqjte1fCG9lEP615DQJRLE/s1600/Yuchtman_fig1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnquUSkk-qD34V_xUocM0sDceHF4_0zvKNMm5b-WKlmnYgSiNPGeDBzS7MUhYMVZCDNsrv-rxYasVQO0Ap6a8wVzf_HxYNxXhVWMiCCyYS5tiuswWlMo-NIqjte1fCG9lEP615DQJRLE/s400/Yuchtman_fig1.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br />These are not new issues: around 100 years ago, the modern American research university – often supported by public funds – was taking shape, training scientists and engineers who were employed in the burgeoning industries of the early 20th century (Goldin and Katz 1999). Perhaps surprisingly, by going even further back in history – all the way to medieval Europe – we can learn important lessons about the relationships among public policy, educational institutions, educational content, and economic development.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/8016" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from VOX</a></b><br />

How universities helped transform the medieval world

We like to think that we have moved on from the Middle Ages, but do universities from that period have something to teach us about the role ...

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