Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts

Students in School of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts may develop their oral and written communication skills in Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and English and other languages - both classical and modern. The School also features a broad variety of stages where they can explore and enhance their talents as well as their ability to learn and think with creativity, imagination, and sensitivity while being exposed to the best that the history of humanity has to offer in the study of art history, dance, drama, fine arts and design, music, rhetoric and writing studies.

Examples include the annual Shakespeare Festival as well as an annual theater season with classical and contemporary plays and musicals; dance concerts; the student gallery in the Fine Arts and Art History Department; the English Department's "Great Writers, Great Readings" series and the Music Department's busy schedule of concerts and recitals, all of which give students the chance to perform with more than 20 large and small resident music ensembles.

From these robust and enriching programs, students may develop their writing, literary and artistic talents in preparation for careers in the arts and other fields, such as publishing, grant writing, curating, non-profit administration, web design and development, and education.

Hofstra’s location, 25 miles east of Manhattan, gives students countless opportunities to intern, to network, to learn, and to experience some of the world's greatest cultural and recreational resources. Average class size is small. This facilitates personalized attention and mentoring, and widens the opportunity for student/faculty collaboration on research and special projects.

The School of Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts is part of Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which is also home to the University’s School of Education, School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs and the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. 

Curricula in all four schools are informed by the liberal arts tradition and structured so that graduates gain the skills of critical thinking and effective oral and written communication that are essential to professional success and constructive membership in one’s community.  The four schools are also responsible for delivering the general education that virtually all undergraduates must complete to earn their respective bachelor’s degrees

• Africana Studies
• American Studies
• Asian Studies
• Criminology
• Disability Studies
• European Studies
• Labor Studies
• Latin American and Caribbean Studies
• LGBT Studies
• Military Science
• Women's Studies

• Comparative Literature, Languages, & Linguistics
• Drama and Dance
• English
• Fine Arts, Design, Art History
• Music
• Romance Languages and Literatures
• Writing Studies and Rhetoric