By Katy TerBerg
WMU’s Medieval Institute now offers a minor in Medieval Studies. The many undergraduate classes offered at WMU in medieval language, literature, history and religion, according to the Medieval Institute’s website, can be combined to form a minor.
The Congress exhibit hall is located in Goldsworth Valley III at WMU. photo: Neil Rankin.
Students with an undergraduate minor must complete 24 hours of coursework. The required classes include Heroes and Villains of the Middle Ages (MED 1450), Medieval World (HIST 3600), Interdisciplinary Studies in Medieval Culture (MED 5000), and 15 additional hours of select fine arts, religion and philosophy, language and literature, and history courses. These courses must be approved by an instructor.
Director of the Medieval Institute, James M. Murray, has yet to develop specific courses for the program, but he oversees the operation of classes in the Medieval Studies curriculum. According to Murray, involvement in Medieval culture has set the precedent for modern times and that, despite cynicism, these studies are not antiquated or impractical.
“I have sought to understand how urban economies organized finance and trade in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and how changes in economic structures shape, and are shaped by, political and social change,” he said. “Our present is deeply rooted in our past.”
Undergraduate students also are welcome to attend the 47th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 10-13, 2012) Information, including session schedules and registration is now available online for the more than 3,000 scholars interested in Medieval Studies. The Congress features more than 550 sessions of papers, panel discussions, round-tables, workshops, and performances, as well as business meetings and receptions by learned societies and institutions.
More information about the Medieval Institute and the Congress can be found on the home page.
Links:
James Murray’s homepage.
