About the Minor
Please contact the Art History Program Director or administrative assistant, Esther Moran, with any questions related to the minor.
The art history minor is intended to reach students who would like to incorporate the study of artworks and architecture into their work in other disciplines and/or who discover art history later in their college career. The art history minor maintains the geographical breadth, historical depth, and academic rigor that is characteristic of the major but comprises fewer art history courses and does not require study of a foreign language. Art history minors may not write honors theses. For admission to the minor, students must have taken a minimum of three art history courses and have a B average in art history, as well as a B average overall.
The Art History Program director will admit students to the minor and certify them upon its completion. To sign up for the minor, students need to complete a minor declaration form found in their WesPortal.
Upon completing the minor, students must submit a completed minor certification form.
Students will not be required to declare an official minor advisor, but they are encouraged to meet with the art history faculty on an as-needed basis and to take part in program events.
To complete a minor, students need to take six credits with the following requirements:
- Completion of a 100-level course. Students may choose from any of the 100-level courses offered in any given semester or year.
- Completion of five courses numbered 200 or above. These courses must include study in four of the following five areas: classical, medieval, Renaissance/Baroque, modern, and non-western. One of these five courses must be a seminar (numbered in the 300 range).
- All of the courses offered by or cross-listed with the Art History Program are eligible for the minor.
- No courses numbered 401 or higher may count toward the minor.
- No courses in other departments may count toward the minor, except for courses cross-listed with art history.
- One course in art history taken elsewhere may count toward the minor, subject to the program chair’s approval. If preapproved, this course would serve as the fifth 200-level course and would not count toward the geographical and/or chronological distributional requirements.
- All courses that count toward the minor must be taken for a letter grade. Exceptions will be made for COL and CSS majors.
There is no prescribed sequence of courses, though it is recommended that students begin with a 100-level course and proceed upward through the curriculum.
For a listing of active art history courses and the distributional requirements each fulfills, please see: wesleyan.edu/art/arthist/form/ACTIVE_ARHA.pdf.
