School of Humanities

The school includes the disciplines of English, History, Philosophy, and Religion. Students may choose from degrees in English, English (English Education), History, History (Social Studies Education), Philosophy, and Philosophy with a pre-law emphasis. The school also offers minors in English, History, Philosophy, and Religion. The school also houses the Center for Writers.

Center for Digital Humanities

The Center for Digital Humanities (CDH) at USM supports academics and institutions in Mississippi who use digital tools to explain, study, and preserve scholarship in the humanities. Digital scholarship is more than the application of digital tools and platforms to humanities research; it considers how digital technology shapes knowledge and how the use of digital tools can make information more accessible to the public. The digital humanities use a broad array of digital tools to map relationships and places, photographically or virtually reconstruct spaces, explore connections between people or language, and transform two-dimensional archives into visually compelling collections that link resources to artifacts. As an interdisciplinary research center, the center benefits from strong relationships with faculty in English, History, Philosophy and Religion, and with faculty affiliates in Computer Science, Geography, and university libraries.

Center for Ethics and Health Humanities

The Center for Ethics and Health Humanities (CEHH) brings thoughtful discussions of issues related to ethics, health, and the humanities to USM constituents and the broader south Mississippi area. CEHH supports two minors: Disability Studies and Health and Medical Humanities. Its advisory board represents a wide range of disciplinary specialties including nursing, public health, biology, criminal justice, philosophy and English, and the Center facilitates interactions between health researchers and local healthcare providers. Recent events have addressed topics such as palliative care in medicine, the ethics of the death penalty, the rights of disabled persons at corporate theme parks, and students with intellectual disabilities in university contexts.

Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage

Since 1971, the Center for Oral History & Cultural Heritage (COHCH) at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) has collected and preserved Mississippians’ stories. Our collection boasts over 4,000 interviews - and counting - by far the largest in the state and one of the largest in the South. Our collection has proven an invaluable resource for researchers, journalists, teachers, students, documentarians, and museums. In 1999, the Center became the repository for the Mississippi Oral History Project: a ground-breaking initiative, funded by the Mississippi State Legislature, to document the collective memory of Mississippi’s culture, heritage, and institutions. The oral histories are accessible via either Special Collections in USM’s McCain Library and Archives, and in the COHCH’s offices at USM’s Hattiesburg campus.

The Center for the Study of the Gulf South

PURPOSE: The Center for the Study of the Gulf South (CSGS) at the University of Southern Mississippi, founded in 1999, promotes the study of the history of the US South, Central America, and the Caribbean through the scholarship of its members as well as by funding research and by sponsoring public events.

MEMBERS: Based within the School of Humanities, the Center draws on the strengths of the History Program faculty in several critical eras: the colonial Gulf South, slavery and abolition, the Civil War era, the Great Depression/World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement. The faculty and graduate students of the CSGS publish with top academic presses and journals along with presenting at leading academic conferences.

Center for the Study of the National Guard

The mission of the Center for the Study of the National Guard (CSNG) is to create and apply knowledge to facilitate research and scholarship on the National Guard. Despite its 300-year history in every American conflict, the National Guard is the only component of the armed forces without an all-encompassing archive and research center. As a joint endeavor, The Dale Center and the Center for Oral History have worked to rectify this gap in historical information by building a National Guard Center. CSNG seeks to identify, collect, and preserve the documentary history of the National Guard and preserve oral histories of members and veterans of the National Guard. CSNG strives to become the centralized repository to facilitate research and publication on National Guard history.

The Center for Writers

The Center for Writers offers undergraduates the opportunity to concentrate in poetry or fiction within the context of the basic English Bachelor of Arts degree. A cohesive sequence of workshop courses of increasing difficulty encourages student writers to locate and focus their talents and to observe and participate in the process of creative writing. The Center sponsors two publications: Mississippi Review, a national journal of fiction, poetry and non-fiction; and Product, a student publication geared to publish and circulate within the university community the very best student writing.

Dale Center for the Study of War & Society

The Dale Center for the Study of War & Society at Southern Miss is one of the top military history programs in the country, housing a distinguished academic community with expertise in how conflict affects communities, soldiers, and non-combatants. The Dale Center expands on the field of military history, with its traditional focus on leaders, strategies, and operations, and seeks to identify and understand the social and cultural consequences of war. The Dale Center has earned a reputation as a center of excellence, with its faculty members recognized among the best scholars in the field and its students as noteworthy future scholars. The Dale Center also serves the community by hosting a number of important academic and community events throughout the year that bring together scholars, students, and community members.

Majors

English (English Education) BA

English BA

History (Social Studies Education) BA

History BA

Philosophy, Religion, and Law BA

Minors

English Minor

History Minor

Philosophy Minor

Public and Applied History Minor

Religion Minor