Division of Humanities
Knowledge from antiquity to the present
The faculty of the FAS Humanities division cover an expansive intellectual terrain. They are experts in history, literature, language, philosophy, and the arts. Their work asks who we are and what we might become as they make new discoveries about the past and present that will shape the future of human culture. Through collaboration, research, and teaching, they initiate conversations around the most pressing questions that humankind has addressed from antiquity to the present.
The divisional dean of the Humanities is Marc Robinson.
Humanities departments and programs
The FAS's 20+ humanities units cover the range of human knowledge: from English to Classics; from History of Art to Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies; from the world's languages and literatures to History. In addition, several programs are cross-divisional, bridging Humanities and Social Science.
News
‘Black Environmental Thought’
In an English and Black Studies course taught by Jonathan Howard, Assistant Professor of Black Studies and of English, students seek new ways to understand humanity’s relation to nature.
‘True exemplars’: FAS faculty honored for support of graduate students
Each spring, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences recognizes professors from each of four divisions for their advising and mentoring of Yale students.
Yale’s HoSang awarded a 2026 Carnegie fellowship
Yale’s Daniel Martinez HoSang, Professor of American Studies, has received a 2026 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship to support his research into political polarization and to identify potential solutions.
Jennifer Gandhi named Phyllis A. Wallace Dean of Faculty Development in FAS
Gandhi, a political scientist, will serve as the FAS dean of faculty development for a five-year term.
Becoming better thinkers through art and culture
How does architecture affect the way we live? Does it influence our health and our healing? Fatima Naqvi, the Elias W. Leavenworth Professor of German and Film Studies in the FAS, explores these questions in her new book. She looks at how writers and directors portray the architecture of hospitals and describe their experience from the 1880s to the present. Naqvi’s scholarship lies at the intersection of architecture, literature, and film. She argues that by experiencing culture and the arts, we become better thinkers in ways that are difficult to quantify but nevertheless profound.