College of Arts and Letters

Humans are, most of all, symbol-making beings. Civilization itself is a symbolic arrangement, and the arts and letters thrive at its very heart. There is no more sophisticated and far-reaching invention, for instance, than language and the written word. And the image possesses a primal sway that has been with us since our species began representing reality on cave walls. We sing, we play music, we dance, we envision, we translate, we reason, we discover. The seven departments of UT’s College of Arts and Letters offer 20 major degree programs, 17 minors and 6 certificate programs that engage students in the rigors and powers of devising such vital forms, of making and reshaping meaning and understanding that meaning. These programs cultivate the inner resources most necessary for the truly good and creative life: physical and emotional discipline, moral imagination, practiced memory, broad sympathy and intellectual courage.