Humanities Gateway
In a world of increasingly rapid change and evolving challenges, the Humanities Gateway Program provides students with the critical skills necessary to engage in independent thinking and knowledge production. The Program, which consists of four courses over the students’ first two semesters at Trinity, has two major aims. First, it helps students develop a knowledge base in core areas of humanistic inquiry (religious studies, philosophy, literature, history), and, in so doing, the Program also introduces students to key approaches and methodologies that span across the humanities, preparing students to thrive in an unpredictable world in informed, creative ways. To achieve these goals, the Program identifies a series of through-lines that connect the four courses. These points of connection change from year to year, and previous iterations of the Program have centered around chronological investigations of western thought, classical Islamic studies and modern Middle Eastern literature, and creative responses to the present climate crisis.
In addition to such classroom pursuits, the Humanities Gateway Program also involves a series of off-campus events, such as trips to the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, dinners at local restaurants with faculty members, and plays at the Hartford Stage Theater. Through these diverse experiences, the Humanities Gateway offers its students the unique opportunity to think deliberately through a set of distinct but related ideas, work particularly closely with four different faculty members, and create a sense of community with both their cohort and the other Humanities Gateway classes.
For this upcoming academic year (2026–27), the Program will be structured to explore the chronological development of western thought. In the first semester, students will examine classical Greek literature alongside ancient Roman philosophy. While these two courses in the fall semester are designed to investigate the foundations of European culture, the two spring courses will extend this work by posing a series of interrelated questions: How did these classical sources lay the groundwork for the later medieval understanding of humanity, and how did the emerging Christian tradition then come to define notions of gender and sexuality?
We invite all who are interested to reach out to the faculty co-directors, Professors Julia Assaiante ([email protected]) and Gabriel Hornung ([email protected]) with any questions.
