Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences

Humanities

The Humanities build intellectual and creative awareness.

The Department of Humanities provides study in the fields of art, art history, communication, foreign languages, humanities, literature, music, philosophy, and western civilization. The curriculum uses a broad-based approach, often developing linkages between the humanities and the science, engineering, and technical fields that School of Mines students enter after graduation.

Although the South Dakota Mines offers no degrees in specific humanities and social sciences disciplines, Humanities and Social Sciences are designed to complement the technical curriculum and enrich the academic and intellectual lives of South Dakota Mines' students.

Social Sciences

The Department of Social Sciences provides courses in disciplines that focus on the institutions of human society and the social, cultural, and psychological aspects of human behavior. By utilizing empirical and quantitative methods in the study of human beings, the curriculum often demonstrates how profoundly scientific and technological developments affect and are affected by society and the environment.

Although South Dakota Mines offers no degrees in the social sciences, your social science courses will complement your technical study and enrich your academic and intellectual life.

To learn more about what we are doing, please visit the STS blog: The Novum.

Prepare to be inspired by the cutting-edge curriculum, research, practical applications, and visionary thinking that these esteemed professors bring to the field. Get ready to embark on a journey of discovery and advancement as you learn.

Kyle W Knight

Department Head and Professor

Haley S Armstrong

Associate Professor/Director of Bands

Meet Our Faculty

Recent Publications by Faculty in the Department of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Gibson, Jonathan. (2024). Trauma, early life stress, and mindfulness in adulthood. BMC psychology, 12(1), 71.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40359-024-01563-6

Showler, Paul. (2024). The moral status of social robots: A pragmatic approach. Philosophy & Technology, 37(2), 51.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-024-00737-9

Showler, Paul. (2024). Putting the Pragmatic Account of Moral Status to Work: a Reply to Gordon. Philosophy & Technology, 37(3), 78.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-024-00770-8

Tellmann, Bryce. D. (2024). Memories on Steel and Vinyl: The Northern Pacific Railway and the Sound of Memory. International Journal of Communication, 18, 18.

https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20799

Tidwell, Christy. "Haunted Earth: Genre, Preservation, and Surviving the End of the World in Jeff VanderMeer’s Hummingbird Salamander." Studies in American Fiction, vol. 50 no. 1, 2023, p. 253-273. Project MUSE, https://doi.org/10.1353/saf.2023.a923103.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/923103

Pritchard, Kayla. (2023). Unclear Motherhood: Ambiguity and Role Conflict Among Double Mothers. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 64(2-4), 130-155.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10502556.2023.2211181

Thomas, Evan & Haugtvedt, Erica. (2023). Serial characterization as a feminist ethics of care in Better Call Saul. Journal of Popular Television, 11(3), 245-260.

https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jptv_00105_1

Van Nuys, Frank. 2023. “The Politics of Nature: ‘Conserving, Protecting, and Improving’ Wildlife and Parks during the ‘Age of Norbeck,” in Old Trails and New Roads in South Dakota History, edited by Jon K. Lauck (Center for Western Studies, Augustana University).

https://www.augie.edu/old-trails-and-new-roads-south-dakota-histor

Haugtvedt, Erica. Transfictional Character and Transmedia Storyworlds in the British Nineteenth Century. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-13463-0

Participation in student organizations allows you to develop the teaming and leadership skills integral to professional success. You’ll also build a record of volunteer work valued and expected by the professional and graduate programs in your chosen career field.

Future Health Science Professionals Club

The Future Health Science Professionals club promotes volunteer activities such as blood drives and wellness fairs and sponsors speakers from the Rapid City health and medical community. Join club members for MCAT study, tours of local medical facilities, and more. For information on joining, contact the FHSP here.

South Dakota Mines Weather Association

Chartered in 2011, the South Dakota Mines Weather Association designs activities to increase students’ knowledge of atmospheric science and meteorological phenomena. The club operates in coordination with the Black Hills chapter of the American Meteorological Society; with the BHAMS, students participate in SkyWarn Training and weather safety outreach programs. Learn more about the club: Weather Association.

2024-2025 Academic Catalog