Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts

Values, Mission, and Commitments

As the intellectual heart and cultural center of Coastal Carolina University, the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts stresses the values of intellectual vitality, moral agency, aesthetic appreciation, and creative engagement inside and outside the classroom. In fulfillment of these values, our mission is to sharpen students’ skills in careful reading, clear thinking, close observation, effective writing, and persuasive argument. We believe students can be the makers of the world they inhabit, and our mission is to prepare each of them to live a thoughtful and fulfilling life as a responsible and responsive human being and citizen.

The shared mission, values, and traditions of the humanities and fine arts and the Edwards College have led us to make the following commitments:

We will…

Demonstrate the centrality of the humanities and fine arts to a university education that fosters informed and responsible citizens.
Protect the rights and freedoms of faculty and students to explore open and innovative critical inquiry across disciplines.
Provide an education that addresses the unique backgrounds and needs of a diverse and changing student population.
Inspire the campus and community to embrace a more humane, compassionate, ethical, and well-rounded perspective.
Create a distinctive atmosphere of creativity, curiosity, innovation, and collaboration.
Secure resources to support student creative, intellectual, and social development grounded in the liberal arts.
Promote research, scholarship, and creative activity consistent with the Scholar-Teacher Model.
Enhance diversity, growth, and cultural understanding by promoting international experiences, global citizenship, and global institutional cooperation.
Improve the quality and effectiveness of the college as an organization by developing nimble processes and institutional adaptability.
Transform and enrich the university through dedication to better teaching and scholarship, and more robust creative activity and service.

Graduate degrees in the Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts require students to maintain a minimum overall average of B (3.0) for all courses taken. If at any time students fail to satisfy this requirement, then they are placed on probation for one semester. Students are permitted only one probationary semester due to a low GPA during the entire course of their graduate study. Failure by students in the probationary semester to bring up their overall average to the minimum acceptable level will result in dismissal from the program. A maximum of two classes may be completed below the grade of B before dismissal from the program. Receiving a failing grade (D or F) in a required course or an F in any course will result in dismissal from the program regardless of students’ overall average.