What are your academic passions and interests?
Peruse our departments, majors, and programs to find your perfect fit!
Departments, Programs, & Majors
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Art The Department of Art offers a dynamic and challenging learning environment that emphasizes interdisciplinary research as well as artistic production.
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Classics The Department of Classics explores all aspects of Greek and Roman culture -- the fountainhead of the Western experience.
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Comparative Literature Program The Department of Comparative Literature takes a global approach to the study of literature, crossing national and cultural boundaries -- from ancient to modern times.
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East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies is dedicated to the study of the civilizations of China, Japan, and Korea in all their richness and diversity.
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English The Department of English offers a curriculum that traverses historical eras and global boundaries to explore various literatures and critical approaches to them.
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Film and Media Studies The Department of Film and Media Studies is the place for those with a passion for the large screen and the small screen.
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French and Italian The study of French or Italian is an intellectual adventure that leads to the core of Western civilization.
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Germanic and Slavic Studies The Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies addresses the highly complex histories and cultures of German-speaking and Slavic countries.
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History The Department of History invites students to reimagine the traditional ways we carve up geographical space by examining not just the histories of nations but also those of regions, trade, and cultural exchange.
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History of Art and Architecture The Department of History of Art and Architecture stresses global perspectives and intercultural exchanges, augmenting its long-established strengths in European and Non-Western creative traditions.
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Latin American and Iberian Studies Program The Department of Latin American and Iberian Studies examines the people and cultures of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries throughout the world.
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Linguistics The Department of Linguistics is on the cutting edge of scholarship in a field that seeks explanations for language as a fundamental human activity.
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Media Arts and Technology Program (MAT) Media Arts and Technology is a transdisciplinary graduate program that fuses emergent media, computer science, engineering, electronic music and digital art research, practice, production, and theory.
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Music The Department of Music is a leader in its field, training distinguished scholars as well as prize-winning composers and performers.
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Philosophy The Department of Philosophy explores the frontiers of today’s philosophical research as well as the history of philosophy, spanning thousands of years.
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Religious Studies The Department of Religious Studies is the largest such department in the University of California system, and one of the most diverse in the world.
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Spanish and Portuguese The Department of Spanish and Portuguese is devoted to the literatures, cultures, and languages of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.
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Theater and Dance The Department of Theater and Dance encourages creative self-expression and critical thinking via intensive, conservatory-style training for actors and dancers.
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Writing Program The Writing Program approaches writing as a living practice that evolves and adapts itself across the range of human endeavor to meet society’s needs.
Interdisciplinary Programs
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English for Multilingual Students The English for Multilingual Students Program offers courses for undergraduate and international graduate students for whom English is not the first language.
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Jewish Studies Our Jewish Studies program is particularly strong in the study of Judaism, including the languages and literatures of the Jewish people, Holocaust, trauma and memory studies, and 20th-century Jewish critical thought.
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Medieval Studies Medieval Studies is an interdisciplinary program that explores the many cultures of the European and Middle Eastern Middle Ages from the viewpoints of history, literature, religious studies, drama, art, and music.
Centers
Learn more about these campus hubs of interdisciplinary and collaborative research that offer events and public programming.
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Art, Design & Architecture Museum The Art, Design & Architecture Museum both a teaching museum, committed to the development of critical thinking and visual literacy, and a resource for the wider Santa Barbara community.
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Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life The non-partisan, non-sectarian Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life promotes discussion of how ethical teachings and values relate to civic life and is committed to the principle that public dialogue and an informed a
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Carsey-Wolf Center The Carsey-Wolf Center supports research, teaching, and public programming about media, fostering informed dialogue, critical skills, historical understanding, and new forms of literacy for a global and interconnected world.
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Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC) The IHC provides research funding to faculty and graduate students, sponsors lectures, seminars and conferences, and mounts year-long public programs.
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Center for Taiwan Studies The Center for Taiwan Studies (CTS) at UC Santa Barbara promotes interdisciplinary research and cultural events to enhance the understanding of Taiwanese culture in its regional and global contexts.
Community Outreach & Professional Development
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Health Humanities Initiative Medical Humanities is an interdisciplinary field of medicine that uses the humanities and arts to explore the human mind and body, as well as the broader human condition.
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Civic and Professional Leadership Institute The CPLI is an exciting, integrated, four-course program dedicated to leadership through effective communication and is linked to UCSB’s Public Speaking Initiative.
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Shakespeare & Me Workshops, performances, coaching, & scene studies for Santa Barbara County Public Schools, Grades 2 - 12. Sponsored by HFA and the Bren School in association with the Department of Theater & Dance.
Innovative Learning Experiences
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Arnhold Innovative Teaching and Learning Initiative (AITLI) The Arnhold Innovative Teaching and Learning Initiative (AITLI), led by musician and educator Cristina Pato, takes a multi-dimensional and creative approach to student learning.
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Environmental Humanities Initiative (EHI) The Environmental Humanities Initiative, composed of faculty and students from across the arts and humanities who focus on a range of environmental issues, represents our campus’s unprecedented commitment to the environmental humanities.