Department of History and Humanities
See the program of the international conference, "Using the Past for the Present: Medieval Narratives in Modern Political and Religious Discourse," which will be held at JCU on March 28-29, 2025.
Welcome to the Department of History and Humanities at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. The Department offers courses in a wide range of Humanities disciplines, as well as majors in Classical Studies, History, and Humanistic Studies and minors in Classical Studies, History, Humanistic Studies, and Philosophy.
Our courses and largely interdisciplinary degree programs help students learn how
to carry out thoughtful and well-crafted research and develop their abilities to understand
and grapple with the challenging issues that face us as citizens of a complex world.
In doing so, we prepare our students for professional studies and careers in a manner
firmly rooted in the liberal arts tradition, and in what we believe to be the best
way possible—by helping them to become life-long learners.
Many, including a large percentage of those of us drawn to them, perceive the humanities
as not being terribly ‘pragmatic’ or ‘practical’, but rather as promoting personal
growth and developing intellectual curiosity. Nevertheless, while the study of classics,
history, music, philosophy and religious studies certainly can open minds and build
characters, the creativity and mental flexibility fostered by such an education, along
with communicative and research skills learned along the way, are highly demanded
in professional contexts ranging from museum work to public relations and marketing
to software development to publishing and beyond.
With this in mind, our department promotes a wide range of cultural activities for
our students as well as the larger JCU and Rome communities, including lectures by
first-class international scholars, international conferences in history and classics,
and field trips to museums and archaeological sites in Rome and beyond. In these
ways, among others, our international faculty, who hold advanced degrees from prestigious
universities in Europe and the United States and who are actively involved in research
and publication, seek to teach our students by example.
Prof. Tom Bailey
[email protected]
Chair, Department of History and Humanities