Liberal Arts Minor

The purpose of the Liberal Arts Minor is to provide students the opportunity to gain breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding in a focused area of study in the Liberal Arts and to provide them with a useful credential as they pursue further study and careers beyond NEC. 

Students can declare a Liberal Arts Minor in one of the following areas: Literature, Cultural Studies, History, Social Studies, Philosophy, Science, and Creative Arts.  Alternatively, students may design a personalized curriculum with a selected sequence of courses that coherently combines more than one area of study, such as Cultural Studies and History. 

Declared Minors work closely with their Liberal Arts Minor Advisor during their course of study, which culminates in the Capstone Project, a self-designed Independent Study in which students can explore the focus of their Minors through the completion of a scholarly research project, or a creative project, or some combination of scholarly and creative work.  Students present their Capstone Projects at a scheduled event in an NEC performance hall.

William Suh, "An analysis of the changes of campaign finance reform through the lenses of the McCain–Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002) and Citizens United v. FEC (2010)"

The rise and impact of big–money, independent political groups through the lenses of the McCain–Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 and the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision of 2010.

View William's presentation here.

Sami Watts, "Fashion, Gender, and Classical Music Performance: Deconstructing Classical Music through Design"

Through fashion, I argue that to make room for genuine inclusion, violence prevention, and meaningful change, there must be a commitment to dismantling the gender binary, prioritizing consent, and redefining the boundaries of classical music.

View Sami's presentation here.

Lila Quillin, "Invisible Cities: Exploring the Bridge Between Literature, Music, and Visual Language"

An animation that explores the visual language of Fedora, from Italo Calvino’s esteemed novel “Invisible Cities, which also aligns with one of my own orchestral pieces inspired by the same city. 

View Lila's presentation here.

Marie Fujimoto, "Work and Consumption -with Freud and Marx-"

An animation about Freud’s theory on psychology and Marx’s theory on economics, and their implications for the development of classical musicians. 

View Marie's presentation here.