Events
Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Adam Benkato
January 8, 2025 @ 4:00 pm – Royce 306
UCLA Department of Philosophy
HPASS: “On the Constitutive Aims of Science” – Josh Hunt, Syracuse University
January 8, 2025 @ 5:00 pm –
UCLA Department of Philosophy
“Contractualism and Intuitionism” – T. M. Scanlon (Harvard University)
January 10, 2025 @ 4:00 pm –
Academics
Asian Languages & Cultures
The Department of Asian Languages and Cultures is dedicated to the study of the civilizations of the Asian region in all their diversity. The rich cultural heritages of the region are covered in courses ranging from language to literature, religion, thought, archaeology and other aspects of culture.
Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures
Founded in 1948, the Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures is one of the oldest and most prominent programs in its field in the United States. The program, which offers undergraduate and graduate studies, provides students with a comprehensive education in the languages, literatures, cultures and history of Eastern and Central Europe and Eurasia.
Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies
The Center provides a forum for discussion of issues in 17th- and 18th-century studies. It organizes academic programs, and offers a range of cultural programs, including chamber music, performances, and lectures. The Center administers the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, located on a historic property in the West Adams neighborhood, which serves as the research laboratory for fellows working in early modern studies or Oscar Wilde.
Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures brings together a variety of cultural and linguistic studies, both ancient and modern, into a vibrant interdisciplinary whole. We make cultural studies of the Middle East relevant to undergraduate students and the Los Angeles community; in our graduate programs, we create the next generation of experts in the ancient Near Eastern and modern Middle Eastern region.
Center for the Liberal Arts and Free Institutions
The Center for the Liberal Arts and Free Institutions is an interdisciplinary center created in 2009 as part of the Division of Humanities.
Classics
UCLA’s highly ranked Department of Classics hosts a diverse faculty of scholars and teachers dedicated to bringing the foundational cultures of ancient Greece and Rome to life for the contemporary student. Our courses range widely over areas such as Greek and Roman literature, Mediterranean archaeology, Indo-European linguistics, ancient philosophy and political thought, as well as ancient sexuality and gender studies.
Linguistics
The linguistics department is one of the world’s leading centers for the scientific study of language.
LGBTQ Studies
LGBTQ Studies is an interdisciplinary program that supports teaching and research on the historical and contemporary experience of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people. It provides an academic home for those who wish to study the intellectual and cultural traditions that have shaped our current understanding of sexuality and gender, as well as for those who wish to challenge such traditions and generate new theoretical paradigms.
Yarshater Center for the Study of Iranian Literary Traditions
The Yarshater was conceived as a leading research hub for the publication and dissemination of Iranian literary traditions worldwide. The center, which operates under the aegis of the Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World, will attract a new generation of scholars to the field, and it will initiate a robust publication program at UCLA.
Global Antiquity
Global Antiquity brings together scholars and community members from UCLA, greater Los Angeles and around the globe for a new dialogue on the equivalency of past human experiences and the role that the ancient past still plays in shaping all our contemporary identities.
Spanish and Portuguese
The Department of Spanish and Portuguese offers a rich and diverse program dedicated to the study of the languages, literatures and cultures of the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries of Europe and North, Central and South America. Along with traditional strengths in Spanish, Spanish American and Luso-Brazilian literatures and cultures, offerings include courses in U.S. Latino/a Studies and language instruction in Basque, Catalan, Nahuatl and Quechua.
Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies
Since 1994, the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies has been built and been enriched by faculty, staff, students and supporters who are dedicated to rigorous scholarship that unflinchingly answers pressing problems in the field of Jewish studies.
CMRS Center for Early Global Studies
The CMRS Center for Early Global Studies promotes transdisciplinary studies of the periods from the third to the middle of the 17th century across the globe. CMRS-CEGS is dedicated to promoting research, teaching. and new methodologies in underrepresented and nontraditional areas, and traditional fields. It is guided by the conviction that without the study of the past, the present and the future are inaccessible and opaque.
Writing Programs
The mission of Writing Programs is to enrich the writing experience — and ultimately, the writing performance — of students in our first-year, Writing II and Professional Writing Minor courses. We extend our impact on UCLA graduate and undergraduate students through the graduate certificate in writing pedagogy, through courses for international graduate students and TAs whose first language is not English, and through the work of the Writing Center.
Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World
The premier center for the study of ancient Iran, the Pourdavoud Institute engages in transformative research on Iranian antiquity, expanding on the traditional domains of Old Iranian studies. The Institute serves as a home to stimulating intellectual encounters and exchanges on ancient Iran and the ancient world, and contributes to the development of collaborative research projects in a diverse range of subjects.
European Languages and Transcultural Studies
European Languages and Transcultural Studies brings together the former departments of French and Francophone Studies, Germanic Languages, Italian and Scandinavian. The term “transcultural” emphasizes our shared European roots and our expanded focus on the perspectives of filmmakers, writers and theorists from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and elsewhere, which allows for a comprehensive understanding of history and more accurate contextualization of the European experience.
Center for the Study of Religion
Religion asks questions that touch every aspect of human life. The Center for the Study of Religion promotes the academic study of religion to explore those questions for the UCLA community and wider public. It houses an undergraduate major and minor, and sponsors events exploring the role of religious ideas, practices and institutions, both historical and contemporary and throughout the world.
Indo-European Studies
UCLA’s interdepartmental graduate program in Indo-European Studies is the only such program in the U.S. and leads to the degree of Ph.D. The program’s focus is historical linguistics, in particular the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European (the ancestor of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, English and many other languages) as well as the culture of its speakers.
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture
The center promotes interdisciplinary studies of Hellenic culture, from the ancient world through the modern day. It also serves as a vibrant cultural hub for the Southern California Hellenic community, presenting innovative programs, often in collaboration with local Hellenic organizations, and generating interest in Greece’s historical and ongoing contributions to modern culture.
Art History
Building on a long tradition of intellectual innovation, the Department of Art History provides a rigorous program of undergraduate and graduate study that endorses an interdisciplinary and intercultural approach to art history of all periods and places.
Philosophy
The principal goal of the Department of Philosophy is to produce philosophers of high quality, thinkers informed by the great historical traditions of Western philosophers who can apply the methods of philosophical analysis to a broad range of current philosophical problems.
English
Widely recognized as one of the leading departments in the nation, English at UCLA has long been known for its innovative research and excellence in teaching. Today, the English Department maintains its strong commitment to traditional areas of study, while also supporting groundbreaking research and teaching in new and interdisciplinary approaches to literary studies.
Program in Digital Humanities
The Digital Humanities program is the curricular arm of digital humanities at UCLA, offering a certificate for graduate students and a minor for undergraduates. Students gain knowledge about the tools, methods and theoretical issues central to this emerging field, and investigate topics including text analysis, data mining, visualization, modeling and simulation, geospatial analysis and mapping, multimedia storytelling, information design, network analysis and interface design.
Comparative Literature
Standing at the forefront of innovative literary, theoretical, and cultural studies, comparative literature is one of the most exciting fields in the Humanities. The discipline demands exceptional linguistic ability, advanced critical tools, and high intellectual caliber.
