During your freshman and sophomore years, you will participate in our nationally recognized Humanities Program, Portraits of Human Greatness. This interdisciplinary program examines the culture, ideas, and values of Western Civilization through a series of lectures, seminars, and cultural events, and is designed to prepare students to think critically and analytically in an ever-changing world. Sixteen of twenty classes taken during the first two years are in the program's core courses, which cover the following areas: English, humanities, foreign language, lab science, philosophy, and theology.

In Humanities I-II, taken during freshman year, you will examine a mix of historical groups of people, including The Warrior, The Prophet, The Philosopher, The Citizen, The Ancient Artist, The Convert, The Ruler, The Townsman, The Poet, and The Teacher.

In Humanities III-IV, taken sophomore year, you will examine specific individuals in history arranged chronologically from the Italian Renaissance to the 20th century. Twelve individuals make up the current list of portraits in Humanities, including Michelangelo, Martin Luther, Shakespeare, Galileo, Thomas Jefferson, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Vladamir Lenin, Pablo Picasso, Virginia Woolf, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Portraits of Human Greatness program represents is a unique cornerstone of your liberal arts education at Saint Anselm, which, in turn, provides the foundation for the rest of your life.