Gateway Courses

A Portal to Intellectual Discovery

Books with course titles on the spines

The Gateway courses serve as a foundation for your academic journey at UMass Amherst.

The Gateway Advantage 

  • Explore your academic major/interest through the lens of the humanities and social sciences. 
  • Engage in an interdisciplinary curriculum grounded in culturally significant works of literature, philosophy, history, and social thought.
  • Fulfill one of your Gen Ed DU and/or DG requirements. 
  • Work with committed UMass faculty.

Course Offerings

HM&FNART 101: Traversing Differences with Critical and Creative Thinking: Local Questions (4 credits, AL, DU)

HM&FNART 101 is a 4-credit DU small discussion-based, interdisciplinary course that focuses within the US context on reading transformative texts. This course explores works ranging from philosophical, historical, and sociological writings to fiction and poetry, works which variously describe, model, and investigate complex aspects of human experience. We will consider critical questions confronting our society today, such as human rights, environmental justice, the role of technology, and the place of the arts. By delving into influential texts that have significantly shaped the nation's foundation and evolution, the course aims to foster creative and critical thinking, encouraging introspection not only about our society but also about our own roles within it. In short, this course is designed to enable you to challenge your understanding of yourself and reflect on how you navigate the world as an ethical human being.

HM&FNART 102: Traversing Differences with Critical and Creative Thinking: Global Issues (4 credits, AL, DG).

HM&FNART 102 AL DG is a 4-credit small discussion-based, interdisciplinary course that focuses within an international context on transformative texts. This course explores works ranging from fiction and poetry to philosophical, historical, and sociological writings, works which variously describe, model, and investigate complex aspects of human experience. Exploring the ideas and the possible worlds of these potentially life-changing works, we will enrich our understanding of how texts inspire new and liberating approaches to expression, selfhood, community, and politics. By reading these works deeply and engaging imaginatively with multiple perspectives, we will think through issues that are critical to the human condition, past and present, and reflect creatively and critically about both society and ourselves. In short, this course is designed to enable you to challenge your understanding of yourself and reflect on how you navigate the world as an ethical human being.