The Public Heritage & Community Engagement degree combines the fields of Public History, Critical Cultural Heritage Studies, and Museum Studies to investigate the development, contestations, and implications of shared interpretation, valuation, and appreciation of places, buildings, natural landscapes, traditions, and objects. Program emphasis is placed on the critical role of community partnerships in these endeavors, helping students build the skills and networks that they will need for employment in multiple sectors after graduation.
Specific graduation requirements for this program beyond university bachelor's degree requirements.
A student graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Heritage and Community Engagement is required to demonstrate proficiency (beginning, intermediate or advanced) in a foreign language. Proficiency can be demonstrated by:
Core Curriculum - 42 hours
The Core Curriculum serves as a broad foundation for the undergraduate degree. All candidates for a bachelor’s degree must achieve core student learning outcomes, including communication, critical thinking, empirical and quantitative skills, teamwork, personal responsibility and social responsibility, by completing courses within each category or component area of the Core Curriculum as outlined below.
The University has approved specific courses that satisfy Core Curriculum Requirements. Approved courses can be found on the Core Curriculum Page. Students seeking the most efficient way to complete the core curriculum and major or minor requirements are advised to take approved courses that can fulfill both requirements. Although core curriculum courses can also be used to fulfill major or minor requirements, earned credits hours are only applied once.
The courses listed below fulfill core curriculum and major requirements. Students who have completed a core curriculum category with courses other than those listed below will still be required to take the listed course(s) to meet major requirements.
090 Integrative and Experiential Learning - 3 hours
COMM 1315 | Public Speaking | 3 |
Major Requirements - 48 hours
Required Courses - 21 hours
Complete all of the following:
PHCE 1301 | Introduction to Public Heritage and Community Engagement | 3 |
ENVR 2302 | Environment and Society | 3 |
LDST 2335 | Leadership for Community Engagement | 3 |
ARTS 3380 | Museums, Museology, and Museography | 3 |
ANTH 4377 | Global Cultural Heritage Issues and Debates | 3 |
Internship
Choose one:
ANTH 3343 | Museum Studies Internship | 3 |
ANTH 3344 | Archive Studies Internship | 3 |
ANTH 3345 | Anthropology Community Internship | 3 |
ARTS 4391 | Individual Problems/Internship/Co-op | 3 |
ENVR 4304 | Environmental Sciences Internship | 3 |
HIST 4386 | History Internship | 3 |
Capstone
ANTH 4315 | Discovering the Rio Grande Valley | 3 |
Prescribed Electives - 15 hours
Choose at least 15 credit hours from the list below. A minimum of 6 credits must be advanced. Students may also choose from Leadership Studies, Marketing, and Statistics courses.
Public Heritage Applications
ANTH 4316 | Open Source GIS for Cultural Resources | 3 |
ARTS 2313 | Design Communications I | 3 |
ARTS 3348 | Moving Image | 3 |
ARTS 4333 | Visual Communication Design II | 3 |
ARTS 4336 | Multimedia and Emerging Media Design | 3 |
COMM 3303 | Writing for Mass Media | 3 |
COMM 3307 | Specialized Reporting | 3 |
COMM 3316 | Intercultural Communication | 3 |
COMM 3331 | Interviewing: Theory and Practice | 3 |
ENTR 3340 | New Venture Creation and Innovation | 3 |
GEOL 4411 | Introduction to Geographic Information Systems | 4 |
HOST 1301 | Introduction to Hospitality & Toursim | 3 |
HOST 3320 | International Travel & Tourism | 3 |
HOST 4320 | Tourism Destination Marketing | 3 |
INFS 2300 | Data Modeling Management Tools | 3 |
MGMT 3335 | Communication Policy and Strategy | 3 |
MGMT 3361 | Principles of Management | 3 |
MGMT 4304 | Business and Society | 3 |
MGMT 4362 | Business and Sustainability | 3 |
PAFF 4305 | American State and Local Government | 3 |
PAFF 4378 | Management of Non-Profit Organizations | 3 |
POLS 3355 | U.S. Public Policy | 3 |
SOCI 3345 | Sociology of Mass Communication | 3 |
WRLS 2301 | Multilingual Writing in Academic and Community Contexts | 3 |
Upper division ARTS courses have prerequisites, COMM 3307 has a prerequisite of COMM 3303, Upper division ENTR, HOST, MGMT and MARK courses typically require admission to VCoBE. Students will need to seek departmental approval to enroll.
Leadership Studies
Three credit hours from the list below can be applied towards the 15 credit hours of Public Heritage Applications prescribed electives.
LDST 2334 | Personal and Organizational Leadership | 3 |
LDST 3325 | Leadership, Diversity and Culture | 3 |
Marketing
Six credit hours from the list below can be applied towards the 15 credit hours of Public Heritage Applications prescribed electives.
MARK 3300 | Principles of Marketing | 3 |
MARK 3350 | Services Marketing | 3 |
MARK 3382 | Branding | 3 |
MARK 3392 | Event Marketing | 3 |
MARK 4360 | Social Media and eMarketing | 3 |
Statistics
Three credit hours from the list below can be applied towards the 15 credit hours of Public Heritage Applications prescribed electives.
SOCW 3375 | Statistical Methods | 3 |
STAT 3301 | Applied Statistics | 3 |
STAT 3336 | Sampling | 3 |
SOCW 3375 has a prerequisite of MATH 1314, STAT 3301 has a prerequisite of MATH 2413, and STAT 3336 has a prerequisite of STAT 3301.
Bilingual Bicultural and Border Heritage Concentration - 12 hours
Complete 12 credit hours from the following courses of which 6 credits must be advanced.
ANTH 4306 | Anthropology of Borders | 3 |
ANTH 4317 | Field Experience Borderlands | 3 |
ANTH 4323 | Mexican American Culture | 3 |
ANTH 4350 | Mexican American Folk Medicine | 3 |
ENGL 2351 | Introduction to Mexican American Literature | 3 |
ENGL 4317 | Mexican American Literature | 3 |
ENGL 4318 | South Texas Literature | 3 |
ENGL 4370 | Introduction to Border Language | 3 |
ENGL 4385 | Topics in Border Studies | 3 |
HIST 3333 | Texas History | 3 |
HIST 3334 | History of the American West | 3 |
HIST 4331 | Mexican-American Civil Rights | 3 |
HIST 4332 | Chicano Movement | 3 |
HIST 4333 | Food and Agricultural History | 3 |
POLS 3311 | Contemporary Texas Politics | 3 |
POLS 4333 | U.S. Mexico Border Relations | 3 |
SOCI 4323 | The Mexican American Experience | 3 |
SPAN 2321 | Spanish in the United States | 3 |
SPAN 4311 | Spanish in Social Context | 3 |
SOCI 4323 requires six credit hours of SOCI prior to enrollment, SPAN 4311 requires prerequisites or departmental approval to enroll.
Mexican American History
Three credit hours from the list below may be applied to the concentration.
HIST 2327 | Mexican American History I | 3 |
HIST 2328 | Mexican American History II | 3 |
HIST 3332 | Mexican-American History | 3 |
MASC 2301 | Introduction to Mexican American Studies | 3 |
Free Electives - 30 hours
Free elective credit hours at the advanced level may be needed to achieve the institutional minimum of 42 advanced hours.
Total Credit Hours: 42
View this program’s recommended roadmap to graduation.
UTRGV Roadmaps are a suggested sequence of courses designed to assist students in completing their undergraduate degree requirements. This is a term-by-term sample roadmap of courses required to complete the degree. Students must satisfy all requirements in their catalog including, but not limited to course prerequisites, grade point average and course grade benchmarks, progression requirements, and graduation requirements.
Students should meet with their academic advisor every semester to discuss their individualized path toward completion. Degree progress within this roadmap depends upon such factors as course availability, individual student academic preparation and readiness, student time management, work and personal responsibilities, and financial considerations. Students may choose to take courses during summer terms to reduce course loads during long semesters.