Humanities and Social Sciences

Community engagement

Also known for our distinctive interaction with the environment and community, the Faculty supports a number of programs that range from:

• school visits (including the running of special courses for teachers involved in the teaching of new VCE subjects in English and Philosophy
• organisation of seminars, workshops and significant national and international conferences (notably in recent times on AIDS and Latin American Studies
• involvement in rescue archaeology

The community link is also effectively demonstrated by the contributions made by numerous academic staff to public discussions and critiques on a variety of topics and contemporary issues and are often referred to as “public intellectuals”.

The Faculty is also responsible for administering the Humanities and Social Sciences ‘Programs for the Community’. This allows prospective students from a variety of backgrounds and ages (who are not formally enrolled in a La Trobe degree) to undertake Humanities subjects on an individual basis. They may choose to be assessed for their work or simply take the classes out of interest for the subject.