Mar 28, 2024  
2018-2019 Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

World Heritage Minor


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The World Heritage minor focuses on the natural heritage and cultural legacy of the human past, and how it is reflected today in places, landscapes, and intangible aspects of our cultures, including traditions, oral histories, song, music, dance, drama, skills, cuisine, crafts, and festivals. This program offers coursework and applied labs in studying and mapping monuments, buildings, and in managing cultural and natural heritage sites and landscapes using Remote Sensing, 3D visualization technologies, Geographic Information Systems, and digital data curation. Students may minor in World Heritage to strengthen their skills in the documentation, analysis, interpretation, visualization, and management of heritage places and resources with an emphasis in either cultural and/or natural attributes. The program prepares students for heritage careers in historic preservation, heritage tourism, cultural and natural resource management, and global policies on heritage or a combination of such disciplinary approaches.

Minimum Requirements


To be awarded a minor in World Heritage, students must successfully complete at least 20 units as follows:

Lower Division Minor Requirements [4 units]


Upper Division Minor Requirements [16 units]


Upper Division World Heritage Requirement [8 units]


Two upper division World Heritage courses (WH 100 through WH191). One upper division course may be substituted with 4 units of WH 192 , and/or WH 195 . Consult a SSHA Academic Advisor for more information.

Upper Division Elective Courses Relevant to World Heritage [8 units]


Complete two upper division courses chosen from the following range of elective courses revelent to World Heritage.

Graduate Courses

Students must receive approval from the Heritage Studies Minor Faculty Advisor and from the course instructor for any 200-level course listed below:

  • Any 200-level IH course [4 units]
  • Any 200-level course outside IH can also be petitioned on a case-by-case base [4.0 units]

World Heritage Minor Program Learning Outcomes


The main task is to study the evolving methodologies and techniques of documentation, analysis, visualization, and management of heritage sites (natural and cultural), and to
evaluate their potential to enrich contemporary societies in the light of the interpretation of the past and of the preservation and conservation of natural and cultural resources. Students
will be able to:

  1. Explain and illustrate heritage as a cultural process and the role of World Heritag in contemporary society.
  2. Use field methods and digital technologies to investigate and document heritage case studies
  3. Dialogue with different disciplines such as anthropology, archaeology, architecture, art, art history, cognitive science, computer science, cultural and natural resource management, earth science, geography, global policies, and history to interpret how various academic disciplines and methodologies contribute to World Heritage.
  4. Explain key principles and policies of natural and cultural heritage protection and management by mastering international policies, theoretical approaches, best practices, and operating procedures.
  5. Analyze monuments, cultural landscapes, museums, and historic sites and explain their value for local communities and humanity at large.

Guidelines Applying to all SSHA Minors


Students should consult an advisor in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts to officially declare the minor and plan their courses. The following guidelines must be adhered to:

  • To complete any SSHA minor, students must complete a minimum of five courses, at least four of which must be upper division.
  • All courses must be taken for a letter grade.
  • All minor course requirements must be completed with a C- or better.
  • A minimum overall grade point average of 2.0 (C) in upper division courses is required. The only exception is a minor in Arts, for which the minimum GPA in upper division courses is 2.7 (B-).
  • At least three of the five required courses must be taken at UC Merced.
  • Only one course may be used simultaneously to satisfy requirements for two minors.
  • Only one course may be used to satisfy both a minor and a major requirement.
  • Students must consult the UC Merced General Catalog for prerequisites to required courses.

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