New College of California is committed to education in support of a just, sacred, and sustainable world. New Colleges cherishes intellectual freedom, the search for social justice, respect for differences, and a belief in collective responsibility for the welfare of all people and the Earth. NC offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities with two options, a full undergraduate Weekday/Evening Program and an accelerated Weekend B.A. Completion Program. Both programs have emphasis areas to help focus your studies, small classes, the opportunity to design your own curriculum, and one-on-one advising.

New College's Weekday and Evening Humanities B.A. Program is dedicated to education that encourages critical thinking, interdisciplinary learning, diversity, activism, and community-building. This program offers an array of stimulating seminar and workshop courses in literature and writing, the visual and performing arts, psychology, education, culture, politics, and ecology. Students may enter the Weekday/Evening B.A. Program with as few as zero units, and classes are held in the fall and spring semesters. Each student works with a core faculty advisor to design a semester-by-semester educational program customized to the student's interests and abilities. This individualized program builds on a core curriculum that grounds the student in essential skills and bodies of knowledge. Using flexible learning options, students enroll in of a mix of coursework, independent study, and a practicum (an internship or volunteer experience). Each student's explorations inside and outside the classroom converge in an area of emphasis in the Interdisciplinary Humanities that the student can either design from scratch or choose from Arts and Social Change; Media Studies; Irish Studies; Poetics; Psychology; Social Theory/Social Change; Writing and Literature; or Youth in Society/Education.

The Weekend B.A. Completion Program enables working adults to finish their degree in 2-3 semesters and provides an environment in which they can develop critical skills and understanding to further their personal and career development. It offers a community of support for students serious about questioning dominant cultural values and strengthening their commitments to a more just society and sustains a conversation in which the voices of non-Western cultures and of marginalized communities including LGBTs; youth; people defined as disabled; and people of color, can re-energize human discourse. By attending classes on weekends and studying in between, students can integrate their work and other aspects of their lives with their academic and career goals. Weekend B.A. Completion emphasis areas include:
• Activism & Social Change
• Culture, Ecology & Sustainable Community (Santa Rosa campus)
• Experimental Performance
• Interdisciplinary Studies

Students in the B.A. Completion Program at the North Bay Campus do an emphasis in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community. Its Core Seminar Series is a sequenced critical examination of the ways that modern industrial society has dysfunctionally organized its lifeways from agriculture to technology to economics, combined with a visionary exploration of alternative ways of organizing society that are more ecologically sustainable and socially just. Students also conduct a project and, as part of their concentration, take classes in one of the following areas: Ecological Agriculture, Holistic Nutrition, Eco-dwelling, Consciousness Healing & Ecology, Activism & Social Change, or Self-designed.

The Activism and Social Change emphasis is designed to address the educational needs and social concerns of both aspiring and engaged activists. The program links the study of Critical Social Theory, Social Movements of the Past and Present and Activist Strategies and Skills with opportunities to work and learn with skilled local, national and international activists. Working closely with their academic and community advisors, students develop concentrations such as environmental justice, health care, affordable housing, union organizing, human rights, peace activism, etc. Students complete a Senior Thesis/Project that enables them to pursue their individualized research/activist interests through written or multimedia projects.

The B.A. Completion Program with an emphasis in Experimental Performance is designed to fuse personal vision, artistic discipline and cultural transformation in and across the mediums of dance, theater, voice and writing for performance. The program's structure emphasizes community building as well as an understanding of the historical and cultural context and impact of the emerging work. Students learn and train in both community and independent study environments and ultimately, through the creation of artistically innovative and socially provocative works of experimental theater and performance.

In the Humanities BA Completion Program, students explore an Interdisciplinary emphasis as an alternative to the traditional humanities. Students who enter with sixty or more units can receive a fully-accredited BA degree in the field of their choice in three semesters through a combination of one-weekend-per-month seminar series, independent study with a faculty member, and, if needed, credit given for prior learning experience and standardized testing.

Many traditional colleges now have majors, departments, or civic engagement centers as a small commitment to social or environmental justice. At New College, the entire school is dedicated to creating a just, sacred, and sustainable world. You won't have to search through catalogs to find classes that are socially relevant. All classes are socially relevant. You won't have to look for that one professor who cares about social or environmental justice. New College is filled with teacher and student activists who are passionate about changing the world in ways that are cutting-edge, creative, and address the root causes of the problems we face today. New College can teach you how to be a better activist or the activist you've always wanted to become - it's what New College does best.