School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences (UWE)

The School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences was a member of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of the West of England, Bristol. The school was formed in 2003/4 by the merger of three small faculties, Humanities, Languages and Area Studies, and Economics and Social Sciences. The school was located at two campuses at Frenchay and St Matthias.

Since 2010, the majority of the school has become part of the newly established faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities and Education, with the fields of Sociology and Criminology moving into the faculty of Health and Life Sciences.^[1]

Departments

English

Led by Professor Peter Rawlings, the department iss based at St Matthias and has approximately 285 half award and 213 single honours students, and 17 MA students. The teaching staff of 20 include Professor William Greenslade, Professor Robin Jarvis, Dr Britta Martens, Dr Melanie Ord and Dr Charles Butler.^[2]

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 85% of the Department’s research was highly rated. Research areas covered include Gothic Studies, Trans-Atlantic Studies, Children’s Literature, Nineteenth Century Fiction and Poetry, Holocaust Fiction, Autobiography, Women’s Writing and Contemporary American and British Fiction.^[3]

History

The History Field was led by Dr Raingard Esser and its teaching staff includes: Professor June Hannam, Professor Diana Jeater, Professor Glyn Stone, Dr Madge Dresser, Dr Raingard Esser, Dr Kent Fedorovich, Dr Peter Fleming, Dr John Fisher, Dr Alastair Kocho-Williams, Dr James Lee, Dr Moira Martin, Dr Philip Ollerenshaw, Dr Effie Pedaliu, Dr Steve Poole, Dr Michael Richards, Dr Martin Simpson, Dr Peter Wardley and Dr Michael Woodiwiss.^[4] History is taught at St Matthias campus. Research areas covered by departmental staff include British, Irish, European, Russian and African history, Economic, Business and Labour History and Regional History. Women's history, international, imperial and diplomatic, social and cultural history, religious history and the history of crime are also specialities. Two MA programmes are available, MA History and MA Regional Histories.^[5]

The History Field is also home to a Regional History Centre^[6] and is an active partner of the Victoria County History for Wiltshire^[7] and Bristol,^[8] and The West of England & South Wales Women's History Network^[9]

Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

The department offers undergraduate half awards in English Language and Linguistics. All teaching takes place at the main Frenchay campus of the University. A teaching staff of 23 full-time members includes Professor Richard Coates, Professor Jeanine Treffers-Daller, Professor Jonathan Charteris-Black, Dr Nick Startin, Dr Mechthild Matheja-Theaker and Dr Jianxiang Bi.^[10] In June 2009, it was announced that following a review, the department would immediately discontinue half awards in Chinese Studies, French and Spanish which had been previously offered.^[11] The decision was criticised by the University and College Union.^[12]

Research covers Linguistics, Intercultural Communication and European Studies. The department hosts the Bristol Centre for Linguistics and the Centre for Intercultural Communication.^[13]

Politics, Philosophy and International Relations

Led by Dr Dean McSweeney, the department teaches 250 undergraduate students and has MA programmes in Human Rights, Peace and Conflict Studies, and European Philosophy.^[14] First year undergraduate teaching for Politics and International Relations is at St Matthias campus and second and third years at Frenchay. Philosophy is wholly taught at St Matthias. There are 14 full-time staff including Professor Paul Hoggett, Dr Simon Thompson, Dr Christien van den Anker, Dr Alan Greer, Dr Lisa Harrison, Dr Ed Lock.^[15] and Dr Iain Grant (field leader for Philosophy)^[16]

Research interests of the department include human rights and global ethics, international security, political parties and elections in the UK and the USA, the politics of the Caribbean, and politics and the emotions. The department is home to three university research centres; the Centre for Psycho-Social Studies, the Centre for Local Democracy and the Network for Global Ethics and Human Rights.^[17]

Sociology and Criminology

Dr Sean Watson lead the department which teaches approximately 700 undergraduate students and offers MSc programmes in Criminology and Psycho-Social studies.^[18] There is a staff of 25 including Professor Alison Assiter, Professor Simon Clarke, Professor Julie Kent, Dr Stephen J. Hunt, Dr Graham Taylor and Dr Natalia Hanley.^[19] Tuition is at Frenchay.

Research interests include Psycho-Social studies (jointly with the department of Politics, Philosophy and International Relations), religion and society, health technology and the body, employment studies, gang crime, sexual offending, violent crime, youth crime and punishment. The department is home to the Unit for the Study of Religion and Spirituality and the journals Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society and Organisational and Social Dynamics.^[20] The Criminal Justice Unit is a joint initiative of the department and Bristol Law School.^[21]

Merger

During the academic year 2010/11 the school will be merged into the new faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities and Education (CAHE), joining with the School of Creative Arts and the School of Education, which will be led by Alex Gilkison.^[22] The department of Sociology and Criminology joined the Department of Health and Applied Social Sciences in the faculty of Health and Life Sciences in 2011.^[23]

Notes

External links

• School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences at UWE