This degree allows for study of the humanities within a comparative context; that is, through interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives that permit a flexibility and breadth of study, without sacrificing rigor, not normally found in single-discipline graduate programs. Graduate students thus learn to combine the synthesizing and analytical skills of various humanistic disciplines in order to develop interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to the materials of human culture. Accordingly, program courses expand knowledge in humanistic disciplines and provide intense opportunities to develop wide-ranging research and writing.
The success of a program is judged most immediately by two things: (1) the teaching and scholarship of the faculty, as measured by student and faculty reviews of teaching, and by scholarly placement, productivity, and peer reviews; and (2) by the success of the students during the program and as a result of it, this latter for example through placement in doctoral programs and winning graduate fellowships. Success during the program is measured by the degree of excellence attained in fulfilling the program's curriculum.