The Humanities Master's Degree Program prepares professionals to improve the quality of institutions by applying a humanistic understanding of the economical and socio-cultural reality prevalent in the environment, especially in Latin America.

Graduates contribute significantly to the improvement, design, and execution of personal and institutional projects by providing optimum solutions to social problems.

Objective

To understand and evaluate the main problems of our contemporary cultural reality at the regional, national, and international levels and propose viable solutions and services.

The Graduates from the Humanities Master's Degree Program: 

• Master and integrate humanistic knowledge ¿ from philosophy, art, literature and history ¿ related to contemporary cultural events.
• Design and perform quality socio-cultural projects for educational, business and governmental institutions.
• Develop the knowledge and analytical tools required to take a multidisciplinary approach to the current global economicaleconomic, political and social situations.
• Respond to the demands for socio-cultural transformation in a proactive and innovative manner.

Enrollment Profile

University graduates interested in broadening their vision of socio-cultural institutions from an analytical and multidisciplinary point of view, and who seek to specialize and deepen their study of the humanities.

Graduation Profile

Knowledge:

• Theoretical approaches to the contemporary philosophical and historical reflection.
• Contemporary theoretical approaches to artistic and literary production.
• To identify tendencies and understand and analyze specific topics in regional, national, and global contexts.

Skills:

• Art criticism
• Oral, written, and iconographic communication
• Problem solving
• Negotiation
• Ethical decision making
• Teamwork
• Creativity
• Innovative solution design
• Diagnosis, analysis, and synthesis

Attitudes: 

• Ethical sense
• Responsibility
• Respect and tolerance
• Permanent personal updating
• Proactive approach
• Constructive criticism

Humanities Master's Degree Program

1st trimester	2nd trimester	3rd trimester	4th trimester	5th trimester	6th trimester
Contemporary Philosophical Debate	History of Knowledge Construction	Introduction to Literary Theory	Elective Course	Elective Course	Elective Course
Historiography of Art	Philosophy, Education and Ethics	Elective Course	Elective Course
Professional Skills Workshop I	Professional Skills Workshop II	Professional Skills Workshop III	Research Methodology	Project I	Project II

Contemporary Philosophical Debate
Understand and critically assess the basic elements of phenomenology, the theory of interpretation, the theory of the other, and the subject¿s vindication theory. Apply the adaptable notions of the aforementioned theories to the dilemmas and discussions on individualism, totalitarianism, pluralism, and communitarianism within the post-modernism framework. 

History of Knowledge Construction
Learn realistic, conceptual and critical observation; moral and juridicallegal introspection, and the poetic sensibility, all of which enables the the student to grasp the peculiar forms and processes of Latin America knowledge construction.

Introduction to Literary Theory
Compare recent ideas in literary theory to some of the traditional ideas regarding the fundamental assumptions of literature. Learn to apply these theories in actual criticism.

Historiography of Art
Understand historiographical approaches to the modes, opinions and critiques of Hispanic-American art, in order to enable students to grasp their contemporary cultural reality and its antecedents. 

Philosophy, Education and Ethics
Understand and analyze the fundamental dimensions of the human being. Specify and develop the most significant aspects of humanity, so as to empower their fulfillment and growth. 

The Professional Skills Workshops seek to complement the academic training of students by developing practical applications to promote efficiency in competition and innovation. 

Students must complete all four mandatory workshops and two optional workshops.

MANDATORY PROFESSIONAL SKILLS WORKSHOP

Structured Problem-Solving:  Objective: Understand the tools for problem¿solving, with an emphasis on analyzing the problem, isolating key issues, and generating solutions through structured planning.

Logical Reasoning and Communication: Objective: Develop skills to structure and communicate arguments effectively. These include such skills as organizing ideas hierarchically, avoiding stylistic weaknesses, and using simple, direct phrasing and an audience specific vocabulary.

Effective Negotiating: Objective: Learn to succeed in negotiations by focusing on identifying diverse interests, creating mutually profitable solutions, and promoting fairness. This workshop is based on the Harvard Negotiation Project, which identifies the basic elements that enable negotiators to reach mutually suitable agreements.

Making Ethical Decisions: Objective: Develop skills to evaluate the ethical implications of professional and personal decisions in a disciplined manner. Learn paradigm-questioning skills, how to detect potential ethical risks, and how to use Kohlberg's moral development model as a tool for assessing ethical arguments.

OPTIONAL PROFESSIONAL SKILLS WORKSHOP

Effective Presentations: Objective: Learn to perform well in front of an audience by improving your presentation preparation and your mastery of the available equipment, and by clearly defining your message and effectively using your voice and body language to convey it.

Effective Leadership: Strengthen your leadership skills by learning how to manage people and situations so as to bring professional and personal projects to a successful outcome.

Understanding Global Settings: Objective: Study the current trends towards globalization by identifying the world wide effects of the industrial, commercial, financial, and political globalization of the world¿s most important organizations. Become familiar with concepts created by globalization: the right to development, the right to peace, the rights of future generations, the right to the common human heritage, among others.

Project management. Objective: Learn to formally manage projects using the Project Management Institute (PMI) methodology, which focuses on basic processes, terminology, techniques, and tools. Develop the skills to structure the objectives and scope of a project, to negotiate expectations, and to estimate the duration, costs, risks, and necessary human resources.

Encouraging Creativity: Objective: Stimulate your creativity through brainstorming, Synectics (make the strange familiar and the familiar strange), the CoRT method, scenario creation, use of metaphors and analogies, graphic - visual thought, and other thinking techniques.

Methodology of Research
Provide the methodological and theoretical tools to develop a project for innovation and change. 

Innovation Project I
Develop an educational project related to the student's professional work. 

Innovation Project II
Publicize the innovation projects developed by the student so it can be applied in the corresponding professional fields.

SPECIALIZATION ELECTIVE COURSES

The Contemporary Cultural Crises Interpret some of the contemporary crises, such as globalization, media homogenization, governability, democracy, government¿business relations, and actual and projectable quality of life through the use of contributions from history, artistic expressions, literary production, and philosophy.

Theory of Interpretation  Study and apply interpretation theories (hermeneutics) to history, art analysis, literary critique, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the social sciences.

Ideological, Imaginary, and Symbolic Paradigms Analyze and characterize the ideas, images, and symbols in which the various relationships established between daily life and its social complexity are expressed and made evident. Identify their elements and understand how they underlie society¿s entire worldview, including its literary works, and art.

From Reality to Utopia  Examine the nature and consistency of utopias that have appeared in the Hispanic¿American intellectual and political tradition, beginning with the market, culture, and technology, which have recently been proposed as the sole methods of transformation in the actual world.

Multiculturalism and Diversity Analyze how the humanities have been affected by the presence of nationalism. Understand how distinct individuals, groups, genders, and regions have attempted to define, affirm, and protect themselves from nationalist reduction.

The courses offered in this program meet weekly from 18:30 and 22:00 hours.

A student with a full course load will have a schedule similar to following:

	M	T	W	TH	F
May		Contemporary Philosophical Debate		Philosophy, Education and Ethics
June		Contemporary Philosophical Debate		Philosophy, Education and Ethics
July		Contemporary Philosophical Debate		Philosophy, Education and Ethics
August		Contemporary Philosophical Debate		Philosophy, Education and Ethics

A student with a half course load will have a schedule similar to the following:

	M	T	W	TH	F
May				Contemporary Philosophical Debate
June				Contemporary Philosophical Debate
July				Contemporary Philosophical Debate
August				Contemporary Philosophical Debate

The UDEM's demanding admission criteria assure academic excellence in its graduate groups.

One must meet following requirements in order to enroll in the Humanities Master's Degree Program:

• Hold a corresponding Undergraduate Degree.
• Attend an interview with the Education and Humanities Master's Degree Programs Director, and submit your résumé and a cover letter expressing your reasons for seeking to enroll in the Master's Degree program.
• Submit an Application for Admission to the Graduate Program along with the required documentation.
  [See the application in PDF format: admision_posgrado {admission_graduateprogram}]
• Pass the Graduate Studies Admission Test - [Prueba de Admisión para Estudios de Posgrado (PAEP)] and take an English diagnostic exam.

Connecting the academic world with productive and social organizations is of fundamental importance to the UDEM. As a result, we have signed research or applied innovation agreements with many renowned institutions.

Some of the research projects supported by this process are listed below:

1. Research Project on How Fifth Semester Students from UDEMthe UDEM High School, Valle Alto Unit, Live such Values as Responsibility and Honesty.
   Student: Roberto José Fernández González
   Advisor: José Humberto Alanís Alanís and Alberto Moreno Casas
   Monterrey, Nuevo León, 2008
2. Gender Role Transformation of Women Migrating from Los Herreras, N.L. to the City of Monterrey.
   Student: Bertha Laura Galván Hinojosa
   Monterrey, Nuevo León, 2008

José Humberto Alanís Alanís MHU Academic Program Director jalanis11@udem.edu.mx     Building 6, office 6127 T. (81) 8215-1000, ext. 1562 01 800-801-UDEM, ext. 1562