SOUTHFIELD-Lawrence Technological University has redesigned the humanities courses required of all students to provide them with a broad cultural understanding of the human experience.

All first-year LTU students will be required to take two courses, "Engaging Ancient Texts" and "Engaging Modern Texts." There, students will read, analyze, and write about some of the greatest works produced by the human mind.

The reading list for the ancient texts includes everything from the holy books of the world's major religions to "The Arabian Nights" to Shakespeare. On the modern list, meanwhile, are works from Charles Dickens, Mary Shelley, Chinese and Japanese authors, and science fiction from Isaac Asimov. At least one philosophy or history text, one literary text, and one work of visual art must be assigned.

Students will be required to write papers about those works.

At higher class levels, students will also be required to take four more elective classes of increasingly specialized areas of the social sciences and the humanities.

"The new humanities core provides LTU students with a common educational experience designed for a technological university, unleashing their curiosity by considering the past and looking into the future," said Paul Jaussen, chair of the LTU Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Communication. "The new first year 'Engaging Texts' sequence offers an interdisciplinary survey of human creativity and thought from past eras, while the new elective courses provide the chance to explore pressing topics in our contemporary era. These courses range from 'Introduction to the Study of Humanity and Technology' and 'The Ethics of Computation' to 'Gender and Public Policy.' The new core shows how the humanities and humanistic thinking is an essential component to contemporary, technological, and professional education."

LTU President Tarek M. Sobh said the new core curriculum is "a clear indication of the aim of a Lawrence Tech education. What we wish to accomplish with this change is to produce graduates that do not only possess the latest technologically oriented education in their chosen field, but who also have an appreciation for some of humanity's greatest thinkers, the ability to conduct deep, meaningful analysis of their ideas, and to understand how the humanities have an integral role to play in our technological future."

Lawrence Technological Universityis one of only 13 independent, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932 and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU as part of its growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation's top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation's top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report list it in the top tier of the best Midwest colleges. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, "theory and practice" education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech's 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.