Merrimack College’s dedication to innovating higher education and offering programs that meet the needs of students and employers alike has led to the launch of the College’s path-breaking Bachelor of Arts degrees in humanities, government and creative arts and design.
These programs redefine the liberal arts degree by aligning interdisciplinary curricula with durable and enduring skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, adaptability and communication. All three degrees are offered at an annual tuition rate well below the national average for private higher education institutions.
The humanities offers two dozen concentrations, from traditional disciplines such as philosophy, English and history, as well as interdisciplinary areas such as bioethics and applied artificial intelligence.
Concentrations for the bachelor’s degree in government include cybersecurity, pre-law, leadership and public administration. Students in the creative arts and design program can choose from concentrations such as filmmaking and media arts, music and theatre arts.
“From our founding in 1947, Merrimack has sought to offer a pathway to upward mobility,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs John “Sean” Condon. “These new bachelor’s degrees fits squarely in that tradition and mission.”
Merrimack faculty members who developed the degree specifically engineered it to foster sought-after skills in today’s workforce. Employers are routinely surveyed on what they’d like to see from potential employees, Condon noted, and the same skills always come up – good communication, the ability to think flexibly and creatively, and having a keen attention to detail, to name a few.
“In higher education, there’s often an artificial distinction drawn between ‘professional’ degrees like business and engineering, and ‘less practical’ degrees like history, English and philosophy,” said Condon. “That way of thinking is not correct. If you look at the kinds of skills that employers are looking for, those skills are exactly what students who dedicate themselves to studying the humanities can learn and master.”
The Bachelor of Arts in Humanities enrolled about 70 students for fall 2025, making it the third most popular major for the 2025 incoming class, behind nursing and undeclared business.
“Merrimack College is very innovative and we try new things,” said Daniel Herda, academic dean for humanities, arts and social sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences. “This is an exciting new direction and is going to create a new framework for affordable degrees. And as we recreate what we have, it will lead to full, lively classes that faculty will love to teach in and students will want to learn in.”
The annual tuition rate for these degrees has caught the attention of parents for prospective and admitted students, Herda said.
“At Open Houses and Admitted Student Days, I’ve had more conversations with parents than students about these degrees,” Herda said. “They are interested not only in the cost, but also in how we present a clearer career path that these degrees can lead students on.”
