Wilfrid Laurier University

Smaller universities can preside over profound achievements in disciplines such as medieval studies through the fostering of commitment and focus. For instance, the profile of medieval studies has developed significantly in the last three years at Wilfrid Laurier University, where, in December of 2002, an interdisciplinary program in medieval studies was approved by the university’s senate. Prior to the development of this program, medieval material was taught largely within the traditional disciplines. The new program is designed to include course subjects from a variety of national and religious traditions. It will have four core courses: History 101, Medieval Europe 500-1100; History 102, The High Middle Ages; Medieval Studies 100, Discovering the Middle Ages (Knights, Saints, and Dragons); and Medieval Studies 200, The Medieval World View. The last two courses are designed to be team-taught by faculty members from various disciplines, such as Classics, History, Religion and Culture, Music, Fine Arts, Languages and Literatures (particularly French and Spanish), and English and Film. Participating faculty members have contributed many of their existing courses and research interests to the program, together with many new ideas for lectures, fourth-year seminars, and innovations in teaching. The program will also include courses in medievalism, that is, the study of representations of medieval cultural materials within contemporary cultures and sensibilities. Though these kinds of offerings, such as a “Tolkien and Fantasy” course, are growing at Laurier and are currently more popular among students than the more traditional medieval-themed courses, the former variety of course is not pushing aside the latter. In fact, an interdisciplinary medieval studies program should help the existing medieval courses at Laurier appeal to more students.