Faculty of Arts and Science

Faculty of Arts and Science The FAS offers a substantial expansion of the possibilities for higher education in Aruba, as well as the expansion of research and social service in the field of social-cultural studies and humanities. The embedding of the FAS within the University of Aruba impacts the Aruban society in multiple ways. It further transforms the University in a change agent in the surrounding society, for the sake of development. The FAS contributes to the diversity in student population, teaching staff and study programs. The FAS will expand gradually; each new study will be carefully prepared and presented for approval to the Minister of Education, before being offered to the Aruban and international society.

Through the programs Social Work and Development and Health Studies, the University contributes to relevant knowledge regarding social and demographic issues in Aruba and in the region. The study of Organization, Governance & Management allows the university to promote better governance of organizations, while the study International Politics will foster a better understanding of globalization and the position of Aruba in a complex international world. Through the study Environmental Studies, the University of Aruba will attend local and regional challenges concerning sustainable natural and social environments in small-scale conditions. The programs in the field of Education will support educational reform and development processes implemented in Aruba and will contribute to more knowledge on local educational problems and possibilities, and, ultimately, support the necessary process of contextualization and internationalization of Aruban education.

The programs in the field of Language, Communication and Technology will enable the University to comply with its academic responsibility to create and implement research on linguistic, socio-linguistic and psycho-linguistic aspects of the dynamic and diverse multi-lingual Aruban community. The language studies will furthermore invite the University to create modern programs for linguistic education in not only languages such as Spanish, English and Dutch, but also the national language Papiamento. By doing so, the University will comply with UNESCO’s goal to support the maintenance of native, Creole languages in the world.

The Art and Culture programs enable the University to comply with its responsibility, grounded in the “Landsverordening Universiteit” van Aruba, to support cultural life and cultural activities in Aruba and to facilitate the process of improving the capacity to use modern communication technology in a responsible and effective way.
The mission of the FAS is to offer undergraduate and graduate liberal arts education of the highest quality in the context of a small, student-friendly and excellence seeking university.

The FAS offers a distinctive academic program which:

develops the student's intellectual and personal potential to its maximum
encourages the development of team work competencies
enables the discovery of new knowledge and values while providing opportunities to acquire established knowledge and values
fosters the individual's critical support to society’s development.

Research done by FAS students

Developing young Aruban researchers

Clementia Eugene, Department, Head and Lecturer, SWD

Who said research can't be fun? The youngest faculty at the University of Aruba (UA), Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) is determined to make research its signature. PSP which represents Professional and Society Practice was held for the first time to bring closure to the first semester by way of integrating the ten modules taught. PSP was organized for the students to design and conduct research on the political and social themes that are reflected in Aruban carnival songs. In preparation for this academic exercise, students were introduced to the subject by a series of lectures. Dr. Victoria Razac, Cultural Anthropologist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of the University of Buffalo, New York delivered a lecture on the topic: "Listen to me" in which she discussed the historical evolution of all forms of music from nursery rhymes to folk, dande, calypso and reggae. Gregory Richardson, UA, PhD Candidate delivered a lecture on the topic: ‘Rhythmic Importation, Linguistic Adaptation and Integration in Aruban Music' which he wrote in collaboration with former calyposian, Kenworth Meyers. Jubi Naar and Anthoni Gario introduced the students to the calypso art form in Aruba, citing its historical development, challenges and contributions to the culture of Aruba.

The students were also introduced to basic research methodology by Dean Dr. Paula Kibbelaar, Dr. Victoria Razac and Clementia Eugene, Head and Lecturer of the Department of Social Work and Development. Leonie Peterson, the University librarian provided the students with skills in conducting literature research. Vanessa Pietersz taught the nuts and bolts of writing academic papers in English.

The students were divided into three groups and supported by their team coaches designed and conducted qualitative research on three topics using oral history, surveys, interviews, reviewing archival materials both literature and song text analysis. With the advent of information technology and the internet, the students used Face-book as a tool to collect data for their research.

After four weeks of coaching, on Friday 29^th January 2010, FAS students along with Dr. Lydia Emerencia, Rector; Dr. Ryan Peterson, Dean of FHTMS; Charisse Hoen-Daly, Coordinator of OSA; lecturers; Mrs. Ruby Eckmeyer, Director of the Department of Culture; family and friends gathered at the Aula to listen to the findings of the young student researchers. The students used a combination of song, dance, music, drama and power point presentation to present their research findings into Aruban carnival songs and of their contribution to national cultural development.

The first group sought to answer the research question: Is the introduction of multilingualism in calypso songs a way to bring the social and political awareness to a wider part of the community? This group concluded that the use of multilingualism in calypso is a positive influence to the music, as it is a way to convey social and political awareness to the wider Aruban community which speaks four different languages; Papiamento, Spanish, Dutch and English.

The second group conducted their research on the evolution of Tumba in Aruba. This group discovered that Tumba originated from the Republic of Congo in Africa and then moved to Haiti, Cuba, Curacao and Aruba through the slave trade. According to the findings of the students, the original form of Tumba changed in the 1970s to Carnival Tumba and presently the music has lost its popularity.

The third group focused their research on the evolution of rhythm and lyrics in the Aruban Roadmarch marked by Lord Boxoe, 1971, Mighty Talent, 1984 and Master Gusto, 2000. This group found that through the development years of Roadmarch, there has been a change in the music from a slower rhythm to a faster soca beat.

In conclusion, FAS achieved its goal of providing students with introductory knowledge in conducting research. This is a significant milestone for the Faculty that desires to utilize research as one of the vehicles of ensuring that the transversal lines of identity, diversity, civic participation and sustainability are punctuated into the curriculum. Moreover, PSP helped the students to better comprehend the Aruban social reality, contextuality and development through the musical expression of carnival songs, in order to become responsible democratic citizens and put the concepts and theory of the first semester into practice.