In 2009, on this foundation, the School of Politics and Administration (School of Marxism) and the School of Literature, Arts, and Communication were established. In 2018, the School of Politics and Administration was further reorganized into the School of Marxism and the School of Public Administration and Law. In March 2020, the School of Public Administration and Law and the School of Literature, Arts, and Communication were merged to form the present School of Humanities. Throughout its history, the school has produced a number of nationally renowned scholars and experts, including Zhan Shouwen, an authority on ancient Chinese literature; Wang Ge, a celebrated writer; Du Zhongxin, a well-known calligrapher; Fan Chongmin, a distinguished painter; Ji Yixiu and Chang Taoyi, prominent philosophers; Xue Li, Yang Yinan, Liang Jingdi, and Xi Depei, accomplished historians; Liu Shugang, a logician; Chen Guoliang, a philologist; Huang Jianguo, a noted writer; Zhuzi, a famous screenwriter; and Huo Zhongyi, a young writer. These eminent figures represent the intellectual spirit and source of confidence that continue to inspire generations of faculty and students in the School of Humanities to strive forward with diligence and determination.

The school has a total of 99 staff members, comprising 78 full-time teachers. This includes 15 professors, 33 associate professors, and 30 lecturers, with over 43 working as postgraduate student supervisors. Faculty members with senior professional titles account for 58% of the total, and those holding doctoral degrees make up 72%. In addition, two young faculty members have been selected for Chang’an University’s “Young Talent” program.

The School of Humanities currently comprises five academic units: the Department of Public Administration, the Department of Law, the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Department of Journalism and Communication, and the Department of Broadcasting and Film. The school offers five undergraduate programs, including Public Administration (Chang’an College Program), Public Administration with a specialization in Emergency Management, Journalism, Law, Chinese Language and Literature, and Broadcasting and Television Directing. Among them, Public Administration has been recognized as a national first-class program, and Journalism as a provincial first-class program.

The School of Humanities offers a doctoral program in the second-level discipline of Policy Science and Management Innovation. It also has three academic master’s degree authorization programs in the first-level disciplines of Public Administration and Law, as well as the second-level discipline of Aesthetics. Additionally, the school provides four professional Master degree programs in Public Administration (MPA), Journalism and Communication, International Chinese Education, and Drama and Film.

In the past three years, the School of Humanities has undertaken over 110 research projects at the provincial level or above, including those funded by the National Social Science Fund, the National Natural Science Fund, and the Ministry of Education’s Humanities and Social Sciences Project, as well as 63 various industry-sponsored projects. The faculty have published more than 30 academic monographs and textbooks, and over 230 high-level academic papers, with many articles fully reprinted or abstracted in Chinese Social Sciences Digest, Xinhua Digest, and Information Center for Social Science of Renmin University Reprints. The school serves as the Vice-Chair Unit of the Emergency Management Education Branch of the China Disaster Prevention Association and is a member of the China Disaster Prevention Association, the Chinese Society of Public Administration, and the Chinese Society of Emergency Management. It hosts more than ten research platforms, including the Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science and Public Policy, the Shaanxi Research Center for Public Scientific Literacy and Public Policy, the Shaanxi Provincial Base for the Inheritance of Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions, the Shaanxi Film Criticism and Theory Research Base, the MPA Education Center of Chang’an University, the China Western Rural Development Research Center, the Institute of Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education, the Public Policy and Local Governance Research Center, the Transportation Soft Science Research Center, the Legal Research Center for Engineering Construction and Environmental Governance, the New Media and Visual Studies Institute, the Mass Communication and Social Development Research Institute, and the Language, Culture, and Applied Communication Research Institute.

The School of Humanities is committed to moral education and aims to cultivate well-rounded talents, emphasizing the integration of knowledge and practice. It strives to nurture high-quality, versatile, and foundational talents for the new era. To this end, the school has implemented a series of innovative, personalized initiatives in talent development, including the Undergraduate Mentorship Program, the Liberal Arts Elite Talent Program, the Youth Global Competence Development Program, and the Excellence Talent Training Project. The school has also advanced the construction of a “New Liberal Arts” curriculum system, integrating cutting-edge technologies such as big data, VR, and decision-making simulation into talent cultivation. Eighteen student competitions have been meticulously organized to enhance students’ practical skills, social adaptability, and overall competencies.

The school has established a Virtual Reality-Assisted Decision-Making Laboratory, which includes 11 professional teaching laboratories such as a Virtual Reality Aided Decision-Making Laboratory, a Virtual Studio, a Non-Linear Editing Room, a Physical Evidence Technology Room, a Mock Courtroom, and a Human Resource Appraisal System. The total laboratory area is 2,000 square meters, equipped with more than 800 devices, ensuring smooth implementation of practical teaching across disciplines. In the past three years, 181 undergraduates have been admitted to graduate programs at well-known domestic universities. Faculty members have received multiple awards in national and provincial teaching competitions, including the National Teaching Innovation Competition, the Ministry of Education’s “Wonderful Lecture,” and the Shaanxi Province “Wonderful Lecture” awards.

The School of Humanities has been steadily expanding its international engagement, establishing student joint-training and exchange programs with renowned universities such as George Mason University, the University of Illinois Chicago, the School of Journalism of University of Missouri, Ball State University, University College Cork, the University of Macau, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In the past three years, 75 students from the school have pursued master’s or doctoral studies at overseas institutions including University College London, Boston University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 43 students have participated in overseas exchange programs. Additionally, the school currently educates 44 international students.

The School of Humanities upholds the philosophy of “Build on Quality, Thrive with Distinction, Empower through Disciplines—Pursuing Excellence with Strategic Focus.” Taking the construction of the New Liberal Arts as an opportunity, the school continuously innovates and explores the development path of distinctive liberal arts disciplines within a science and engineering university, striving to become a high-level institution that is first-class domestically and internationally renowned. The School of Humanities fully implements the Party’s educational policies, firmly follows the path of socialist education with Chinese characteristics, and adheres to the socialist orientation in running the school. It comprehensively embraces the political, people-centered, and strategic attributes of education, fulfills the fundamental mission of moral education, and cultivates talents for the Party and the nation. The school is dedicated to serving Chinese modernization, providing education rooted in the Chinese context, accelerating the construction of a high-quality education system, and nurturing well-rounded socialist builders and successors with moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor development. It aims to strengthen ideological guidance, enhance talent competitiveness, support scientific and technological development, ability to ensure public welfare, promote social collaboration, and expand international influence, thereby contributing to the development of China as a strong socialist education power and supporting the comprehensive advancement of socialist modernization and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.