So you want to be a public intellectual?

If you are interested in "an advanced general education and life as a public intellectual", Florida Atlantic University may be for you.

Since 1999, it has offered a PhD in comparative studies for those seeking to "define, shape and influence public issues", stating that "to be a public intellectual today is to be unafraid of contemporary theory".

The interdisciplinary programme covers everything from history, sociology and politics to literature, gender, culture and rhetoric, moving between high theory and practical implementation of policies.

Staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including Holocaust studies and philosophy. The core curriculum reflects a multiplicity of concerns: the arts, biological borderlines, creative strategies, gender, media and popular culture, the environment, post-colonialism, race and ethnic conflict, social movements, spirituality, technology, economy and globalisation and theory and historical context.