Studies in the Arts and Sciences courses allow students to explore different approaches for understanding the world. Students learn to think through the lenses of different disciplines and use diverse bodies of knowledge in pursuit of a thoughtful, meaningful life.

To fulfill this requirement, a total of 32 semester hours must be completed across four categories:

ExpressionExpression

Exploring the complex possibilities of human experience and creativity through text, image, sound, and performance.

Eight semester hours total consisting of one literature course plus one course from acting, art, dance, drama and theatre studies, music, music theatre, philosophy, theatrical design and technology, or other designated courses.

In your Expression courses you will:

  • Investigate how art/philosophy reflect the human experience.
  • Develop and practice skills, creativity, analysis, and critique.
  • Distinguish between a variety of genres or styles.
  • Understand the importance of form, culture, history, and/or mode.
  • Explore what can we know and how should we live.

CivilizationCivilization

Inquiring about and interpreting the ways that cultural and historical contexts inform human experiences.

Eight semester hours chosen from at least two of the following: art history, history, religious studies, world languages and cultures, or other designated courses.

In your Civilization courses you will:

  • Study diverse regions and cultures as they developed over time.
  • Develop linguistic proficiency, intercultural competence, historical self-awareness, and critical thinking.
  • Articulate insights into socially-constructed and historically-shaped rules, norms, discourses and biases.
  • Question profound issues and confront obstacles, problems, and assumptions in varied contexts.

SocietySociety

Fostering ethical engagement through systematic examination of the individual, social, cultural, institutional, and/or environmental contexts that shape (and are shaped by) human interactions.

Eight semester hours chosen from at least two of the following: anthropology/sociology, economics, geography, human service studies, political science, professional writing and rhetoric, psychology, public health studies, or other designated courses.

In your Society courses you will:

  • Carry out systematic and ethical inquiry using a variety of research tools including qualitative and quantitative methods.
  • Compare, critique, and apply different theoretical, disciplinary, and cultural perspectives.
  • Cultivate a self-reflexive understanding of power, inequality, and privilege.
  • Appreciate the value of human difference, diversity and inclusion.
  • Learn how to enact positive change based on sound and ethical reasoning.

Science/AnalysisScience/Analysis

Understanding methods or models to make sense of the natural world.

Eight semester hours total consisting of one physical or biological laboratory science course plus a second course chosen from biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, physics, statistics, or other designated courses.

 In your Science/Analysis courses you will:

  • Apply a quantitative and/or computational approach.
  • Seek objective truths by applying knowledge of fundamental laws of nature.
  • Encounter a world in which humans are not the focal point.
  • Conduct experiments or observations.
  • Make inferences based on data.

Transfer students with at least 18 semester hours of transfer credit must complete 32 hours total in Studies in the Arts and Sciences, but may have as few as seven hours in one or more of the four Studies in the Arts and Sciences areas.