UPDATE:  The CALS distribution requirements have changed.  These changes are in effect for students entering CALS in Fall 2006 and later.  All continuing students can choose to graduate under the old requirements or the new requirements.  Only the social sciences and humanities areas are affected.  The physical and life sciences and written and oral expression requirements remain the same.  For a comparison of the old and new requirements, click here.

The purpose of the distribution requirement is to provide a broad educational background and to ensure a minimum level of competency in particular skills. Through study of the physical and life sciences, students develop their understanding and appreciation of the physical sciences, enhance their quantitative reasoning skills, and gain an appreciation of the variability of living organisms. The social sciences and humanities give students perspective on the structure and values of the society in which we live, and prepare them to make decisions on ethical issues that will affect their work and role in society. Written and oral expression is designed to help students become competent and confident in the use of oral and written communication to express themselves and their ideas.

Please Note: Credits received for independent study, field, teaching, research, work experience, and internships cannot be used to fulfill the distribution requirement. Courses judged to be review or supplemental in the discipline, such as 00 level courses, will not be counted in the distribution areas.

(pdf available)

*Please note effective Fall 2006 the college distribution requirements will be updated to reflect the Social Science & Humanities category descriptions below.  Please click on Distribution Requirements if you would like to see a description of the old distribution requirements.

SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES: CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS

Cultural Analysis (CA)
These courses study human life in particular cultural contexts through interpretive analysis of individual behavior, discourse, and social practice. Topics include belief systems (science, medicine, religion), expressive arts and symbolic behavior (visual arts, performance, poetry, myth, narrative, ritual), identity (nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality), social groups and institutions (family, market, community), power and politics (states, colonialism, inequality).

Historical Analysis (HA)
These courses interpret continuities and changes--political, social, economic, diplomatic, religious, intellectual, artistic, scientific--through time. The focus may be on groups of people, dominant or subordinate, a specific country or region, an event, a process, or a time period.

Knowledge, Cognition, and Moral Reasoning (KCM)
These courses investigate the bases of human knowledge in its broadest sense, ranging from cognitive faculties shared by humans and animals such as perception, to abstract reasoning, to the ability to form and justify moral judgments. Courses investigating the sources, structure, and limits of cognition may use the methodologies of science, cognitive psychology, linguistics, or philosophy. Courses focusing on moral reasoning explore ways of reflecting on ethical questions that concern the nature of justice, the good life, or human values in general.

Literature and the Arts (LA)
These courses explore literature and the arts in two different but related ways. Some courses focus on the critical study of artworks and on their history, aesthetics, and theory. These courses develop skills of reading, observing, and hearing and encourage reflection on such experiences; many investigate the interplay among individual achievement, artistic tradition, and historical context. Other courses are devoted to the production and performance of artworks (in creative writing, performing arts, and media such as film and video). These courses emphasize the interaction among technical mastery, cognitive knowledge, and creative imagination.

Social and Behavioral Analysis (SBA)
These courses examine human life in its social context through the use of social scientific methods, often including hypothesis testing, scientific sampling techniques, and statistical analysis. Topics studied range from the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes of individuals to interpersonal relations between individuals (e.g., in friendship, love, conflict) to larger social organizations (e.g., the family, society, religious or educational or civic institutions, the economy, government) to the relationships and conflicts among groups or individuals (e.g., discrimination, inequality, prejudice, stigmas, conflict resolution).

Foreign Language (FL)
These courses are taught by the following departments: Africana Studies and Research Center (AS&RC – language only), Asian Studies (BENGL, BURM, CHIN, HINDI, INDO, JAPAN, KHMER, KOREA, SANSK, TAG, THAI, and VIET), Classics (CLASS – language only), German Studies (GERST – language only, DUTCH, and SWED), Linguistics (LING – languages only), Near Eastern Studies (NES - languages only), Romance Studies (CATAL, FRROM, ITALA, PORT, QUECH, and SPANR), and Russian Studies(RUSSA, HUNGR, POLSH, SEBCR, and UKRAN).

Human Diversity (D)

These courses address several of the College's stated goals for undergraduate education, specifically, the expectation that in the course of earning a degree, students will enhance their abilities to communicate with people of different cultural perspectives; to listen carefully and respectfully to the views of others, especially views with which they disagree; and to employ ethical reasoning in judging ideas, actions, and their implications.  These courses explore the challenges of building a diverse society, and/or examine the various processes that marginalize people and produce unequal power relations in terms of race, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, gender, age, or economic status.