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African Studies department's
web
The African Studies Program is devoted to the study of African cultures, both
past and present, from a growing variety of perspectives and disciplines.
Africana Studies department's
web
Through an interdisciplinary offering of African-, African-American, and diaspora-centered
courses and related extracurricular activities at the University, the program
provides students with opportunities to understand and critically evaluate
the historical, cultural, social, political and economic factors that have
helped define and shape the African-American experience and other African diaspora
experiences throughout the world.
Ancient History description
The Ancient History major encourages a comparative approach to the study of premodern cultures.
Anthropology department's
web
Anthropology is the study of the human species as a whole. The Department of Anthropology integrates cultural anthropology (living peoples), archaeology (prehistoric and historical peoples), biological/physical anthropology (the interaction between culture and human biological variation) and linguistic anthropology (language variation and its relation to culture).
Architecture program's
web
The Architecture major is a program for students interested in developing basic
skills, knowledge, and methods of inquiry in the discipline of architecture
in the context of a studio-based liberal arts education. Although the major
resides in the College of Arts and Sciences, the studio and theory courses
are taught by faculty in the Department of Architecture and the Department
of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning in the School of Design.
Asian American Studies (Minor) • program's web
This program introduces students to the methods and concerns of a wide spectrum of disciplines: anthropology and ethnography, economics, folklore, history and art history, law, linguistics and communications, literature, sociology and demography, political science, and urban studies, as well as to creative and expository writing.
Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Please see East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Near
Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
Biochemistry department's
web
The biochemistry major at Penn places a strong emphasis on a foundation in
chemistry and physical sciences. This forms the basis for understanding the
specific molecular interactions in the living organism.
Biological Basis of Behavior department's
web
Biological Basis of Behavior is an interdisciplinary major in which students
explore the relationship between behavior (both human and animal) and its organic
bases.
Biology department's
web
The Biology major introduces students to the many ways of studying and understanding
the function and diversity of living organisms.
Biophysics department's
web
Biophysics is a major designed for students who are planning a career in biological
or medical research and who desire depth in the physical and mathematical aspects
of the biosciences.
Chemistry department's
web
Chemistry is concerned with the study of matter and the changes matter can
undergo.
Cinema Studies department's
web
Cinema studies is an interdisciplinary program designed to acquaint students
with the history and interpretation of cinema and to allow them to combine
knowledge of the field with the traditional aims of an undergraduate liberal
arts education.
Classical Studies department's
web
Classical Studies encompasses the civilization of the ancient Greeks and Romans
from prehistory to the Middle Ages, with emphasis on the literature, philosophy
and history of the classical Greek and Roman periods.
Cognitive Science department's
web
Cognitive science is the empirical study of intelligent systems. It is, by
its very nature, an interdisciplinary science which combines results from biology,
computer science, linguistics, mathematics, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology.
The major in Cognitive Science in the School of Arts and Sciences is designed
to introduce students to the core literature of this multifaceted discipline
and then allow them to specialize in some sub-area of cognitive science. Areas
of specialization can include: Computational Neuroscience, Logic and Computation,
Planning and Reasoning, Language Acquisition, Language Processing, and Learning
and Development. Depending on the student's interests, other tracks might be
developed in collaboration with a faculty advisor.
Communication department's
web
The purpose of the Communication major is to offer students frameworks for
understanding the interpersonal and media processes that lie at the center
of contemporary society.
Comparative Literature department's
web
Comparative Literature offers courses which introduce students to the vast
wealth of different literatures.
Criminology • department's web
The major in Criminology enables students to acquire a theoretical and methodological framework for generating and assessing knowledge about crime and social control. The program draws upon disciplines from statistics to neuroscience to develop a liberal arts approch to the subject of crime.
East Asian
Languages and Civilizations department's
web
The Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations offers majors in Chinese
and Japanese and minors in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. In accordance with
the name of our department, our programs emphasize the humanistic study of
the languages and civilizations of East Asia.
East Asian Studies department's
web
The Center for East Asian Studies is
an interdisciplinary unit composed of faculty members whose teaching and research
focus primarily on China, Japan, Korea, and bordering areas.
Earth and Environmental Science (see Geology or Environmental Studies)
Economics department's
web
Economics is the science of choice--the science that explains the choices made
by individuals and organizations as they adapt to changing scarcity. Among
the topics studied in economics are: the determination of the prices and quantities
of goods; consumer and firm behavior; international trade; income distribution;
taxes, subsidies and tariffs; the determination of the aggregate level of economic
activity; unemployment; inflation; and economic growth. Economics is an important
component of the liberal arts curriculum, and it provides a useful background
for students planning to enter any of the professions.
English department's
web
Majors in English take a great variety of courses in English, American and
other English-language literatures including courses that emphasize critical
approaches, literary theory, cultural studies, anglophone postcolonial literature
and culture, and film narrative.
Environmental Studies department's
web
The Environmental Studies program (part of the Earth and Environmental Science
Department) is designed to provide a broad awareness of environmental problems
and possible solutions for students who hope to address environmental quality
from the perspective of an established discipline.
Fine Arts department's
web
The major in Fine Arts is based upon the premise that an education in liberal
studies should include the challenge of learning to see, and that the education
of the artist is dramatically improved by liberal studies. Areas of study include
drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, animation,
film/video, graphic design and multi-media.
French Studies department's
web
This major is designed to give students both an excellent grounding in the
French language and a thorough knowledge of the history, culture, civilization
and literature of metropolitan France and other regions of the world where
the French language is primary.
Gender, Culture and Society • department's
web
Gender, Culture and Society is an interdisciplinary major and minor within
the Women's Studies program that offers opportunities to study the role of
gender and sexuality in human societies. There are four concentrations within
the major: Women’s Studies, Sexuality Studies, Global Gender Studies,
and Gender and Health.
Geology department's
web
In the Geology program (part of the Earth and Environmental Science Department),
we study and try to understand the dynamic nature of the Earth. Like detectives,
we seek clues to reconstruct events that explain the formation of the Earth's
features and the evolution of life.
Germanic Languages and Literatures department's
web
German art, literature, music, philosophy, religion, politics and scientific
research have profoundly influenced the history of other countries. This will
continue as a unified Germany plays an increasingly dominant role in international
affairs and global economics. The study of German culture and literature enables
students to trace Germany's roots in the past, to comprehend the cross-currents
in its thinking, and to experience the contributions of German poets, novelists,
authors and film-makers.
Health and Societies department's
web
This major is designed to provide students with the skills necessary to work
successfully in the interdisciplinary, global world of modern health care and
decision-making.
Hispanic Studies department's
web
The knowledge of Spanish and Hispanic culture gives students much more than
the ability to communicate in the world's third-most spoken language. It prepares
them to account for an entirely different national, continental and global
reality with all its complexity.
History department's
web
The Department of History offers a variety of courses dealing with political,
social, economic and intellectual life in Europe, America and the rest of the
world, from the medieval period to the present.
History of Art department's
web
The Department of the History of Art invites all students to explore the connections
between visual creativity and the history of human civilization. The History
of Art is the study of form and meaning in the visual arts from their beginnings
to the present.
History and Sociology of Science • department's web
History and Sociology of Science uses the tools of the humanities and social sciences to study science, technology, and medicine. Its practitioners strive to grasp the relations between the technical practice of scientists, engineers, medical researchers, and clinicians, and the material, social, and cultural circumstances in which they work.
Individualized Major read
more
The individualized major offers an opportunity for exceptional, creative, self-motivated
students to explore innovative and multi-disciplinary fields of knowledge.
International Relations department's
web
International Relations is a multi-disciplinary course of study on the ways
in which governments, private groups and individuals relate to each other in
the global political and economic systems.
International Studies and Business department's
web
The Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business is a joint degree
program between the College and the Wharton School. Admission into the program
is by a special procedure prior to matriculation into the University. For further
information, please consult the Admissions
Office.
Italian Studies department's
web
Italian Studies presents an opportunity to study the Italian language and related
topics in literature, film, linguistics, culture and civilization.
Jewish Studies department's
web
Jewish Studies relates Jewish life and culture to the surrounding world, from
the biblical period to modern Israel. The program also offers studies in Hebrew
and Yiddish.
Latin American and Latino Studies department's
web
Penn's combined program in Latin American and Latino Studies undertakes to
introduce students to scholarly research on Latin American and Latino cultures
in all their diversity of expression-not only "high culture" but
also folk and other forms, from pre-Columbian times to the present, from Tierra
del Fuego to New York and beyond.
Life Sciences and Management, Roy and Diana Vagelos
Program in • department's web
This is a joint degree program between the College and the Wharton
School that combines coursework in both management and the life
sciences. All students participate in a common core course, an upper-division
science research project, and internships in both science and business,
which help prepare students for careers in such rapidly expanding fields
as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
Linguistics department's
web
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language as an aspect of cognition,
society and history.
Logic, Information and Computation department's
web
This program draws on faculty and courses in Computer and Information Science,
Linguistics, Mathematics, and Philosophy to offer students a systematic and
integrative approach to the study of pure and applied logic, including the
applied mathematics of information and computation. The Program will provide
students with a strong background to pursue computational aspects of the natural,
biological, and social sciences, as well as prepare them for careers in information
technology.
Mathematics department's
web
Mathematics at Penn is a lively, wide-ranging discipline taught in a highly-ranked
department by nationally and internationally known mathematicians. The traditional
core areas of mathematics are well-represented, as well as newly developing
areas. Penn is one of the world's leading centers in the application of logic
to theoretical computer science.
Modern Middle East Studies • department's
web
This new interdisciplinary major is designed to allow students to specialize
in the Middle East as a region of the world and human experience by combining
course work using both social scientific and humanistic approaches, underpinned
by relevant language skills.
Music department's
web
While recognizing the importance of musical performance, the Department views
music as a humanistic endeavor which can serve as the focus of a liberal arts
education.
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations department's
web
The department offers broad-based, culturally integrated general education
courses on the civilizations of Mesopotamia/Iraq, Egypt, Israel, Syria, Arabia,
Persia/Iran and Anatolia/Turkey. NELC also teaches Sumerian, Akkadian,
Egyptian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Persian and Turkish.
Philosophy department's
web
Philosophy seeks to illuminate fundamental aspects of the world, of our relation
to, and knowledge of, the world, and of our own nature as rational, purposive
and social beings.
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics department's
web
This new, integrative major involves faculty and courses from the Departments
of Philosophy, Political Science and Economics and from the Law School. The
program allows undergraduates to study the variety of analytical frameworks
that have been developed to interpret and justify political and economic structures.
Physics and Astronomy department's
web
Physics deals with the most fundamental aspects of nature. Its practitioners
aim to discover the basic principles that govern the workings of the world,
using mathematics and experimental investigation as their tools.
Political Science department's
web
The Political Science Department provides students with an opportunity to develop
a systematic approach to the understanding of politics.
Psychology department's
web
Psychology is a multi-faceted discipline that weaves together both social science
and natural science approaches to the mind and behavior of organisms in general
and of human beings in particular.
Religious Studies department's
web
The Department of Religious Studies offers a broad variety of introductory
courses in the major religious traditions and in theories of the study of religion.
Romance Languages - French, Italian, and Hispanic Studies
(Spanish) department's
web
The Department of Romance Languages offers a wide variety of courses in French,
Italian, Portuguese and Spanish language, literature, culture and film. The
department offers a wealth of courses that address European classics from specific
periods as well as texts produced in contemporary cultural circumstances.
Science, Technology and Society department's
web
Science, Technology and Society courses focus on the social and humanistic
aspects of science and the professions: the growth of scientific institutions,
the role of science in technology and clinical medicine, the influence of economic
and political factors on research and the application of knowledge, and problems
of science and technology management and public policy.
Slavic Languages and Literature department's
web
The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers courses in Russian
language, literature and culture, as well as courses in other Slavic languages.
Sociology department's
web
The study of sociology provides an understanding of how societies, communities
and smaller groups are organized and maintained, and how individual behavior
is related to group experiences.
South Asia Studies department's
web
South Asia Studies offers an interdisciplinary approach to the life and institutions
of people of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal and
other Himalayan border countries, and the South Asian diaspora.
Spanish (See Hispanic Studies)
Theatre Arts department's
web
The Theatre Arts Program is an interdisciplinary major focusing on all intellectual
and creative aspects of Theatre and Performance Studies.
Urban Studies department's
web
The Urban Studies Program is an interdisciplinary major. Courses introduce
students to a variety of perspectives on the origins, development and nature
of cities.
Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular
Life Sciences department's
web
The scientific leaders in the next generation will be those who understand
the fundamental principles of the basic technologies as well as the integration
of the biological phenomena. This rigorous program consists of an essential
core in chemistry, mathematics and physics. plus a second science major or
a simultaneous M.S. (submatriculation) with a B.A. in either Biochemistry or
Chemistry. (Only incoming freshmen may be admitted into this program.)
Visual Studies department's
web
We live in an increasingly visual culture. New technologies and philosophies
of vision influence how we see ourselves and our world, and how we think about
seeing itself. Students can engage these developments through a multidisciplinary
course of study, connecting the theory, practice, and culture of seeing. The
major combines work in Art History, Fine Arts, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology,
and Film Studies, among others.
Women's Studies department's
web
See Gender, Culture and Society