Live, study and grow at the nexus of discovery and impact.
Our research activities and academic programs are remarkably broad, but they share one characteristic: all are curiosity-driven. Exploring the unknown is central to our mission to be the nexus of discovery and impact.
Courses offered in A&S of 4000 courses at Cornell.
Majors to choose in A&S. Design your education.
Students in A&S, each with an extraordinary journey to tell.
A&S alumni in our network. Go Big Red!
Twenty new faculty have joined the College of Arts & Sciences this year, strengthening departments and programs with their wide-ranging expertise and filling numerous leadership roles for the College and university. And this election year, the College’s new faculty bring a breadth and depth of expertise on topics important to our democracy.
The innovative undergraduate curriculum at A&S has distribution requirements that range from global citizenship to physical sciences to ethics and the mind. Classes build upon each other and cross the boundaries of traditional academic fields. Extensive work occurs outside of your major and minors, and there are no required core courses. Work closely with inspiring faculty to develop the hallmark skills of a liberal arts and sciences education – the ability to read critically, write persuasively and think broadly.
The Brittany and Adam J. Levinson Program in China and Asia–Pacific Studies (CAPS) offers a unique and rigorous curriculum in the study of contemporary China, through a set of courses on China’s language, history, politics, economy, society, and international relations, and by providing students with experiential learning opportunities, including one required semester in Beijing and one optional semester in Washington, D.C. Designed as an interdisciplinary program to train future leaders in various domains of U.S.-China relations, the Levinson Program offers both the Major and Minor in China and Asia-Pacific Studies to Cornell undergraduate students.
More information can be found on the Cornell University Registrar site and through the Levinson Program site.
Details about China & Asia-Pacific Studies
The major in Jewish studies will provide students of all backgrounds the opportunity to critically analyze Jewish cultures, histories, literatures, media, thought, and religion. Students who major in Jewish studies will be exposed to the long arc of Jewish history, while learning the skills of close textual analysis and discovering the complexity behind the formation of religious, ethnic, and cultural identities. At Cornell, students can study Jewish culture, history, media, and texts from: ancient Israel; late antique Mesopotamia; medieval Iberia; the Shoah; Modern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas; and beyond.
The Jewish studies major is designed to put the study of Jewish experiences in a comparative context. The range of courses available to Jewish studies majors highlight Jewish diversity: cultural, ethnic, geographic, linguistic, and racial. Jewish studies majors can take courses in a variety of disciplines, including archaeology, film, gender studies, history, law, literature, philosophy, politics, race, and religion. Through these courses, and through the fulfillment of the related course requirement, students will gain insight into larger questions of global concern, including the problems of constructions of otherness, inequality, and colonialism—among much else. The major is constructed with a great deal of flexibility, not only to accommodate a range of student interests, but also to make it possible for Jewish studies students to double major in Jewish studies and another field.
Details about Jewish Studies
The minor in Data Science equips students from any major with a solid understanding of the conceptual and methodological tools of data-driven discovery. Upon completing the minor, students will be ready to leverage competencies and skills to pursue careers in various fields and professions.
Details about Data Science
With an international relations minor, you’ll be able to take advantage of the vast resources available across colleges and departments for studying the politics, economics, history, languages and cultures of the countries and regions of the world, adding a global and cross-cultural dimension to your major studies. This interdisciplinary program, offered through the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, is open to undergraduates enrolled in any of the seven Cornell undergraduate colleges.
Details about International Relations
As an Asian studies major, you will learn about the languages and literatures, religions, societies and cultures of East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, with courses in most of the disciplines of the social sciences and the humanities.
Details about Asian Studies
As a government major, you’ll learn how to think and write rigorously and creatively about issues of public life. You’ll have the choice of courses in four subfields: American politics (the political behavior, policies and institutions of the U.S.), comparative politics (the institutions and political processes of other nations), political theory and philosophy (normative theories of politics and history of political thought) and international relations (transactions between states, international organizations and transnational actors).
Details about Government
With a minor in dance, you’ll engage with the fundamental practices of doing, making and thinking about dance. You can take courses that explore choreography and courses that study dance as an historical and cultural behavior, as well as more familiar dance technique courses. Students with a primary interest in dance can incorporate that into the PMA major.
Details about Dance
With a minor in Latin American studies, you’ll explore issues and topics pertaining to Latin America with courses from various fields of study including music, politics, economics, feminist studies, archeology, theatre, art history, language, literature, architecture, agriculture, science and history.
Details about Latin American Studies
As a science, technology and society major, you’ll explore the social and cultural aspects of science and technology and be encouraged to ask informed and penetrating questions about the social forces that shape science and technology, the limits of scientific authority and the role of technology in modern life.
Details about Science, Technology and Society
As a statistical science major, you’ll have a home in two colleges: Arts and Sciences (A&S) and the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.
Statistical Science combines modern statistical methodology and computing with data science to solve problems through the science of learning from data and from measuring, controlling, and communicating uncertainty. The major is ideal for students interested in actuarial science, applied and mathematical statistics, data mining and visualization, machine learning, quantitative reasoning, statistical programming, and more.
Details about Statistical Science
The pinnacle of the liberal arts experience
Students design their own interdisciplinary major, organized around a question or issue of interest, and pursue a course of study that cannot be found in an established major. Harrison College Scholars explore subjects with a broader integration of related disciplines than most students would attempt.
A deep dive into the humanities
This program offers a signature learning, research and collaboration opportunity for undergraduate students across the university who are interested in the humanities.
Shaping the future
Students in the Milstein Program in Technology & Humanity combine Cornell’s renowned liberal arts and sciences classes in Ithaca with the 21st century tech curriculum at Cornell Tech in NYC.
Funding your summer experience
Summer opportunities are crucial to student career success, but these life-changing experiences frequently offer little to no funding. That’s a critical barrier for many of our students – and one that the College of Arts and Sciences feels is vital to overcome.
The Summer Experiences Grants (SEG) do just that. They support students with living expenses, transportation, and travel so that these essential experiences are available to all of our students, who may otherwise not be able to afford them.
Curiosity is the driver for research in A&S. From the dendrochronology lab where archaeologists analyze tree-ring growth to understand climate change to the linguistics department where students created a new language for a Captain Marvel movie, our students and faculty take full advantage of all that our world-class research university encompasses.
With opportunities spanning the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, research here takes place in laboratories, museums, field sites, libraries, hospitals, greenhouses, performance spaces and archives.
Premier postdocs
This premier postdoctoral fellowship program offers opportunities for early-career scholars of outstanding talent, initiative and promise to devote themselves to frontline, innovative research without being tied to specific outcomes.
Undergraduate research opportunities
The Nexus Scholars Program in the College of Arts & Sciences provides undergraduate students with summer opportunities to work side by side with faculty from all across the college (humanities, social sciences, and STEM) on their research projects.
Open your mind
The College of Arts & Sciences’ Arts Unplugged series brings research and creative works into the public sphere for discussion and inspiration. These outreach events invite a broad audience to explore the work of scholars and faculty from all disciplines, all backgrounds and all time periods and to celebrate the impact that work continues to have on our daily lives.
Engagement for an informed society
The College of Arts & Sciences' Distinguished Visiting Journalist Program brings accomplished journalists to Cornell for extended visits. The program aims to recognize excellence in journalism and to provide opportunities for select journalists and the university community to engage with each other.
USA Today
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Bloomberg
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US News & World Report
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Kenneth Roberts
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Forbes
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Steven Strogatz
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Mathematics
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Location: A. D. White House
