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Let curiosity be your guide.
A home for exploration and discovery
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.
Majors to choose in A&S. Design your education.
Courses offered in A&S of 4000 courses at Cornell.
students in A&S, each with an extraordinary journey to tell.
A&S alumni in our network. Go Big Red!
The College Welcomes New Faculty for 2022-23
This year, 15 new faculty are bringing innovative ideas in a wide range of topics to the College of Arts & Sciences’ nexus of discovery and impact, including climate change, astronomy, identity studies and the economy.
Popular Destinations
Building the future of
the College of Arts & Sciences
We’re building for the future of the College of Arts & Sciences by focusing on ways we can “do the greatest good” to solve the world’s biggest challenges.
Learn more about our plan for the next decade and how your gift can support bold faculty research, expand innovative learning experiences and increase scholarship funding for our diverse student population.
A&S Academic Diversity
Uncommon academic diversity abounds here
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.
Visual Studies
English
Astrobiology
Asian American Studies
Russian
Chemistry & Chemical Biology
International Relations
Performing & Media Arts
Beyond Majors & Minors
The pinnacle of the liberal arts experience
Robert S. Harrison College Scholar Program
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
Humanities Scholars Program
This new program offers a signature learning, research and collaboration opportunity for undergraduate students across the university who are interested in the humanities.
Shaping the future
Milstein Program
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 Experience Grants
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.
Research and Scholarship
Research, scholarship and creative works to understand humanity and the cosmos
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
Klarman Fellowships
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.
Applications are now open. Deadline for submission is October 14, 2022.
High-impact seed funding
New Frontier Grants
Now in its second year, the College of Arts and Sciences has awarded 21 New Frontier Grants totaling nearly $3.25 million to faculty members pursuing boundary-pushing research projects from quantum materials to sustainable technologies to a philosophical theory of widespread sentience.
Undergraduate research opportunities
Nexus Scholars Program
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.
Public Engagement
Engaging our community and our world
Open your mind
Arts Unplugged series
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
Distinguished Visiting Journalist Program
The College of Arts & Sciences' new 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.
Faculty Commentary on Current Events
Faculty in the news
The Independent
Related people
Kate A. Manne
Newsweek
Related people
Jeremy Lee Wallace
Washington Post
Related people
Jeremy Lee Wallace
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