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!
This year, 27 new faculty have joined the College of Arts & Sciences, enriching 17 departments and programs with their excellence in an impressive range of topics, including moral psychology, gravitational waves, Black contemporary art and more.
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.
As a Classics major, you can immerse yourself in the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome through four different tracks (Classics, Greek, Latin, Classical Civilization) taking programs in ancient languages, literature, history, archaeology, history of art, science, linguistics and philosophy. Classics majors work closely with individual professors in their areas of expertise, often in small classes, and have many opportunities for independent research and travel. The rigorous analytical training characteristic of a Classics degree helps to develop skills that are valued in a wide variety of careers, as well as giving students a firm foundation for understanding the history of Western culture. With a minor in classics, you’ll conduct your own odyssey through the ancient Mediterranean world by taking any five coherent classics courses (above 1000-level) from one of four different tracks, acquiring proficiency in either Greek or Latin along the way: Classical literature Ancient history (with emphasis on either Greek or Roman) Ancient philosophy Classical art and archaeology
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As a comparative literature major, you’ll gain a critical and historical perspective on world literature and cultures, with the choice of two tracks. If you want to emphasize literature in your course work, take the comparative literary studies track; if you’re interested in studying literature and theory by integrating rigorous work in film, video or other arts and media, take the literary, visual and media studies track. The major’s broad range of courses provides a critical and historical perspective on world literature and cultures.
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Moral psychology is an interdisciplinary academic area that welcomes students with diverse majors and interests who share a strong curiosity and concern about humankind, and a motivation to apply both humanistic and scientific lenses to age-old questions about human behavior. The minor adds broad academic value across Cornell. It identifies and centralizes relevant coursework; assists students in curating an academic plan for their moral psychology studies that builds on their strengths and interests; and offers unique research and community engagement opportunities that bring moral psychology to life.
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The Robert S. Harrison College Scholar Program represents the pinnacle of the liberal arts experience at Cornell. The program is focused on a small group of stellar students whose interests transcend disciplinary boundaries. These students have demonstrated exceptional promise and maturity to plan and carry out a well-designed individualized program of study and research. 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.
College Scholars explore subjects with a broader integration of related disciplines than most students would attempt. They pursue their subjects using advanced, often graduate-level, techniques. As a capstone to their studies, all Scholars undertake an independent senior project, usually culminating in an honors thesis. It is a unique opportunity within the College of Arts & Sciences for engagement and learning, in the classroom and beyond.
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With a minor in film, you’ll gain a fundamental understanding of the formal, industrial, aesthetic and political aspects of cinema and media from the 19th century to the present. You can focus on national cinemas, genres or modes (narrative cinema, for example) or critical issues (such as digital platforms or global media); you may also pursue some work in film and digital media production, including animation and screenwriting. Students with a primary interest in film can incorporate that into the PMA major.
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Research in astronomy is making rapidly increasing use of analysis methods that draw from developments in artificial intelligence, machine learning with a strong basis in Bayesian statistics. The overarching questions raised in astronomical science are attractive to students from a wide range of disciplines and can provide the motivation for learning the fundamentals of data science as they are applied to the astronomical domain.
Researchers in the Astronomy Department are involved with specific projects involving large empirical and simulation data sets: spacecraft imaging data from solar system missions, spacecraft survey data for exoplanets, sky surveys at radio, infrared, and optical wavelengths, data sets from gravitational wave detectors, and cosmological simulations of large scale structure in the universe. These data sets will provide attractive contexts for learning and applying modern analysis methods.
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The undergraduate minor in Arabic is intended for Cornell students who wish to broaden and deepen their competence in the Arabic language and knowledge of Arab culture. Such linguistic competence and knowledge have helped Cornell students in the past obtain positions in government agencies and think tanks and to enroll in the most competitive Arabic programs in this country.
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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.
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With a minor in the History of Capitalism, you’ll be exposed to different perspectives on how capitalism has been defined and how it developed at different times and in different parts of the world, enabling you to critically reflect on economic institutions and ideas, as well as to understand how our global economy has come to be. You’ll gain the basic vocabulary of economics and business, deepened with a longer, critical perspective on the development of capitalism. This minor is offered collaboratively with courses from across the university, coordinated by the Department of History.
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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.
Bloomberg
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ABC News
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David Silbey
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Newsweek
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David Silbey
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New York Times
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Philip D. Nicholson
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Astronomy, Carl Sagan Institute
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