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 Spanish major, you’ll have the opportunity to explore in-depth the languages, literatures and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. You’ll be invited to engage with topics as various as medieval sin and modern film, novels from early modern Spain (most famously, Don Quixote) and from modern Latin America. You’ll also be encouraged to study abroad and to reflect critically upon the diversity that characterizes the Hispanic tradition.
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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 Department of Literatures in English seeks to foster critical analysis and lucid writing. We also strive to teach students to think about the nature of language and to be alert to both the rigors and the pleasures of reading texts of diverse inspiration.
English majors engage with English, American, and Anglophone literature of an astounding historical span and global variety, and are trained to respond to what they read in a rich and complex variety of ways—from expository essays and scholarly inquiries to class discussions and creative writing of their own.
Students develop their own programs of study in consultation with their major advisors. Some focus on a particular historical period or literary genre, or combine sustained work in creative writing with the study of literature. Others pursue interests in such areas as women’s literature, regional literature, literature and the visual arts, or critical theory.
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The Science Communication and Public Engagement minor is designed for undergraduates who are interested in the sciences and/or engineering and would like to learn how to use a wide variety of communication tools for engaging publics, including non-technical audiences and policymakers. Students completing the minor will develop an identity as someone who can contribute to the public understanding of science.
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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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As an information science major, you’ll examine information systems in their social, cultural, economic, historical, legal and political contexts. Although computer science is an important part of the program, the emphasis is on systems and their use, rather than on the technologies that underlie them.
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As an astronomy major, you’ll gain in-depth knowledge about the nature of the universe, with thorough preparation in physics and mathematics. Like nearly all majors, there are opportunities to engage in research projects in your junior and senior years — faculty and students have played major roles in space exploration, including a heavy involvement in NASA missions such as the Mars Rovers.
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With a minor in Crime, Prisons, Education, and Justice, you’ll have an unparalleled opportunity to learn why the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and how race, class, politics, history, gender, inequality, and law relate to mass incarceration in the United States.
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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.
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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 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.
The Guardian
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NoViolet Bulawayo
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Literatures in English
New York Times
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Kim Haines-Eitzen
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Near Eastern Studies, Religious Studies Program
ABC News
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Sarah Kreps
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Government
Newsweek
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Michael H. Goldstein
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Psychology
