Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Africana Studies

Africana Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop a sense of belonging to an affirming community.
• Develop an understanding of the historical legacies of enslavement, colonialism, and the post-colony.
• Develop an understanding of how race the intersects with class, sexuality, and gender.
• Develop an understanding of the ongoing cultural expressions of the African Diaspora
• Understand the historical contributions within the sweep of African and Diasporic cultures.
• Experience different modes of learning within and external to the classroom.

African Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop a sense of belonging to an affirming community.
• Develop an understanding of the historical legacies of enslavement, colonialism, and the post-colony.
• Develop an understanding of the multiplicity of political and cultural identities within Africa.
• Understand the historical contributions within the sweep of African and Diasporic cultures.
• Experience different modes of learning within and external to the classroom.

African American Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop a sense of belonging to an affirming community.
• Develop an understanding of the historical legacies of enslavement.
• Develop an understanding of how race the intersects with class, sexuality, and gender.
• Develop an understanding of the connections of African American cultures and those of the wider Diaspora.
• Understand the historical contributions within North America.
• Experience different modes of learning within and external to the classroom.

American Studies

American Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Critically synthesize, analyze and interpret a wide range of evidence of U.S. beliefs and practices - attending to patterns, absences, and interpretative strategies.
• Describe how power and difference (race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, citizenship) have interacted at specific moments in time to shape subjectivities, groups, and a wide variety of political, economic, and cultural institutions.
• Communicate effectively about the histories and cultures of the United States in a range of communicative forms, demonstrating the ability to formulate a well-organized argument supported by evidence and an demonstrating an awareness of audience.
• Conduct independent research in US history and life using appropriate methods and protocols.

Anthropology

Anthropology (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Recognize and understand human cultural diversity.
• Comprehend evolutionary, biological, cultural, and social characteristics common to all humanity as a single species.
• Conduct ethnographic fieldwork and integrate it into anthropological analysis.
• Recognize how human cultural knowledge relates to human social behavior, including perceptions of race, class, and ethnicity.
• Connect global and local sociocultural processes, including how these scales are interconnected.
• Examine and understand the conditions and effects of inequalities in power, wealth, and privilege.

Anthropology-Sociology (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Examine and understand the reciprocal relationship between individuals, small groups, social processes, and social structures. 
• Conduct anthropological and sociological research using appropriate methodology, including but not limited to ethnographic fieldwork and quantitative analyses, and integrate this research into anthropological and/or sociological analysis.
• Interrogate how dimensions of difference (e.g., race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, ability) intersect to produce disparate experiences of power, belonging, and inequality in the social world.
• Recognize how human cultural knowledge relates to human social behavior, including perceptions of race, class, and ethnicity.
• Read, write, communicate, and apply sociological and anthropological ideas verbally and visually, explaining social patterns and societal issues.
• Interpret, clarify, and assess major theoretical platforms in anthropological and sociological thought.

Art and Architecture

Studio Art (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Produce work that demonstrates an ability to take creative and intellectual risks.
• Develop a sensitivity to visual relationships in the pursuit of effective formal and expressive coherence.
• Demonstrate a high degree of technical competency in studio art media.
• Integrate the ways in which materials, techniques, and subjects generate meaning.
• Differentiate between artistic styles and the diverse populations and communities from which works of art are made.
• Apply critical thinking to analyze and contextualize their ideas in group critiques, written assignments, and through artworks.

Architectural Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop as critical thinkers who engage in the design process as an investigative, iterative, and layered activity that works toward identifying conceptual and formal approaches to guide creative problem solving.
• Engage with a broad and inclusive range of histories and theories of design and other forms of cultural production to inform and support the design process.
• Build a foundation of skills necessary for contemporary design practice in areas including research, analog and digital representation and fabrication, and written and oral communication.
• Emphasize the importance of knowledge-building through public engagement and community outreach.
• Engage in the design of creative and informed responses to critical contemporary issues—especially the complex and interrelated challenges of climate change and social justice.
• Interrogate the potential for design to create spaces that support social diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Art History (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Complete a formal or visual analysis of works representing a diverse and inclusive range of visual and material culture.
• Identify the formal and material particularities of various different media.
• Explain the impact of historical context, sociopolitical context, and cultural context on the production, display, and circulation of art as well as processes of meaning-making.
• Develop research and writing skills that are relevant to the discipline, including crafting and arguing a thesis, as well as drafting catalog essays and wall texts appropriate for museums and galleries
• Recognize and explain significant themes, stylistic features, and genre conventions associated with art over a range of historical periods and geographical regions, including the artwork of historically underrepresented groups within the US and global areas outside of North America and Europe.

Asian Studies Department

Asian Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop a multidisciplinary perspective centered on Asia.
• Develop foundational abilities in one or more Asian languages, including appropriate proficiencies in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
• Develop an understanding of current and historical cultural, social, geographical, and political diversity within Asia.
• Develop the ability to plan and carry out scholarly research and give a scholarly presentation on an Asian topic in English.

Biochemistry

Biochemistry (B.S.)

Students will be able to:

• Apply core chemical principles underlying molecular biology to explain biological processes at the atomic, molecular, and macroscopic levels.
• Engage in experiential learning.
• Develop transferable quantitative skills.
• Develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and analytical reasoning skills so that students can become independent thinkers who are responsible for their own learning.
• Understand scientific experimentation including hypothesis design, experimental skills, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.
• Communicate, both orally and in written form, the results, conclusions, and relevance of scientific experiments to a specific audience.

Biology

Biology (B.S. or B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Describe core concepts of biology and explain how these concepts are interconnected, including evolution; information flow, exchange, and storage; the relationship between structure and function; and pathways of energy and matter.
• Recognize that a complete understanding of a biological trait requires integrating four complementary approaches, including understanding the trait’s structure and function, development, adaptive significance, and phylogenetic history.
• Engage in scientific inquiry by asking biological questions, designing experimental and observational studies, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.
• Effectively communicate about science and biology in oral and written formats.
• Describe how biology can inform current societal issues, such as environmental issues and conservation, human health, disease transmission, or social diversity.

Chemistry

ACS Chemistry (B.S.)

• Communicate effectively, both orally and in written form, the results, conclusions, and relevance of scientific experiments to a specific audience.
• Understand disciplinary material and have familiarity with the subdisciplines: inorganic, organic, analytical, and physical chemistry.
• Apply fundamental content knowledge and core chemical principles to solve unfamiliar problems and applications.
• Design and perform experiments safely, collect data, and analyze those data to answer chemical questions.
• Collaborate with a diverse team of students and faculty to answer scientific questions.

Classics

Classics (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

Major in either Latin, Greek, or Greek & Latin (combined)

• Display basic competence at reading, analyzing and critiquing a body of Greek and/or Latin texts.
• Display a knowledge of the different theoretical approaches applied to ancient texts and modern translations.
• Better appreciate and understand the diversity of cultures, histories, and cultural interactions taking place within the ancient Mediterranean.
• Consider how modern audiences have received and deployed ancient material and the extent to which modern constructs have impacted our understanding of ancient peoples.
• Learn how to generate responsible conclusions or models using a strictly evidence-based approach towards ancient material and taking full account of how to handle gaps in information and diversity of our sources.
• Apply methods from other disciplines or fields to ancient material and, in turn, apply knowledge of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Mediterranean world — along with the unique analytical methods and perspectives with which they are studied — to modern disciplines or fields.

Greek & Roman Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Display basic competence at reading, analyzing and critiquing a body of Greek and/or Latin texts.
• Display a knowledge of the different theoretical approaches applied to ancient texts and modern translations.
• Appreciate and understand the diversity of cultures, histories, and cultural interactions taking place within the ancient Mediterranean.
• Consider how modern audiences have received and deployed ancient material and the extent to which modern constructs have impacted our understanding of ancient peoples.
• Learn how to generate responsible conclusions or models using a strictly evidence-based approach towards ancient material and taking full account of how to handle gaps in information and diversity of our sources.
• Apply methods from other disciplines or fields to ancient material and, in turn, apply knowledge of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Mediterranean world — along with the unique analytical methods and perspectives with which they are studied — to modern disciplines or fields.

Comparative Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, Disciplinary (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Skills in close reading, and critical and analytical thinking.
• The ability to engage confidently and effectively in oral and written communication.
• Intellectual independence that comes with wide, in-depth reading and thinking.
• The ability to make complex, cogent, and well researched arguments.
• Foundational skills in one or more languages other than English.
• The ability and confidence to excel, grow, and lead in a variety of professions and fields of endeavor.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE MAJOR, Interdisciplinary (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Skills in close reading, and critical and analytical thinking.
• The ability to engage confidently and effectively in oral and written communication.
• Intellectual independence that comes with wide, in-depth reading and thinking.
• The ability to make complex, cogent, and well researched arguments.
• Foundational skills in one or more languages other than English.
• The ability and confidence to excel, grow, and lead in a variety of professions and fields of endeavor.

Computer Science

COMPUTER SCIENCE (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate both a theoretical and technical understanding of the core body of knowledge in computer science as well as several application areas.
• Analyze computational problems and design correct and efficient algorithms to solve them.
• Design and implement efficient, well-constructed, and well-documented software solutions.
• Explain their work both verbally and in writing, and work effectively as a member of a team.
• Continue learning and adapting their skills throughout their careers as technologies change.
• Recognize the broad applicability and ethics of computing, and appreciate the need for collaboration with experts in other domains.

COMPUTER SCIENCE MAJOR (B.S.)

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate both a theoretical and technical understanding of the core body of knowledge in computer science as well as several application areas.
• Analyze computational problems and design correct and efficient algorithms to solve them.
• Design and implement efficient, well-constructed, and well-documented software solutions.
• Explain their work both verbally and in writing, and work effectively as a member of a team.
• Continue learning and adapting their skills throughout their careers as technologies change.
• Recognize the broad applicability and ethics of computing, and appreciate the need for collaboration with experts in other domains.

Critical Sexuality and Queer Studies

Critical Sexuality and Queer Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Understand and critique the history and formation of categories of sexuality as they function in social, economic, cultural, institutional, and/or political contexts and as they intersect with other categories of difference such as race, ethnicity, gender, and ability.
• Understand the complexity and variety of sexual minority's lives in the past and present, in local, national and global contexts.
• Gain familiarity with sexuality studies as an academic field, including awareness of the centrality of queer and trans approaches to studies of sexuality and key concepts, fault lines, and methodologies.
• Make connections between queer studies scholarship, activism, and social change.

Dance

Dance Disciplinary Major (B.A.) in Performance and Choreography

Students will be able to:

• Locate themselves in the matrix of identities that dance studies encompass to demonstrate respect for the diverse ways that dance is manifest in the world.
• Engage with dance as a cultural art form.
• Demonstrate the ability to develop and communicate one’s creative voice as a composer and movement artist.
• Demonstrate an understanding of dance performance and the craft of choreography as embodied history, theory, practice and production.

Dance Interdisciplinary Major (B.A.) in Dance Education

Students will be able to:

• Locate themselves in the matrix of identities that dance studies encompass to demonstrate respect for the diverse ways that dance is manifest in the world.
• Demonstrate competency and potential as a dance teacher or movement educator, grounded in empathy, curiosity, and ethical behavior.
• Embody content knowledge related to dance pedagogy, cultural relevancy, dance education curriculum, and inclusive teaching methods, including interdisciplinary coursework.
• Speak and write analytically and reflectively about the fundamental experience of dance as education.
• Develop proficiency in such areas as dance production, community engagement, and educational/arts administration.

Dance Interdisciplinary Major (B.A.) in Movement Studies

Students will be able to:

• Locate themselves in the matrix of identities that dance studies encompass to demonstrate respect for the diverse ways that dance is manifest in the world.
• Analyze and describe movement through multiple theoretical perspectives.
• Integrate multiple movement perspectives into physical practice.
• Design and guide relevant movement experiences for a range of individual participants.
• Articulate interdisciplinary relationships between movement practices and other such fields as Biology, Education, Physics, and Psychology.

Dance Interdisciplinary Major (B.A.) in Theory and Performance Studies

Students will be able to:

• Locate themselves in the matrix of identities that dance studies encompass to demonstrate respect for the diverse ways that dance is manifest in the world.
• Demonstrate an embodied understanding of dance as a movement practice in one or more movement forms.
• Demonstrate a theoretical understanding of movement as an expressive artistic discipline that is reflective of cultural, historical, social, and physical influences.
• Demonstrate a functional knowledge of the physical body, as understood through an anatomical lens, a somatic lens, or a movement description lens.
• Articulate the ways in which dance specifically connects to (an) other academic field(s), as for example dance and aesthetics, dance and the environment, dance and gender studies, or dance and social justice.

Economics

Economics (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Use mainstream economic models to analyze individual decision-making, the functioning of markets, market flaws, market power, income distribution, inequality, and the macroeconomy, as well as recognize their limitations.
• Evaluate the impact of public policy changes in the situations above.
• Understand some important heterodox economists and schools of thought such as Keynes, Marx, Original Institutional economics, and Feminist economics, as well as recognize their limitations.
• Use statistical/econometric tools to analyze data and correctly interpret the results.
• Identify reliable and relevant sources of data and evidence appropriate to the question being asked or the argument being made.
• Communicate ideas and arguments effectively, in both papers and presentations, to the intended audience. This may include the use of graphs, tables, and mathematics, as well as words.

Educational Studies

Educational Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Apply specific analytical frameworks to educational situations, ranging from case-studies to educational policy, in a specific area of concentration.
• Articulate the cultural and historical bases of structural inequalities in contemporary schooling and suggest evidenced-based and contextually appropriate solutions.
• Take intellectual risks and critically analyze information as they develop expertise in a particular area of educational inquiry.
• Contribute to just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive educational environments and to recognize structural inequalities in contemporary schooling.

English

English (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop rigorous and incisive critical thinking skills, especially close reading, rhetorical analysis, and narrative analysis skills.
• Become eloquent and versatile writers, skilled at presenting complex arguments while also remaining alert to matters of genre and voice and style.
• Engage in substantial research, develop and revise and edit significant writing projects, and collaborate effectively with their peers.
• Engage with a broad diversity of perspectives, reflecting on the ways in which all of our experiences are shaped by issues of culture, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and identity.
• Become familiar with the central concepts at stake in contemporary critical theory and cultural studies.

Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Articulate and apply an understanding of the natural sciences and scientific literacy in order to analyze environmental problems.
• Articulate and apply insights from economic, political, social and cultural institutions in order to analyze human-environmental interactions.
• Situate environmental issues and the links between human and natural systems in ethical, cross-cultural, and historical contexts, as expressed through the arts, literature, music, and film.
• Communicate the world’s most challenging environmental problems, along with potential solutions, to diverse audiences using credible, evidenced-based arguments.
• Identify appropriate methods of inquiry to address research questions in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and apply methodological skills to environmental problem solving.
• Engage critically with questions of justice and equity in human-environment interactions.

European Studies

EUROPEAN STUDIES MAJOR (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Analyze the historical and cultural developments of Europe from the Ancient World to the present day, and assess the cultural, historical, and aesthetic contexts that have influenced the development of these traditions.
• Develop a nuanced understanding of the diversity of European cultures and societies, including their languages, religions, arts, and values, and critically evaluate the impact of globalization on these communities.
• Develop skills in close reading, critical analysis, and interdisciplinary awareness of issues facing European cultures over time.
• Engage in interdisciplinary research and creative projects that explore the intersections of literature, art, and history in Europe, and develop innovative approaches to understanding the cultural and intellectual diversity of the region.
• Develop effective communication skills in written and oral formats, using appropriate evidence, argumentation, and documentation to articulate ideas and perspectives about Europe to diverse audiences.

French, Francophone, and Italian Studies

French and Francophone Studies Disciplinary (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Perfect their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills in French in order to communicate successfully with native speakers in diverse communicative situations.
• Employ the cultural, linguistic, and literary knowledge they have acquired of the French and Francophone World to conduct research (both remotely and in the cultures studied) and to advance and support a persuasive argument, both in papers and in oral presentations.
• Articulate the role of issues of race, language, power, gender, and class in the constitution and expression of identity in French and Francophone literature, film, and art.
• Use their linguistic competencies to navigate all types of daily communicative situations.
• Identify and analyze the components of a literary or cinematic text and employ the appropriate vocabulary to explain how their authors use theme, genre, form, and other techniques to express and reconfigure our perspectives on memory, exile, love, death, and loss.

French and Francophone Studies Interdisciplinary (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Perfect their skills in reading and listening, and demonstrate advanced proficiency in spoken and written French in diverse communicative contexts.
• Use their linguistic competencies to navigate all types of daily communicative situations.
• Use knowledge of literary, cinematic, and cultural traditions of the French-speaking world to actively engage in complex conversations and discussions with French speakers, and conduct research for papers and effective oral presentations.
• Critically analyze and discuss ways in which questions of race, and diversity, language, and power, gender, and class shape the issue of identity in French and Francophone literature, film, and art.
• Employ their interdisciplinary knowledge to make connections across learning through exploring relevant links between French and Francophone Studies and other disciplines in the general curriculum that deal with key social issues relative to memory, exile, love, death, and loss.

GENDER, SEXUALITY AND INTERSECTIONAL JUSTICE

Gender and Feminist Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Locate the interconnections amongst social and political movements (locally and globally) and their capacity to transform how we come to know and reimagine the world.
• Raise and explore questions about practices of how to live well together.
• Tackle contemporary issues with contemporary tools and practices.
• Explore the historical making and remaking of gender, race and sexuality, and implications of these historical shift-changes in institutions, epistemology, and global structures of power.
• Undertake written critical analyses of topics and issues which engage diverse scholars’ intellectual work .
• Identify one’s own unique interests, experiment with voice (in writing, speaking and debating), and begin to chart one’s own role in making change.

LGBTQ+ Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Explore the history of LGBTQ+ social justice and political movements across the globe, including their erasure in traditional historical accounts.
• Critically examine the role of sexuality and gender within an intersectional framework in historical and contemporary representations of marginalized groups.
• Understand how heteronormativity shapes historical and contemporary societies and how queer activists and theorists have combatted this legacy.
• Interrogate the ways in which feminist, queer, and trans theories have been invoked across academic disciplines to deepen our understanding of human experience .
• Apply queer theoretical approaches across the curriculum and develop lines of inquiry which provoke new understandings of the phenomena of gender and sexuality through emerging scholarship and fields of study.
• Critique social justice movements’ inclusion or erasure of LGBTQ+ identities, needs, and advocacy

Bodies, Disability, and Justice (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Understand how social norms about bodies shape understandings of difference and how structural inequities produce uneven experiences of body and health.
• Apply interdisciplinary analytic tools for evaluating representations of bodies in a range of cultural texts, while attending to the critical importance of racial and transnational perspectives to the promotion of embodied justice.
• Explore the linkages and synergies between the fields of disability studies, queer and trans studies, and embodiment studies, and the role of disability activism and advocacy in shaping alternative futures. 
• Build body literacy through embodied theory and praxis, understanding and engaging the body as an important, intersectional location for justice.
• Articulate and theorize the ways that material bodies are socially constructed and contested.
• Critically examine ideas and practices of bodily health and wellness, recognizing the self as a contextual and relational phenomenon.

Geoscience

Geoscience (B.S.)

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate breadth in the field of Geoscience and depth in a subfield with Geoscience.
• Demonstrate the ability to collect, analyze, synthesize, judge the quality of, and interpret data. It is important that students be able to separate observations from interpretations.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in the variety of venues used by scientists: oral, written, and graphic. In particular, students should master mechanics, narrative, and analysis of scientific writing, integrating the proper use of the scientific literature and citations thereof.
• Demonstrate the ability to conduct scholarly research and think critically about scientific problems using previous work and applying this knowledge to a new place or topic.
• Demonstrate the ability to work effectively both independently and within diverse teams. It is important that students work with colleagues by supporting each other and practicing skills important for successful teamwork.

Geoscience (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate breadth in the field of Geoscience and depth in a subfield with Geoscience.
• Demonstrate the ability to collect, analyze, synthesize, judge the quality of, and interpret data. It is important that students be able to separate observations from interpretations.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in the variety of venues used by scientists: oral, written, and graphic. In particular, students should master mechanics, narrative, and analysis of scientific writing, integrating the proper use of the scientific literature and citations thereof.
• Conduct scholarly research and think critically about scientific problems using previous work and applying this knowledge to a new place or topic.
• Demonstrate the ability to work effectively both independently and within diverse teams. It is important that students work with colleagues by supporting each other and practicing skills important for successful teamwork.

History

History Major (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• The ability to describe and discuss historical facts, themes, and ideas, and analyze them within their historical context.
• The ability to identify, analyze, and evaluate primary and secondary source evidence, to conduct research independently using either or both, and to synthesize evidence into a coherent argument.
• The ability to think historically about the present, to appreciate the importance of historical knowledge for understanding our present world, and to recognize that our current realities are neither natural nor inevitable, but the product of relations of power.
• An understanding of the importance of the creation and distribution of knowledge in informing how different communities have experienced the world at different times.

International Relations

International Relations (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Understand and be able to summarize arguments by scholars and experts who address questions from a range of analytic and theoretical perspectives. identify and critically evaluate the evidence offered in support of these arguments.
• Identify and analyze a range of factors that generate prosperity, inequality, entrenched poverty, and externalities at various scales.
• Identify and analyze the complex forces that contribute to insecurity, contention, and solidarity at various scales.
• Design original research projects using relevant primary and/or secondary sources, utilizing appropriately formatted citations and bibliographies.
• Communicate effectively and formally in the written and spoken word through individual and collective assignments.
• Effectively communicate in a global language other than English.

Mathematics

MATHEMATICS MAJOR (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Construct valid logical arguments and analyze the reasoning of others.
• Implement a variety of mathematical structures to model and analyze complex problems.
• Communicate mathematical ideas clearly, in verbal and visual form, by using appropriate mathematical terminology and notation.
• Develop the ability to independently read and understand written mathematics. 

MATHEMATICS MAJOR (B.S.)

Students will be able to:

• Construct valid logical arguments and analyze the reasoning of others.
• Implement a variety of mathematical structures to model and analyze complex problems.
• Communicate mathematical ideas clearly, in verbal and visual form, by using appropriate mathematical terminology and notation.
• Develop the ability to independently read and understand written mathematics.

Media and Society

Media and Society (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Deploy key media studies vocabularies, theories, and methodologies in order to analyze media objects within their aesthetic, material, socio-political, and cultural contexts.
• Critically reflect upon their own encounters with media and power.
• Produce persuasive critical arguments in written, visual, oral, and interactive formats.
• Design engaging media texts in print and digital formats, including articles, films, photographs, podcasts, games, and websites.
• Encode and decode media messages, drawing on robust digital media and information literacy skills to navigate an increasingly complex information ecosystem.
• Serve their communities as informed citizens by challenging media that reflect and enforce social inequities and by producing and promoting media that advance social justice.

Music

Music (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Describe how music works unto itself; how it works on us as listeners and humans; and how it works on communities and cultures.
• Employ practical skills in the service of making music with and for others.
• Identify music as a carrier of stories and attune oneself to stories of power, privilege, identity, and oppression.
• Support a lifelong relationship with music as a practitioner, collaborator, listener, and creator.

Philosophy

Philosophy (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Express complex ideas in speech and in writing in a way that is clear, logical and coherent, thereby preparing students for innumerable careers.
• Recognize diversity in systems of thought and belief, discover the underlying assumptions of these systems, and deepen their own sensitivity to opposing points of view.
• Identify and formulate philosophical questions, and explore answers to them.
• Articulate and critique the role of ethical issues in public and academic debates, and thereby develop an increased moral sensibility.
• Recognize and analyze the historical origins of the modern versions of enduring philosophical questions.
• Perceive and appreciate the connections between knowledge, reality and what is good.

Physics

PHYSICS MAJOR (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop an understanding of fundamental concepts of physics.
• Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills through the application of physics concepts to problems.
• Learn analytical, experimental, and mathematical skills and techniques that can be applied to analyze physical phenomena and solve problems.
• Develop strong communication skills to effectively convey scientific ideas and findings.

PHYSICS MAJOR (B.S.)

Students will be able to:

• Develop an understanding of fundamental concepts of physics.
• Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills through the application of physics concepts to problems.
• Learn analytical, experimental, and mathematical skills and techniques that can be applied to analyze physical phenomena and solve problems.
• Develop strong communication skills to effectively convey scientific ideas and findings.

Politics

Politics (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Articulate and explain key concepts, processes, and issues of politics, institutions, and civil society.
• Communicate their thoughts and ideas in a professional, intelligent, and critical manner.
• Investigate and examine contemporary and historical political topics and controversies from multiple perspectives.
• Understand how citizens, including themselves, engage in political action in both formal (legalistic) and informal (advocacy and activist) public spheres.
• Develop understanding and awareness of the racial and gender divisions that shape all aspects of politics, in the United States and everywhere else.
• Keep the issues of class and cultural inequalities central to their understanding of politics and their comportment in the world.

Psychological Science

Psychological Science (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate fundamental knowledge and comprehension of concepts & principles, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends of major areas in psychology.
• Apply the scientific method to acquire knowledge and to think critically about psychological phenomena.
• Abide by high ethical standards and engage in behavior that reflects an understanding of and respect for the complexity of sociocultural and international diversity.
• Produce completed research projects and communicate their results in a variety of formats including oral presentations and scholarly papers appropriate for professional psychology audiences.
• Develop and refine skills (e.g., project-management, teamwork skills) that will prepare them for future professional and personal aspirations.

Psychological Science (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Demonstrate fundamental knowledge and comprehension of concepts & principles, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends of major areas in psychology.
• Apply the scientific method to acquire knowledge and to think critically about psychological phenomena.
• Abide by high ethical standards and engage in behavior that reflects an understanding of and respect for the complexity of sociocultural and international diversity.
• Produce completed research projects and communicate their results in a variety of formats including oral presentations and scholarly papers appropriate for professional psychology audiences.
• Develop and refine skills (e.g., project-management, teamwork skills) that will prepare them for future professional and personal aspirations, especially in careers in STEM-focused fields.
• Provide additional focus on material from other natural sciences that complements material in Psychological Science.

Religious Studies

Religious Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Understand and be able to summarize the fundamental questions and controversies concerning what is religion, identify and critically evaluate theories that purport to answer that question.
• Generate new questions concerning religion and the issues that religions address, research those questions using relevant methods and primary and/or secondary sources, (with appropriate citation and formatting styles) and communicate them effectively in both written and spoken formats.
• Understand and assess the social, historical, and contemporary contexts of religious phenomena and religious identities locally, nationally, and globally.
• Understand, identify, compare, and summarize some of the narratives, rituals, ethics, and doctrines of major world religious traditions.
• Recognize the way religions intersect with human rights, social justice, the environment, gender, race, class, violence, and other issues.
• Identify and analyze religious dimensions of a purportedly secular world.

Russian Area Studies

Russian History and Society (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Communicate in the Russian language at the ACTFL Intermediate Low proficiency level.
• Explain and interpret significant historical events of the last thousand years of Russian history, including that of underrepresented groups in and contiguous with the Russian state.
• Explain and interpret the major literary and artistic movements and figures in the Russian-speaking world from the 19th century to today, including groups whose work has been historically less commonly taught.
• Analyze cultural products in Russian and English and contextualize these products with attention to the close and dynamic relationship between the cultural, historical, and political contexts in which they were produced.
• Develop and complete a capstone project that demonstrates an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of the major and which capitalizes on previous coursework.
• Demonstrate a wide-ranging knowledge of Russia and the neighboring states of Eurasia sufficient for ongoing engagement with their societies, histories, and cultures or to provide the potential for a career within the discipline, as well as critical reading, writing, and thinking skills that can be applied to any career path.

Russian Language and Culture (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Communicate in the Russian language at the ACTFL Intermediate High proficiency level.
• Explain and interpret significant historical events of the last thousand years of Russian history, including that of underrepresented groups in and contiguous with the Russian state.
• Explain and interpret the major literary and artistic movements and figures in the Russian-speaking world from the 19th century to today, including groups whose work has been historically less commonly taught.
• Analyze cultural products in Russian and English and contextualize these products with attention to the close and dynamic relationship between the cultural, literary, and linguistic contexts in which they were produced.
• Develop and complete a capstone project that demonstrates an understanding of the literary and linguistic emphases of the major and which capitalizes on previous coursework.
• Demonstrate a wide-ranging knowledge of Russia and the neighboring states of Eurasia sufficient for ongoing engagement with their languages, histories, and cultures or to provide the potential for a career within the discipline, as well as critical reading, writing, and thinking skills that can be applied to any career path.

Sociology

Sociology (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Define and use foundational concepts of sociology, such as: the self, culture, status, crime, roles, norms, globalization, organization, stratification, deviance, social class, gender, race, sexuality, community, space, power, ethnicity, social change, urban, family, labor, and place.
• Examine and understand the reciprocal relationship between individuals, small groups, social processes, and social structures.
• Interrogate how dimensions of difference (e.g., race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, ability) intersect to produce disparate experiences of power, belonging, and inequality in the social world.
• Interpret, clarify, and assess major theoretical platforms in sociological thought.
• Read, write, communicate, and apply sociological ideas verbally, graphically, and statistically explaining social patterns and social issues.
• Understand, evaluate, and produce sociological research using appropriate quantitative and qualitative methodologies and, when applicable, testable hypotheses.

Spanish and Hispanic Studies

Spanish and Hispanic Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Present ideas and arguments, read, and write in Spanish at the Advanced Proficiency level, with enough accuracy that Spanish speakers, including those unfamiliar with language teaching, will be able to understand.
• Exhibit comprehension of essential meaning when listening to native speakers from a variety of Spanish-speaking countries in authentic contexts.
• Describe cultural products and practices, analyze literary materials and explain fundamental features of the language.
• Demonstrate cultural competency related to the Spanish-speaking world.
• Apply language and cross-cultural skills to graduate study and/or other professional settings.

Theatre

Theatre (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Make theatre through collaborative processes that bring together production elements including acting, directing, design, and technical production.
• Connect theatre to the world through community engagement, inclusivity, embodiment, and social justice.
• Analyze and interpret texts in preparation for theatrical production.
• Explore the interrelationship between theatre and society in respective cultural contexts and across time.
• Develop empathy, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborative skills in and beyond theatre.

Women's Studies

Women’s Studies (B.A.)

Students will be able to:

• Build a foundation for critical engagement with the world through intersectional feminist and queer scholarship and activism.
• Develop a transnational perspective on power inequity.
• Explicitly engage with the history and contemporary realities of racism within the United States and beyond.
• Build a skill set of feminist and queer methods and practices that are widely applicable within and beyond the academy.
• Engage in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary exploration as an important part of critical scholarly work.
• Produce creative applications of feminist and queer theory and practice.