L&S MAJORS

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Interdisciplinary Studies

Big Questions, Far-Reaching Programs

There are nearly 40 departments in Letters and Science - an embarrassment of riches. But what do you do if your intellectual interests do not fit neatly within the bounds of any of those departments? Students who like to explore across the boundaries of the traditional disciplines, looking through a variety of methodological and conceptual lenses, often find a congenial academic home in one of the programs in Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Studies (UGIS). To help you decide if UGIS is a good choice for you, it might help to think about the kinds of questions that engage scholars in the interdisciplinary group majors.

In American Studies, you might consider how U.S. cultures are constructed, reinforced, and changed in particular eras and places. Cognitive Science scholars ask how we know what we know, ponder whether we have free will, and explore the limits of consciousness. Environmental scientists study the impacts of an ever-growing human population on the environment. In Mass Communications you can examine how media ownership and structure affect the form and content of media messages; how race, class, and gender are portrayed in the media; and how individual viewers make sense of these messages and respond to them. Religious Studies scholars ask why particular religions developed and thrived in particular places and times, and investigate the sources of tension between religions and secular culture. If you are intrigued by the interaction of politics, economics, and culture in shaping the development of different parts of the world, you should look at the programs in International and Area Studies. Students interested in developing their own individualized areas of concentration might consider the Interdisciplinary Studies Field Major Program (ISF).