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Distribution Credit

Courses to be considered for Distribution credit must carry three or more credits and must be conducted as formal classes. To qualify for Distribution credit, a course should offer a broad overview of a field and approach to scholarship. It should acquaint students in some depth with the ways in which knowledge is developed in the discipline and the distribution area and with how one thinks from the perspective of the discipline and area. Course material should be accessible and comprehensible to a student who will not major in the department through which the course is offered. (The recommended format for distribution requests can be found here .)

Arts and Humanities (A & H):

Courses in this area help students think about the complexity of human experience, appreciate the range of human thought and emotion, learn about varieties of aesthetic expression, and grapple with moral issues. Such courses study written texts and works in literature, the visual arts, music, and the other performing arts, as well as philosophical and religious thought, and intellectual and cultural traditions. The approach may be comparative, historical, or analytical, but the emphasis is on developing students’ interpretive and critical skills.

Social and Historical Studies (S & H):

Courses in this area analyze social institutions, the behavior of individuals in social contexts and historical settings, and changes in social conditions over time. Such courses study the political, economic, and cultural institutions of society, from individuals in social interaction to the international system of nation-states and transnational organizations and actors as well as changes in the human condition over time, including the inception, development, and transformation of institutions and civilizations, ideas, genres, or forms of representation.

Natural and Mathematical Sciences (N & M):

Courses in this area provide an appreciation of the physical and biological environment, introduce students to systematic investigation of that environment, show the value of experimental methods for understanding natural laws, and explore the role and methods of the mathematical sciences. Such courses study the natural sciences, introducing and emphasizing basic principles of the chemical, physical, and life sciences, and expanding students’ understanding of the physical world and scientific inquiry about it, as well as analytical reasoning, the mathematical sciences, and the thinking process and its representations. Courses may focus on forms of reasoning or the nature and processes of cognition and computation.

Note: A course can carry only one distribution designation.