Student Learning Outcomes
Africana Studies - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Apply at least two disciplinary lenses of analysis that focus on a specific aspect of the life experiences of people of African descent (for example in written/digital assignments, performative or oral presentations)
- Explain, verbally and/or in writing, the interrelationships among people from sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, or other parts of the African diaspora in two or more of the following areas: linguistic, intellectual, political, economic, or cultural
- Define and provide examples of colonization, decolonization, Black liberation/power movements and their legacies
- Explain, verbally and/or in writing, the concept of intersectionality via specific connections with race, ethnicity, class, and gender
- Explain the goals of one or more current social justice initiatives involving people of African descent in the United States and globally
American Studies - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Apply different approaches to the academic studies of the Americas
- Appraise diverse sets of evidence including both primary and secondary sources
- Communicate clearly, coherently, and effectively
Anthropology - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Identify disciplinary fundamentals from multiple sub-disciplinary perspectives
- Interpret anthropological themes from a critical perspective
- Combine practice and methodology through research design
- Apply disciplinary theoretical perspective(s) in an original research project
- Create anthropological knowledge for and with multiple communities
Art - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Construct meaning using visual information
- Demonstrate a knowledge of the basic tools and techniques of new and traditional media
- Analyze their studio processes by diagramming the stages in creative thinking
- Use critique to formulate and build personal direction
- Generate a public exhibition
Art History - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Analyze material and visual culture and/or the built environment as a form of visual literacy
- Apply art historical and interdisciplinary methods of analysis to the study of material and visual culture and/or the built environment
- Draw connections between the past and present to illuminate the relevance of both
- Identify how particular scholarly discourses and practices have contributed to social, structural, and institutional hierarchies in art history’s own history
Asian Studies - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Engage life world of an Asian culture (assessed during senior project oral presentation)
- Conduct multidisciplinary research on Asia (assessed during senior project oral presentation)
- Communicate research findings through oral expression (assessed during senior project oral presentation)
BiochemistryMolecular Biology - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Evaluate the scientific literature and other forms of professional communications in biochemistry and molecular biology
- Solve problems at the interfaces of chemistry and biology using scientific reasoning
- Communicate fundamental concepts of biochemistry and molecular biology to both expert and layperson in writing and oral presentations
Biology - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Analyze and interpret original and published biological data
- Apply the scientific method in a way that demonstrates comprehension
- Communicate effectively about fundamental biological concepts using scientific language
Chemistry - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Apply scientific reasoning to explain chemical phenomena as evidenced by performance on a standardized exam (breadth of chemical reasoning)
- Demonstrate the ability to conduct a sustained research project (chemical research)
- Communicate chemistry’s impact on society with attention to ethics and inequities in science from which science policy decisions are made (impact of chemistry)
Cinema and Media Studies - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Analyze films and other media, regardless of genre, context, language, and geographical origin, for their structure, approach, goals, social and political implications, and aesthetics
- Apply knowledge of the overall development and history of cinema and media, from a global perspective, in written and spoken work
- Produce creative work in forms employed in cinema and media studies
- Demonstrate knowledge of contexts, outside of the specific focus of media, within which cinema and media studies play a role
Classics - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
Computer Science - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Apply core principles of program execution by developing an assembler
- Demonstrate knowledge of programming language environments by implementing an interpreter
- Solve a given problem by writing an efficient algorithm that uses an appropriate data structure, analyzing its running time, and demonstrating that their algorithm works
- Demonstrate their mastery of appropriate programming constructs in written code
Dance and Movement Studies - Overview
Students will learn to:
- Learn the fundamentals of movement through coursework in technique
- Develop a vocabulary enabling them to analyze, discuss, and write about a wide range of dance and movement practices
- Apply these concepts and principles in performance and the creation of original work including in solo and group performance, choreography, and improvisation
- Develop an understanding of dance and movement in a broader cultural context
Data Science - Data Science Overview
Students will learn to:
- Gain proficiency in the data life cycle: creation, curation, documentation, analysis, and communication.
- Apply data science tools to real world problems and produce well documented and reproducible analyses.
- Understand the social and ethical impact of the tools used in data science.
East Asian Languages and Literatures - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Write in the target language at the academic level
- Present ideas orally in the target language at the academic level
- Discuss East Asian literature and culture in both English and the target language
- Analyze East Asian cultural production in both English and the target language
Economics - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Design a research plan to address an economic question
- Competently implement a research plan
- Communicate findings from the research plan
Environmental Studies - Overview
Students will learn to:
- Explain the causes of, impacts of, and potential solutions to climate change
- Analyze how history, power, and identity shape environmental justice
- Apply appropriate research methods to answer a research question about a pressing environmental problem
French and Francophone Studies - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Communicate effectively in oral and written French
- Construct interpretive arguments about a variety of works, and/or historical or contemporary events from areas of the world in which French is spoken
- Research and present clear results in written and spoken form
Geoarchaeology - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Engage with disciplinary fundamentals from anthropological archaeology
- Engage with disciplinary fundamentals from geosciences
- Combine practice and methodology through research design
- Apply disciplinary perspective(s) in an original research project
Geosciences - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Evaluate, using reliable sources, the current state of knowledge, major controversies, and unknowns about a geoscience topic
- Collect appropriate data to solve geologic problems
- Defend arguments with evidence
- Effectively communicate to a variety of audiences the geological ideas and data that inform decision-making involving geoscience issues
Overview
German Studies students will learn to:
- communicate effectively in written and oral German
- demonstrate understanding of the literary, historical, and political events and works that shape German culture and society
- conduct multidisciplinary research in German Studies
Russian Studies students will learn to:
- communicate, both orally and in writing, with native and near-native Russian speakers on a variety of non-technical topics
- paraphrase unabridged Russian texts, including internet sites
- conduct multidisciplinary research in Russian Studies
- lead a substantive conversation about the literary, historical, and political events and works that shape Russian culture
German Studies Overview
Students will learn to:
- communicate effectively in written and oral German
- demonstrate understanding of the literary, historical, and political events and works that shape German culture and society
- conduct multidisciplinary research in German Studies
Overview
Students will learn to:
- communicate, both orally and in writing, with native and near-native Russian speakers on a variety of non-technical topics
- paraphrase unabridged Russian texts, including internet sites
- conduct multidisciplinary research in Russian Studies
- lead a substantive conversation about the literary, historical, and political events and works that shape Russian culture
Government - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Make reasonable inferences from data and evidence in order to draw logical conclusions about historical and contemporary political phenomena
- Effectively communicate ideas in clear writing
- Use foundational principles of political science to plan and carry out independent research
- Consider alternative perspectives in order to respond to counter-arguments
Hispanic Studies - Overview
Students will learn to:
demonstrate oral proficiency in Spanish.
demonstrate written proficiency in Spanish.
utilize their curricular studies of the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures through experiential learning.
demonstrate disciplinary practice by producing literary/film criticism that argues an original thesis.
History - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Summarize historiographical debates within and across disciplinary subfields
- Select and analyze historical evidence
- Create a clear, specific, coherent historical argument
Literature and Creative Writing - Overview
Literature Students Will Learn to:
- Write clear and well supported arguments about literary and/or other cultural texts
- Demonstrate knowledge of diverse literary traditions across historical periods, geographic regions, and/or social contexts
- Analyze literary works compellingly in contexts informed by literary criticism and/or broader regions, and/or social contexts
Creative Writing Students Will Learn to:
- Write with an awareness of the literary traditions within which they are working
- Write with attentiveness to form and genre
- Write a sustained creative project that demonstrates originality and attention to language
Mathematics and Statistics - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Use mathematical and/or statistical tools to model real-world problems
- Construct mathematical proofs based on rules of logical inference
- Communicate complete mathematical and/or statistical arguments
Middle East and Islamic World Studies - Overview
Concentrators in MEIWS will be able to:
- Communicate effectively in oral and written Arabic.
- Develop an ability to interpret arguments about the history, politics and literary cultures of the Islamicate world.
- Conduct research and demonstrate an understanding of the Islamicate world in the senior project.
Music - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Demonstrate active listening skills from among a wide variety of musical experiences and practices
- Make links between various musical styles and their historical and cultural contexts
- Demonstrate proficiency in various theories of music
- Display skills in making music through performance, composition, recording, or production
Neuroscience - Overview
Students will learn to:
- Engage in scientific inquiries that are informed by ethical and/or socio-cultural perspectives
- Communicate ideas effectively and concisely
- Integrate scientific literature to develop neuroscientific research questions
- Apply appropriate scientific methods to address neuroscientific research questions
- Demonstrate an interdisciplinary understanding of the nervous system
Philosophy - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Explain a range of philosophical views, historical and contemporary
- Identify philosophical problems in philosophy, other academic disciplines, or outside the academy
- Formulate their own views about philosophical problems in conversation with other philosophical works
- Defend those views cogently in writing and in speech
Physics - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Exhibit broad understanding in foundational physics
- Use foundational physics to analyze a diverse set of complex problems
- Demonstrate skills for experimental physics
- Demonstrate skills in technical communication
Psychology - Overview
Students will learn to:
- Explain how behavior and the mind are shaped by a variety of factors (e.g., biological, sociocultural)
- Evaluate sources, evidence, and psychological theories critically
- Employ appropriate research methods and statistics to address novel psychological questions ethically
- Communicate ideas clearly and concisely, demonstrating awareness of both disciplinary conventions and the target audience
Public Policy - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Understand the ethical dimensions of policy decisions and the justice implications of policy research
- Communicate clearly and persuasively about public policy issues in their own research
- Engage with stakeholders and policy makers as interns and researchers
- Establish a foundation for professional work in policy science and policy making
Religious Studies - Overview
Students will learn to:
- Examine different approaches to the academic study of religious traditions
- Analyze diverse sets of evidence including both primary and secondary sources
- Critically analyze the category of “religion”
- Communicate clearly, coherently, and effectively
Sociology - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Apply core sociological concepts to explain/interrogate social phenomena
- Employ one or more sociological methods in hands-on independent research
- Describe an array of diverse human experiences
Theatre - Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Exhibit competence in production/design of theatre
- Exhibit competence in acting/directing of theatrical performances
- Analyze plays/productions as aesthetic/cultural productions related to institutional and social hierarchies
Womens and Gender Studies Overview
Students Will Learn to:
- Explain the connections between the pedagogy of feminism to the methodology and varying practices of the subject
- Demonstrate the connections between the history of feminism to contemporary theory, practice and activism
- Critique the use of contemporary theories of intersectionality, interdisciplinarity and transnationality in feminist studies
- Apply a range of feminist methodologies and theories in research and writing
- Demonstrate knowledge of theories in academic feminism with the social orders and structures in which we live