Wesleyan University

African American Studies

The Major in African American Studies enables students to better understand the social structures and cultural traditions created by Africans in the diaspora, Western conceptualizations of race, the relationship between issues of race and identity, and the histories and influences of people of African descent.

American Studies

Students who complete the major attain a historically grounded, theoretically informed, and globally oriented understanding of the U.S. as a cultural, social, and political formation, gaining facility with interdisciplinary methodologies.

Anthropology

The major in Anthropology enables students to investigate the complex and diverse cultures and societies developed throughout our interconnected world. Coursework includes anthropological theories and research methods and topics such as urban anthropology, globalization, media studies, consumer culture, art and performance, archaeology, and social movements.

Applied Data Science

The Applied Data Science Certificate provides students with an introduction to data analysis, including the theory and practical skills needed to collect and prepare data, explore and visualize data, build models and test hypotheses, discover insights, and communicate results in meaningful ways.

Archaeology

The Major in Archaeology trains students to analyze and reconstruct past societies and their environments through their material remains, engaging the past in ways that address modern questions.

Art History

The Major in Art History provides students with a strong understanding of the visual and material environment created by humankind and how those creations both embody and shape the culture, beliefs, and values of the people who made them.

Art Studio

The Art Studio major enables students to become fluent in visual languages—their analytical and critical vocabularies and the rigors of their techniques and methods—to explore intellectual issues and human experience.

Astronomy

The Major in Astronomy (ASTR) enables students to explore the foundational concepts and recent discoveries that have shaped the modern study of celestial objects, space, and the universe. The program blends coursework with research opportunities and access to professional-quality telescopes, instrumentation, and computers.

Astronomy

The Astronomy Department offers graduate work leading to the degree of Master of Arts, blending coursework with research opportunities and access to state-of-the-art instrumentation. Two years are usually necessary to complete the requirements, and each MA candidate must write a thesis on a piece of original research.

Biology

Students pursuing the Doctor of Philosophy in Biology study related biological fields through an individual program of courses, seminars, and readings, primarily emphasizing an intensive research experience culminating in a thesis. All PhD students must teach for three semesters under faculty training and supervision.

Biology

The major in Biology provides students with the skills to perform scientific inquiry using current experimental approaches as they pursue a deeper understanding of the interconnections among living things.

Biology

The Biology Department offers graduate work leading to the Master of Arts through the BA/MA program, and may also grant the MA to students in the biology PhD program who do not complete the PhD. Students earn at least six credits beyond the 32 required for the BA and submit a master's thesis with a public presentation.

Chemistry

The Chemistry Department offers graduate work leading to the Master of Arts through the BA/MA program, with a strong research orientation. MA candidates must earn a minimum of six credits and submit a master's thesis with a public presentation.

Chemistry

The Chemistry major provides students with a strong foundation in the chemical sciences and extensive experience in practical laboratory techniques. The department offers a Standard Chemistry Track and a Biological Chemistry Track.

Chemistry

The Chemistry Department engages doctoral students in the science of molecules, with research spanning organic and inorganic nanomaterials, recyclable polymers, the molecular basis of neurodegenerative diseases, and computational approaches to complex chemical systems. PhD students pass a series of progress examinations and complete original research.

Civic Engagement

Civic Engagement is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Classical Civilization

Classical Studies

The Major in Classical Studies (CLST) offers a multidisciplinary approach to the diverse and extraordinary civilizations of ancient Greece, Rome, and the broader Mediterranean world.

Classics

College of East Asian Studies

The East Asian Studies Major (CEAS) is designed to give students a broad knowledge of East Asian cultures with a deeper focus on a single country—China, Japan, or Korea—grounded in one of four concentrations.

College of Integrative Sciences

The College of Integrative Sciences (CIS) offers a linked major that equips students with the skills needed to address current and emerging global challenges through science, technology, and a strong focus on research.

College of Integrative Sciences

The College of Integrative Sciences (CIS) BA/MA program enables students involved in interdisciplinary research to complete a five-year combined BA plus MA. A minimum of six credits, including two credits of research leading to the MA thesis, is required for the degree.

College of Letters

The College of Letters (COL) is a three-year interdisciplinary humanities program integrating the study of literature, history, and philosophy within a collaborative learning community.

College of Social Studies

The College of Social Studies (CSS) is a three-year multidisciplinary major featuring courses in economics, government, history, and social theory; students gain understanding of social structures and relations through intense study and critical assessment of competing perspectives.

Computer Science

The Major in Computer Science (COMP) gives students an understanding of the foundational concepts and technical tools used for solving computational problems and building computational systems.

Computer Science

The Mathematics and Computer Science department's MA program in computer science is designed to ensure basic knowledge and the capacity for sustained independent scholarly study. The standard MA requires six one-semester 500-level courses in addition to the Advanced Research Seminars.

Curatorial Practice

This program enhances the professional student's skills as a performing arts presenter, manager, producer, and curator, allowing participants to advance in the field or pursue a position at a presenting institution or as an independent curator. Students gain an understanding of performance and movement-based artistic and curatorial practice and its social, cultural, and historical context.

Dance

The Major in Dance is centered on the creative act—envisioning, making, and doing—to cultivate artistry and inspire personal and social transformation through an interdisciplinary, hands-on, and collaborative journey.

Dance

Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Major in Earth and Environmental Sciences (E&ES) provides students with a broad base of knowledge of the natural world, with topics ranging from planetary evolution to climate change to ecosystem conservation.

Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences offers a program leading to the Master of Arts, designed for students who desire further training prior to a doctoral program elsewhere or for whom the master's will be the terminal degree. Students receive accelerated, personal instruction in a small department and conduct original research.

Economics

Economics

The Major in Economics introduces students to the ways people, businesses, governments, and other entities allocate and manage finite resources to meet societal and individual needs, examining microeconomic and macroeconomic theories and methods.

Education Studies

The Major in Education Studies (EDST) helps students understand education and its relationship to society, critically analyzing educational institutions. It is offered as a linked major.

English

The Major in English helps students hone their skills as critical writers and explore their potential as creative voices, fostering critical thinking about the relationships among literature, culture, and history.

Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Environmental Studies

The Major in Environmental Studies (ENVS) empowers students to evaluate, comprehend, communicate, and solve environment-related issues. ENVS is a multi-disciplinary linked major spanning the entire Wesleyan curriculum.

Ethnomusicology

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The Major in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS) engages students in critical analyses of gender and sexuality within the broad context of race, class, and ethnicity, and the ways these categories shape institutional systems, cultures, and societies.

Film Studies

Film Studies

The Major in Film Studies enables students to explore the moving image through a distinctive blending of history, analysis, and production, focused on the art and craft of visual storytelling.

French Studies

The French Studies Major is designed for students interested in developing a command of the French language sufficient to live and work in a French-speaking environment, with a deep knowledge of French-language literature and Francophone modes of thought, cultures, history, and society.

German Studies

The Major in German Studies provides students with a strong foundational understanding of German language, literature, and thought as they explore the rich and diverse cultures of German-speaking countries.

Global South Asian Studies

The Major in Global South Asian Studies (GSAS) enables students to explore the region's cultures within a worldwide context, studying the rich and diverse heritage of South Asia and its diaspora using a variety of disciplinary methods and theories.

Government

Government

The Major in Government provides students with a broad knowledge of political science—the cultural issues and social structures that determine how and why power is distributed, decisions are made, and policies are implemented. Students choose a concentration area.

Hispanic Literatures and Cultures

The Major in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures enables students to gain fluency in Spanish and knowledge of the diverse cultures of Latin America, Spain, and other Hispanophone communities in the United States and worldwide.

History

The Major in History enables students to explore and develop a broad understanding of the human condition as it has unfolded throughout time, helping them make sense of the present.

History

Informatics and Modeling

Informatics and Modeling is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Integrated Design, Engineering, Arts & Society

An interdisciplinary major integrating design and engineering; the IDEAS Core introduces students to hands-on, project-based studio, laboratory, and critical coursework in design and engineering, challenging them to respond critically to complex social, technological, cultural, and environmental conditions.

International Relations

International Relations is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Italian Studies

The Italian Studies major provides students with solid training in the spoken and written Italian language, enabling in-depth study of Italian history, culture, and society from the Middle Ages to the present.

Jewish and Israel Studies

Jewish and Israel Studies is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Latin American Studies

Latin American Studies (LAST) is an interdisciplinary program designed to provide an integrated view of Mesoamerica, South America, and the Caribbean, complemented by a concentration in a specific department.

Liberal Arts

Graduate Liberal Studies offers courses in the arts, humanities, mathematics, sciences, and social sciences leading to the master of philosophy in liberal arts (MPhil). Courses meet on campus or in various online teaching modes, with schedules designed for professionals who are part-time students.

Liberal Studies

Liberal Studies

Graduate Liberal Studies offers courses in the arts, humanities, mathematics, sciences, and social sciences leading to the master of arts in liberal studies (MALS). Courses meet on campus or in various online teaching modes, with schedules designed for professionals who are part-time students.

Mathematics

The Major in Mathematics broadly explores the relationships between numbers, shapes, measurements, structures, and patterns, developing strong computational abilities and abstract mathematical reasoning skills.

Mathematics

The Mathematics and Computer Science department's MA program in mathematics is designed to ensure basic knowledge and the capacity for sustained independent scholarly study. It requires six one-semester 500-level courses plus the Advanced Research Seminars, and candidates produce a thesis based on independent research.

Mathematics

The department's doctoral studies emphasize pure mathematics and theoretical computer science. The PhD demands breadth of knowledge, intense specialization, a substantial original contribution, and a high degree of expository skill; at least 16 one-semester courses are required.

Medieval Studies

The Medieval Studies program fosters an ability to interpret intersections among cultures, religions, ethnicities, races, and identities through an interdisciplinary approach to the European Middle Ages.

Middle Eastern Studies

Middle Eastern Studies is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

The Major in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MB&B) allows students to concentrate on disciplines such as molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, cell biology, genetics, epigenetics, genomics, and computational modeling.

Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

The Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MB&B) PhD program focuses on advanced scientific inquiry in molecular genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, and molecular biophysics. The emphasis is on an intensive research experience culminating in the writing and defense of a dissertation.

Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

The MB&B Department offers graduate work leading to the Master of Arts through Wesleyan's BA/MA program, with a strong research orientation supplemented by advanced coursework and seminars. Master's students are required to complete six credits and produce a scholarly thesis.

Molecular Biophysics

Molecular Biophysics is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Music

The Music Department offers the PhD in ethnomusicology, with coursework in seminars and individual study alongside faculty representing many musical traditions. Candidates complete a dissertation and defense, with coursework totaling at least 12 credits.

Music

The MA in Music is a two-year program with concentrations in scholarship (ethnomusicology/musicology), experimental music/composition, and performance. All MA students begin with the Graduate Proseminar in World Music Studies and must pass a proficiency exam in a field or research language.

Music

The Major in Music is built around the individual interests and needs of the student while providing a solid foundation in music history and culture, music analysis, theory, composition, and performance.

Muslim Studies

Muslim Studies is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Neuroscience and Behavior

The Program in Neuroscience and Behavior (NS&B) opens avenues for students to explore the role of the brain in expressing behavior in animals including humans, in an interdisciplinary environment that includes biology, psychology, and chemistry.

Neuroscience and Behavior

The Program in Neuroscience and Behavior (NS&B) offers graduate study leading to the Master of Arts through the BA/MA program, in an interdisciplinary environment spanning biology, psychology, and chemistry. MA candidates complete at least six credits beyond the 32 required for the BA and an independent research thesis.

Philosophy

The Major in Philosophy provides students with a solid grounding in historical knowledge and skillful reasoning as they explore perennial human questions about the nature of reality, truth, knowledge, values, reason, ethics, and beliefs.

Philosophy

Physics

The Physics program provides cutting-edge education and research at the Bachelor, Master, and PhD levels, with students performing experimental and theoretical research in areas such as quantum computing, high-energy plasmas, photonics, and materials science. Three formal examinations define the stages of progress toward the degree.

Physics

The Physics Department offers graduate work leading to the Master of Arts through Wesleyan's BA/MA program. At least six credits are required, three of which are advanced coursework at the 300 level and above, and each candidate must write a thesis on original research.

Physics

The Major in Physics equips students with an understanding of the fundamental laws that shape the universe and develops the skills needed to succeed in a technology-driven society.

Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, mind, and brain. The major includes foundational courses, training in statistics and research methods, small advanced seminars, and opportunities to conduct original research.

Psychology

Psychology offers the Master of Arts degree via the BA/MA program; there is no stand-alone MA, and the combined program is only available to Wesleyan students. The MA requires a minimum of six credits above the 32 needed for the BA and involves a close working relationship with a faculty research mentor.

Religion

The Major in Religion (RELI) provides students with a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and critical exploration of various religious experiences and expressions.

Religion

Romance Studies

The Major in Romance Studies (RMST) enables students to develop a broad knowledge of two or more languages and cultures—those of Italy, France and the Francophone world, and the Hispanophone world—through a flexible, interdisciplinary program.

Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies

The Major in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (REES) provides students with a thorough, interdisciplinary understanding of contemporary Russia and other post-Soviet states, their culture, society, history, politics, and economic institutions.

Science in Society

Science in Society is a bachelor's degree program offered at Wesleyan University.

Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory

This certificate encourages students to develop proficiency in social, cultural, and critical theory by seeking out theory-intensive courses across a wide range of disciplines and departments; students complete six authorized courses hosted by at least three different departments or programs.

Social Psychology

Learn about how we perceive ourselves and others| what we believe| how we feel| and how we act.

Sociology

The Major in Sociology enables students to develop new frameworks for analyzing social relations, from everyday life interactions to large-scale historical and structural transformations.

South Asia Studies

South Asia Studies is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.

Theater

The mission of the Theater Department (THEA) is to graduate self-empowered, well-informed, creative storytellers engaged in their communities; the major encompasses the critical and creative study of theater including acting, design, directing, playwriting, and technical production.

Theater

University Major

The University Major affords first- and second-semester sophomores the opportunity to design a program that responds to their individual interests and aptitudes, using the methodologies of two or more disciplines.

Writing

Writing is a certificate program offered at Wesleyan University.