Minor in Core Interdisciplinary Studies

The minor in Core Interdisciplinary Studies offers students the opportunity to explore a topic with an interdisciplinary and global reach. By taking courses in a range of different departments and disciplines, students will be encouraged and enabled to extend and give greater depth to their study of the texts, works of art, music, and key ideas of Western and other cultural traditions treated in Core. Students will also be immersed in the Core learning community by preparing a capstone project within the context of a one-semester, 2-credit Core workshop (CAS CC 250). The Core minor will prepare students to undertake further innovative research projects that cross disciplinary boundaries, whether in graduate school or the workplace.

Benefits of the Core Minor

  • An opportunity for focused study. The minor allows you to explore an aspect of the curriculum in greater depth by taking relevant classes in various CAS departments.
  • Mentoring. Students in the Core minor each work on their theme and the capstone essay under the close direction of a faculty member.
  • Interdisciplinary scope. You will be able to deliberately pursue knowledge across disciplinary boundaries.
  • A learning community. Through the capstone workshop, you will participate in an exchange of ideas with a small group of peers who share a common intellectual background gained in the Core courses. Further, each student will be invited to present his or her work at a public event attended by the larger community of Core students, faculty, and alumni.

Students are eligible to begin the minor after taking one of the four two-course sequences available in Core: CAS CC 101/102 (First-Year Humanities); CAS CC 201/202 (Sophomore Humanities); CAS CC 112/211 (Social Sciences); or CAS CC 111/212 (Natural Sciences).

Beyond these classes, Core minor students must take at least four other 4-credit courses:

  • at least two courses from two different CAS departments outside of Core
  • at least two of the courses must be at the 300 level or higher (unless permission to substitute is obtained)

The culmination of the minor is the 2-credit capstone workshop CAS CC 250 (Core Capstone), in which students over the course of a semester complete a major paper or project that crosses at least two fields of study.