The University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences (also known as SAS) is the academic institution encompassing the
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
,
social sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...
, and
natural sciences
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
.
Formerly known as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, SAS is an umbrella organization that is divided into three main academic components: The
College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) is Penn's undergraduate liberal arts school. The
Graduate Division offers post-undergraduate M.A., M.S., and Ph.D. programs. Finally, the
College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS), originally called "College of General Studies", is Penn's continuing and professional education division, catered to working professionals.
History
The 1755 charter of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
's
College of Philadelphia
The Academy and College of Philadelphia (1749-1791) was a boys' school and men's college in Philadelphia, Colony of Pennsylvania.
Founded in 1749 by a group of local notables that included Benjamin Franklin, the Academy of Philadelphia began as ...
paved the way to form the
College of Arts and Sciences, which was originally for men only. In 1933, Penn established the College of Liberal Arts for Women, which was meant to provide women with a formal liberal arts education to women rather than one designed specifically for teachers.
Female education remained formally separate until 1974 when it merged with CAS, LPS, and four social science departments in the
Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...
to form the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. This was renamed the School of Arts and Sciences two years later.
[
The Graduate Division's origins date back to 1882 when Penn first appointed faculty to form a philosophy department. Penn first began offering courses for teachers in 1892, paving way for the eventual founding of the LPS school, which was originally called the College of General Studies.]
Structure
The School of Arts and Sciences contains the following departments:Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
* English
* Germanic Languages and Literatures
* History
* History and Sociology of Science
* History of Art
* Linguistics
* Mathematics
* Music
* Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations
* Philosophy
* Physics and Astronomy
* Political Science
* Psychology
* Religious Studies
* Romance Languages
* Russian and East European Studies
* Sociology
* South Asia Studies
Research
Research at SAS is funded by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF), as well as the University Research Foundation.
See also
* Henry Lamar Crosby
* Herman Vandenburg Ames
* University of Pennsylvania Economics Department
References
External links
Official SiteThe College of Arts and Sciences
University of Pennsylvania schools
1755 establishments in Pennsylvania
Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States
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