The Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences (CAS or A&S) is an academic college at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. It has been part of the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

since its founding in 1865, although its name has changed over time. It is the largest of Cornell University's colleges and schools with 4,251 undergraduate and 1,301 students and 526 faculty. The college grants bachelor's degrees, and masters and doctorates through affiliation with the

Cornell University Graduate School The Cornell University Graduate School is a graduate school at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It confers most of the university's professional and research master's and doctoral degrees. The departments under which instruction and resea ...

. Its major academic buildings are located on the Arts Quad of Cornell University's main campus in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

, which includes some of the university's oldest and most historic buildings.

History

19th century

When it was founded in 1865,

's faculty was initially undifferentiated. With the founding of the

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private university, private, Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, Cornell Law School offers four degree programs (Juris Doctor, JD, Maste ...

in 1886 and the concomitant self-segregation of the school's

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

s, however, departments and colleges began to be formed at the university.

20th century

In 1903, the academic division that ultimately became the College of Arts and Sciences was renamed as the Academic Department. The College endowed the first professorships in

American history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

, and

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...

. From 1923 to 1945, Cornell professor Robert Morris Ogden, a professor of psychology and expert on

Gestalt psychology Gestalt psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology and a theory of perception that emphasises the processing of entire patterns and configurations, and not merely individual components. It emerged in the early twent ...

, served as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

21st century

As of 2009, the College of Arts and Sciences teaches 4,100 undergraduates, with 600 full-time faculty members plus a number of lecturers, who teach 2,200 courses. In June 2018, Ray Jayawardhana was named the 22nd dean. On July 13, 2023, Rachel Bean succeeded Jayawardhana as interim dean.

Arts Quadrangle

The Arts Quad on the campus of Cornell University is the site of the university's original academic buildings, which are associated with most of the College of Arts and Sciences' classes and programs. On the western side of the quad, at the top of Libe Slope, are Morrill Hall (completed in 1866), McGraw Hall (1872) and White Hall (1868). All of these buildings are built with native Cayuga

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of natural dimension stone, dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * diabase, dolerites in Tasmania, ...

to reflect

Ezra Cornell Ezra Cornell (; January 11, 1807 – December 9, 1874) was an American businessman, politician, academic, and philanthropist. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as president of the New York ...

utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...

and are known as Stone Row. The statue of Ezra Cornell, dating back to 1919, stands between Morrill and McGraw Halls. Across from this statue, in front of Goldwin Smith Hall, sits the statue of

Andrew Dickson White Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American historian and educator who co-founded Cornell University, one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States, and served as its first president for nearly two de ...

, Cornell's other co-founder and its first president. Lincoln Hall (1888) also stands on the eastern face of the quad next to Goldwin Smith Hall. On the northern face are the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

d Sibley Hall and Tjaden Hall (1883). Just off of the quad on the Slope, next to Tjaden, stands the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, designed by I. M. Pei (1973). Stimson Hall (1902), Olin Library (1959) and

Uris Library Uris Library is a library on the campus of Cornell University, located at the southwest corner of the Arts Quad overlooking Libe Slope. The oldest library building at Cornell, Uris Library also houses the A. D. White Library, "a library within ...

(1892), with Cornell's landmark clocktower, McGraw Tower, stand on the southern end of the quad. Olin Library replaced Boardman Hall (1892), the original location of the

. In 1992, an underground addition was made to the quad with Kroch Library, an extension of Olin Library that houses several special collections of the

Cornell University Library The Cornell University Library is the library system of Cornell University. As of 2014, it holds over eight million printed volumes and over a million ebooks. More than 90 percent of its current 120,000 Periodical literature, periodical ti ...

, including the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. Klarman Hall, the first new humanities building at Cornell in over 100 years, opened in 2016. Klarman houses the offices of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies. The building is connected to, and surrounded on three sides by, Goldwin Smith Hall and fronts East Avenue. Legends and lore about the Arts Quad and its statues can be found at Cornelliana. File:Cornell White Hall 1.jpg, White Hall File:Cornell McGraw Hall March09.jpg, McGraw Hall File:Morrill Hall, Cornell University, west facade.jpg, Morrill Hall File:Ithaca, NY 08.jpg, Goldwin Smith Hall File:Cornell Lincoln Hall 1.jpg, Lincoln Hall

Academics

Cornell University 1987 Commencement arts and sciences

Majors

The College of Arts and Sciences offers both

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and graduate (through the

Graduate School Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

) degrees. The only undergraduate degree is the

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

. The faculties within the college are: * Africana Studies and Research Center* * American Studies * Anthropology * Archaeology * Asian-American Studies * Asian Studies * Astronomy/Astrophysics * Biological Sciences (with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) * Biology & Society Major (with the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and

Human Ecology Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecolo ...

) * Chemistry and Chemical Biology * China and Asia-Pacific Studies * Classics * Cognitive Studies * College Scholar Program (frees up to 40 selected students in each class from all degree requirements and allows them to fashion a plan of study conducive to achieving their ultimate intellectual goals; a senior thesis is required) * Comparative Literature * Computer Science (with the College of Engineering) * Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (with the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

) * Economics * Department of Literatures in English* * Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies * German Studies * Government *

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

* History of Art * Human Biology * Independent Major * Information Science (with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Engineering) * Jewish Studies * John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines * Latin American Studies * Latino Studies * Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies * Linguistics * Mathematics * Medieval Studies * Modern European Studies Concentration * Music * Near Eastern Studies * Philosophy * Physics * Psychology * Religious Studies * Romance Studies * Russian * Science and Technology Studies * Society for the Humanities * Sociology * Theatre, Film, and Dance * Visual Studies Undergraduate Concentration *Africana Studies was an independent center reporting directly to the Provost until July 1, 2011. *The English department was renamed the Department of Literatures in English in October 2020 in response to national anti-racism movements.

Admissions

Admission into the college is extremely competitive. The undergraduate program's 7.3% acceptance rate is below Cornell's 8.4% overall undergraduate acceptance rate. Furthermore, Arts and Sciences has the second lowest acceptance rate of any Cornell college, behind the Dyson School (2.9%).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arts and Sciences Colleges and schools of Cornell University 1865 establishments in New York (state) Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States