The Trinity College of Arts and Sciences is the undergraduate

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. Founded in 1838, it is the original school of the university. Currently, Trinity is one of five

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, ...

degree programs at Duke, the others being the Edmund T. Pratt School of Engineering,

Nicholas School of the Environment The Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment is one of ten graduate and professional schools at Duke University and is headquartered on Duke’s main campus in Durham, N.C. A secondary coastal facility, Duke University Marine Laborator ...

School of Nursing Nurse education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to student nurses by experienced nurses and other me ...

, and

Duke Kunshan University Duke Kunshan University (DKU; ) is a university in Kunshan, Jiangsu, China. It was established in 2013 by a joint venture between Duke University and Wuhan University. The university is an independent legal entity. Upon graduation, undergraduate ...

. At Duke, Arts & Sciences is the collective name of all educational programs, research programs, and faculty in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

, and the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical 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 ...

at Duke, inclusive of undergraduate programs and many degree programs in Duke's

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 ...

. The division's unusual dual name may reflect the fact that it is responsible for undergraduate education (through Trinity College) and graduate education and research (Arts and Sciences).

History

Trinity College was the name of the predecessor of Duke University. Tobacco magnate and philanthropist

James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the invention of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing techniques, and his involvement with Duke Unive ...

left a $24 million bequest to transform the college into a research university called "Duke University" in honor of his father Washington Duke. In 1930, the institution's original Durham campus became known as the Women's College of Duke University, while Trinity continued as the name of the undergraduate men's college. The West or Gothic campus about a mile from East Campus became home to Trinity College, along with

Duke University Hospital Duke University Hospital is a 1062 -bed acute care facility and an academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health Sys ...

and the graduate and professional schools. The two colleges continued as coordinate residential and degree-granting entities for forty years. However, there was always a single faculty of Arts and Sciences responsible for undergraduate and graduate instruction. Trinity College and the Women's College merged in 1972 to form Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the East and West campus became co-educational.

Organization

The college is a constituent school of Duke University and contains a dependent system of

residential college A residential college is a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship ...

s. Although it is a "college," its highest ranking officer is its Dean. The interim dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences is Mohamed Noor, previously Dean of Natural Sciences for three years. Former dean Valerie Ashby, professor of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, left her second term early to become President of the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a Public university, public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 un ...

in 2022. Each dean is appointed to the position for a five-year term, and the position serves under the university's

provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

. Due to Duke's interdisciplinary approach, it is common for faculty to hold cross-college appointments; however, all faculty of the college are also faculty within Duke's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In the beginning of the twenty-first century, Duke renovated the undergraduate residential college experience. In the present day, the residential colleges are funded and controlled by the University, not by the college. Each residential college has a specific dean, headed by one residential "Associate Dean." Note, these deans are not the heads of specific departments, but rather general undergraduate deans. Each department has an independent department head who oversees both the undergraduate and graduate education within the specific department.

Residential colleges

All undergraduate students at Duke University live within the residential college system, regardless of if the students are enrolled in the college of Arts and Sciences or

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 ...

. By keeping all undergraduates, regardless of their undergraduate college affiliation, in one system allows for one integrated Duke undergraduate community. All undergraduate freshman at Duke since the merger of the Women's College in 1972 live on the east part of campus. After their freshman year, undergraduates have the ability to rush certain "houses" within the residential college system, located on the west part of campus. Although similar to the residential housing systems at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

's is distinct due to the tradition of freshman and upperclassmen living on separately designated parts of campus.

Current programs

At Duke, the undergraduate experience centers around Trinity College, with Engineering students taking approximately half of their Duke common curriculum within Trinity. Engineering students are able to enroll in any classes within the liberal arts college, and Trinity students are able to enroll in any classes within the engineering college. The Duke undergraduate curriculum includes a focus on the humanities. All freshman students take a writing class and a current-issues seminar class. The Graduate School trains roughly 1200 doctoral and masters students in the arts and sciences as well as in

divinity Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

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 ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

, and environmental and earth sciences.

Departments

The following departments are within the college and offer either a

B.A. 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 degree ...

, B.S., or

minor Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to an ...

: * Sciences ** Biology ** Biophysics ** Chemistry ** Computational Biology & Bioinformatics ** Computer Science (commonly combined with

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

within the

Pratt Pratt is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: A–F * Abner Pratt (1801–1863), American diplomat, jurist, politician, and lawyer * Al Pratt (baseball) (1847–1937), American baseball player * Andy Pratt (baseball) (bor ...

undergraduate college to form Duke's EECS degree) ** Earth and Ocean Sciences ** Economics (where a Finance minor and Financial Economics concentration are available) ** Environmental Studies ** Global Health ** Mathematics ** Neuroscience ** Physics ** Statistical Sciences * Cultural Studies ** African & African American Studies ** Art History ** Asian & Middle Eastern Studies ** Cultural Anthropology ** Dance ** Evolutionary Anthropology ** Global Cultural Studies ** History ** International Comparative Studies ** Medieval & Renaissance Studies ** Music ** Philosophy ** Psychology ** Public Policy (in conjunction with

Sanford School of Public Policy The Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy is the public policy school of Duke University, a private university in Durham, North Carolina. The school was named after former Duke president and Governor of North Carolina Terry Sanford, ...

) ** Political Science ** Religious Studies ** Theater Studies * Languages ** American Sign Language ** Brazilian & Portuguese ** Classics (Ancient Latin / Ancient Greek) ** English ** French ** German ** Greek (modern) ** Italian ** Linguistics ** Romance Studies ** Russian ** Slavic & Eurasian ** Spanish

References

External links

Trinity College of Arts & SciencesDuke University
{{authority control Liberal arts colleges at universities in the United States Duke University colleges and schools Universities and colleges established in 1930 1930 establishments in North Carolina