Students
Undergraduate Students
Areas of Study
The College of Letters and Science is the largest of the four undergraduate colleges at UC Davis. With more than 500 faculty, the College offers nearly fifty established major programs of study and thousands of per year in the fine arts, humanities, cultural studies, mathematical sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences.
The fine arts represent an important part of the creative and intellectual community at UC Davis. There are three fine arts departments in the College of Letters and Science: Art, Music, and Theatre and Dance. The Art Department offers two distinct major programs - one in Art Studio and one in Art History. The Music and Dramatic Art majors both allow for some degree of emphasis on either performance or history and theory. Students can also choose to take a minor in any of these programs. The Program in Design explores how the latest technology merges with social, cultural, and economic factors to create things we use every day. The Program in Technocultural Studies offers a unique interdisciplinary major bridging the arts, humanities, technology, and the sciences.
The offerings of these three departments are enhanced by a full array of facilities: studios, libraries, rehearsal rooms, galleries, theaters, instruments, laboratories, and equipment. These numerous facilities support the artistic and academic efforts of the students. The programs in fine arts are further enriched by strong academic programs in related areas such as Classics, Comparative Literature, History, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and the various language and literature departments.
The humanities and cultural studies deal with the creations, expressions, and concerns of humankind in various cultures and times. Students in this area of inquiry can explore the language and customs of non-English speaking societies, the theory and criticism of literature, and the peoples and cultures of this nation and its hemisphere. Students interested in studying these types of issues may select from nearly 20 different majors including: African American and African Studies, American Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicana/Chicano Studies, Classical Civilization, Comparative Literature, English, Film Studies, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Native American Studies, Nature and Culture, Religious Studies, Women's Studies, and an array of foreign language programs in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish.
For all of us, regardless of what we do for a living or what our backgrounds are or how old we are, many of the questions and issues that we face today have been with us for centuries. Where can beauty be found and how is it created? How should people treat one another? What should we challenge and what should we defend? The humanities and cultural studies invite consideration of these and many other issues that have also been explored by brilliant and creative men and women from diverse societies and times.
Mathematics is the universal language of science, and applied mathematics - especially computer science and statistics - provide some of the most powerful tools available to the physical, biological, and social sciences as well as to the fields of engineering and business.
Students who major in Mathematics may concentrate on either the classical fields or the more applied areas. In addition, separate majors are available in Applied Mathematics and Mathematical and Scientific Computation. Statistics is the science that studies the theoretical and practical questions of how experiments and studies should be conducted and how valid conclusions can be drawn from their results. The major in Computer Science emphasizes the mathematical background of computer science and the theoretical foundations fundamental to all computers.
The physical sciences involve the study of the structure, processes, and events of the physical universe from the smallest subatomic particles to the large scale structure of the universe itself. The study of physical sciences encompasses events that occur in less than one septillionth of a second to the evolution of the present state of the universe over a period of approximately 15 billion years. The physical sciences also include the study of matter and energy and their inter-conversions, as well as the earth and environmental processes. The traditional division of the field into physics, chemistry, geology, and astronomy & astrophysics is followed at UC Davis and can be observed in the departmental structure and in the major programs.
Students interested in physical sciences at UCD usually specialize with a major in Chemistry, Geology, Physics, or Applied Physics. Many students, in addition to satisfying their major requirements, take courses or complete one or more of the several minor programs offered by the Departments of Chemistry, Geology and Physics. An interdepartmental major in Natural Science provides excellent preparation for students interested in teaching science. All physical science majors at UCD complete a sequence of courses in chemistry, physics, and mathematics that provides the foundation for specialization in the major and minor programs.
The social sciences deal with a wide range of issues and problems that derive from the individual, social, political, and economic activities of people. Social scientists are interested in the relationship between people and the groups and organizations of which they are a part. Social scientists also study the social forces that shape the contemporary world. The field is extremely broad and some degree of specialization is required by students who wish to study in this area. Different domains of the social sciences are emphasized by majors offered through the departments. These majors include: Anthropology, Communication, East Asian Studies, Economics, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Interdepartmental programs are also offered in International Relations and Science and Technology Studies.
Majoring in a social science will help you to identify and understand important issues and questions in the world today and to consider these issues from several perspectives. Many students, in addition to completing a social science major, enhance their educational experience by completing a minor in a related area as well, thus adding additional depth and focus to their programs of study.