BSCS Humanities and Arts Requirements
Humanities and the Arts
Revised November, 2018
Students are required to complete at least 63 units in the humanities and the arts (7 courses of at least 9 units each) as described below. Some courses that are offered by Dietrich College or the College of Fine Arts may not be used in satisfaction of the Humanities and Arts elective requirements; these are noted in the Deletions section. Also, some courses offered by other colleges may be used to satisfy the Humanities and Arts elective requirements. These are noted in the Additions section. Of course, if a Science/Engineering course can be used to satisfy a Humanities and Arts elective, it cannot be used as Science/Engineering requirement!
Humanities and the Arts: Writing Requirement (9 units) | |
All students are required to complete the following course: 76-101 Interpretation and Argument | |
Humanities and the Arts: Constrained Categories (27 units) | |
Students are required to complete one course of at least 9 units in each of the following three constrained elective categories. Note that courses listed below may not be offered every semester. Students should consult with their academic advisor and with the relevant department for more information. | |
Category 1: Cognition, Choice and Behavior | |
This requirement explores the process of thinking, decision making, and behavior in the context of the individual. Courses currently acceptable for Category 1 include: | |
70-311 Organizational Behavior | |
Category 2: Economic, Political and Social Institutions | |
This requirement explores the processes by which institutions organize individual preferences and actions into collective outcomes. Courses currently acceptable for Category 2 include: | |
19-101 Introduction to Engineering and Public Policy 36-303 Sampling, Survey and Society 70-332 Business, Society and Ethics 73-100 Principles of Economics (prior to 2017) 73-102 Principles of Microeconomics (starting 2017) 73-103 Principles of Macroeconomics (starting 2017) 73-230 Intermediate Microeconomics (prior to 2017) 73-240 Intermediate Macroeconomics (prior to 2017) 79-299 From Newton to the Nuclear Bomb: History of Science, 1750-1950 79-300 History of American Public Policy 79-320 Women, Politics, and Protest 79-331 Body Politics: Women and Health in America 80-135 Introduction to Political Philosophy 80-136 Social Structure, Public Policy & Ethics 80-243 Ethics of Leadership 80-244 Environmental Ethics 80-245 Medical Ethics 80-324 Philosophy of Economics 80-334 Social and Political Philosophy 80-341 Computers, Society and Ethics 84-104 Decision Processes in American Political Institutions 84-275 Comparative Politics 84-310 International Political Economy and Organizations 84-320 Domestic Politics and International Affairs 84-322 Attitudes, the Media, and Conflict in International Relations 84-324 Democracies and War 84-326 Theories of International Relations 84-362 Diplomacy and Statecraft 84-380 Grand Strategy in the United States 84-386 The Privatization of Force 84-389 Terrorism and Insurgency 84-393 Legislative Decision Making: US Congress 84-402 Judicial Politics and Behavior 84-414 International and Subnational Security 88-220 Policy Analysis I 88-257 Experimental Economics | |
Category 3: Cultural Analysis | |
This requirement seeks to recognize cultures that have shaped and continue to shape the human experience; courses in this category are usually either broad in place, time, or cultural diversity. Courses currently acceptable for Category 3 include: | |
57-173 Survey of Western Music History 60-205 Modern Visual Culture 1789-1960 70-342 Managing Across Cultures 76-221 Books You Should Have Read By Now 76-227 Comedy 76-232 African American Literature 76-239 Introduction to Film Studies 76-241 Introduction to Gender Studies 79-104 Global Histories 79-201 Introduction to Anthropology 79-202 Flesh and Spirit: Early Modern Europe: 1400-1750 79-207 Development of European Culture 79-222 Between Revolutions: The Development of Modern Latin America 79-223 Mexico: From the Aztec Empire to the Drug War 79-226 Introduction to African History: Earliest Times to 1780 79-229 Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1880-1948 79-230 Arab-Israeli Conflict and Peace Process since 1948 79-240 The Development of American Culture 79-241 African American History: Africa to the Civil War 79-242 African American History: Reconstruction to the Present 79-255 Irish History (6 units - must be paired with another humanities course for 9 units or more) 79-262 Modern China 79-265 Russian History: From the First to the Last Tsar 79-282 Europe and the World since 1800 79-311 Introduction to Anthropology 79-316 Photography, the First 100 Years, 1839-1939 (crosslisted with 62-371) 79-345 Roots of Rock and Roll 79-350 Early Christianity 79-395 The Arts in Pittsburgh 79-396 Music and Society in 19th and 20th Century Europe and the U.S. 80-100 Introduction to Philosophy 80-250 Ancient Philosophy 80-251 Modern Philosophy 80-253 Continental Philosophy 80-254 Analytic Philosophy 80-255 Pragmatism 80-261 Empiricism and Rationalism 80-276 Philosophy of Religion 82-273 Introduction to Japanese Language and Culture 82-293 Introduction to Russian Culture 82-303 Introducxtion to French Culture 82-304 The Francophone World 82-327 The Emergence of the German Speaking World 82-333 Introduction to Chinese Language and Culture 82-342 Spain: Language and Culture 82-343 Latin America: Language and Culture 82-344 U.S. Latinos: Language and Culture 82-345 Introduction to Hispanic Literary and Cultural Studies | |
Humanities and the Arts: Electives (27 units) | |
In addition to 76-101 and the three required Category courses, students must complete 3 non-technical courses of at least 9 units each from any of the departments in the Dietrich College or the College of Fine Arts. Note the courses in the following Deletions section which are explicitly excluded from serving as a Humanities and Arts elective as well as the section of Additions from other departments which are allowed to be used in satisfaction of these electives. | |
NOTE: Students admitted prior to 2006 are required to take 36 units of Humanities and Arts electives instead of the 27 units currently required. |
The intent of the Humanities and Arts requirements is to provide breadth in background and exposure to non-technical areas. For this reason, certain technical courses from H&SS are excluded. These courses are listed below, though this list is not presumed to be exhaustive - new courses will undoubtedly be offered which are not currently listed.
The following H&SS departments offer courses that are considered too technical or quantitative to be used to fulfill any Humanities and Arts elective requirement. Particular disallowed courses are listed by their department:
- 36-xxx Statistics
- 51-xxx Design
- 67-xxx H&SS Interdisciplinary
- 73-xxx Economics
- 76-xxx English
- 80-xxx Philosophy
- 85-xxx Psychology
- 88-xxx Social & Decision Sciences
36-xxx | All courses except 36-303 |
51-224 | Communication Design: Web Design |
51-257 | Computing for the Arts with Processing (crosslisted with 48-257, 60-257) |
51-327 | Introduction to Web Design |
51-328 | Advanced Web Design |
67-xxx | All courses |
73-226 | Quantitative Economic Analysis |
73-251 | Economic Theory |
73-252 | Advanced Microeconomic Theory |
73-253 | Advanced Macroeconomic Theory |
73-261/363 | Econometrics |
73-274 | Econometrics I |
73-347 | Game Theory for Economists |
73-374 | Econometrics II |
76-388 | Topics in Digital Humanities: Coding for Humanities |
76-481 | Introduction to Multimedia Design |
80-110 | Nature of Mathematical Reasoning |
80-210 | Logic and Proofs |
80-211 | Arguments and Inquiry |
80-212 | Arguments and Logical Analysis |
80-222 | Measurement and Methodology |
80-223 | Causation and Probability |
80-305 | Choices, Decisions and Games |
80-310 | Formal Logic |
80-311 | Computability and Incompleteness |
80-314 | Logic in Artificial Intelligence |
80-315 | Modal Logic |
80-316 | Probability and AI |
80-318 | Computability and Proof Search |
80-319 | Computability and Learnibility |
80-405 | Game Theory |
80-410 | Recursion and Hierarchies |
80-411 | Proof Theory |
80-412 | Intuitionism and Constructive Mathematics |
80-413 | Category Theory |
80-419 | Interactive Theorem Proving |
80-481 | Formal Semantics |
80-521 | Seminar on Formal Epistemology |
85-213 | Human Information Processing and Artificial Intelligence |
85-219 | Biological Foundations of Behavior |
85-355 | Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience |
85-370 | Perception |
85-414 | Cognitive Neuropsychology |
85-419 | Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing |
88-250 | Regression Methods in Social Science |
88-251 | Empirical Research Methods |
88-372 | Social and Emotional Brain |
Certain courses offered in academic units other than H&SS and CFA are considered non-technical and may be taken to fulfill Humanities and Arts electives. The following courses offered by the EPP and BA departments may be used to satisfy the Humanities and Arts elective requirement. Of course, if an EPP course can be used to satisfy a Humanities and Arts elective, it cannot be used as Science/Engineering requirement! In addition, some courses offered by the Heinz School may also be used; see the Assistant Dean for a determination. Again, this list is not presumed to be exhaustive; we'll try to update it as we learn about new courses.
- 08-xxx Societal Computing
- 19-xxx Engineering and Public Policy
- 32-xxx Naval Science/ROTC
- 70-xxx Business Administration
Societal Computing - Additions | |
08-200 | Ethics and Policy Issues in Computing (cross-listed with 19-211) |
08-532 | Law of Computer Technology |
08-533 | Privacy, Policy, Law and Technology |
Engineering and Public Policy - Additions | |
19-101 | Introduction to Engineering and Public Policy (counts as a Cat. 2) |
19-402 | Telecommunications, Technology Policy & Management |
19-403 | Policies of Wireless Systems and the Internet |
19-411 | Global Competitiveness: Firms, Nations and Technological Change |
19-484 | Decision Tools for Engineering Design and Entrepreneurship (crosslisted with 24-484) |
32-102 | Seapower and Maritime Affairs |
32-201 | Leadership and Management |
32-402 | Leadership and Ethics |
70-160 | Graphic Media Processes |
70-311 | Organizational Behavior |
70-321 | Negotiation and Conflict Resolution |
70-332 | Business, Society, and Ethics |
70-340 | Business Communications |
70-341 | Organizational Communication |
70-342 | Managing Across Cultures |
70-343 | Interpersonal Communication |
70-345 | Oral Communications |
70-350 | Business Acting |
70-364 | Business Law |
70-365 | International Trade and International Law |
70-381 | Marketing I |
70-430 | International Management |