GUIDELINES FOR DIVISIONAL PERSPECTIVES COURSES
GENERAL PURPOSES
The requirement that students take four courses in each of the three curricular divisions  Humanities, Social Sciences,
Natural Sciences and Mathematics  is designed to promote goals fundamental to a liberal education by:
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enabling students to develop broad perspectives informed by the best of scholarship and research from across the fields of
liberal inquiry
promoting in each student a critical understanding of the variety of modes of inquiry  and of how they differ,
complement and compete with each other
enabling students to explore the opportunities available to them for upper division studies  including fields in which they
might major or minor  so that their subsequent choices will be informed ones
DIVISIONAL DEFINITIONS
The Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences adopts the following definitions for purposes of guiding the formation,
evaluation, and approval of divisional requirements within its Liberal Arts Core curriculum. While some departments or
programs will contribute most of their courses to a single division, others, such as African American Studies and Women's
Studies, are likely to contribute courses to more than one division. Courses will be assigned to a division on the basis of their
content, not departmental origin.
The Humanities Division encompasses the history, theory, analysis, and criticism of language, literature and other texts,
religion, art, and music; and the examination of fundamental questions arising in the human search for values, knowledge,
purpose, and meaning. These are central concerns of the departments of African American Studies, English, Foreign
Languages and Literatures, Fine Arts, Philosophy, Religion, and the Women's Studies Program. Hence most courses
satisfying the Humanities Divisional Requirements are likely to come from these departments and programs.
The Social Sciences Division encompasses the history, theory, and investigation of societies, systems, regions, groups, and
individuals. These are central concerns of the departments of African American Studies, Anthropology, Economics,
Geography, History, Political Science, Public Affairs, Psychology, Sociology, and the International Relations and Women's
Studies Programs. Hence most courses satisfying the Social Sciences Divisional Requirements are likely to come from these
departments and programs.
The Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division encompasses the investigation of natural phenomena, including the
development of predictive explanatory systems, and includes the study of numerical and other abstract structures and
relations. These are central concerns of the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Physics, and Mathematics. Hence
most courses satisfying the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Divisional Requirements are likely to come from these
departments and programs.
RULES FOR ASSIGNING COURSES TO CURRICULAR DIVISIONS
A. DIVISIONAL LISTS
Courses will be assigned to a division on the basis of their content, not departmental origin. For example the History
Department has courses that focus on humanities as well as courses that focus on social science.
B. SEQUENCES
A sequence shall consist of two courses from the list which, when taken in combination, present a coherent introduction to a
field of study and are linked to one another by such relations as chronology, increasing depth, coverage of fundamental
subfields, or complementarity.
C. COURSES FROM OTHER SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
Courses from schools and colleges at Syracuse University outside the College of Arts and Sciences may be proposed for
inclusion on one of the Divisional Lists. Each course must have content, methods, and concerns appropriate for the division
for which it is proposed. Such courses must be appropriate for general and liberal education and provide for a reasonable
enrollment of Arts and Sciences students.
D. SKILLS COURSES AND THE DIVISIONAL REQUIREMENT
Courses concentrating exclusively or primarily on teaching writing skills, quantitative skills, or language skills will not be
eligible for use in satisfying the Divisional Requirement. Courses labeled as "writing intensive" may count in the Divisional
Lists.