Humanities & Sciences

we want you to understand how political, economic, cultural, sexual, and racial power structures work. Our interdisciplinary, transnational, and cross-cultural curriculum is designed to be flexible, and it includes nontraditional coursework that emphasizes analysis of the relationships of power. You have the freedom to choose from course options to develop traditional and/or more innovative methods of study, especially at the intermediate, seminar, and tutorial levels.

Our rigorous coursework is founded on small classes, intense dialogue, and close collaboration with faculty who work at the cutting edge of their fields. By the end of your four years, you'll be expected to have developed intermediate competency in a second language, which may help shape the area of your interest. You'll also be strongly encouraged to seek experience outside the classroom. Our students intern with state and local representatives, social service agencies, professional associations, law offices, and schools.

If you want to focus your studies on global issues, you can declare a concentration in international studies. The concentration requires an extra international politics course beyond the regular major, plus a course in either history or anthropology. You’ll choose your upper-level politics courses from the wide range of globally focused courses offered by the department. You’ll also take six credits of a second language beyond the regular politics language requirement.

For students majoring in fields other than politics, we now offer minors in politics and international politics.

Our politics major will prepare you for careers in public service, foreign relations, NGOs, international organizations, and international business. And you'll be well prepared to enter law school or graduate programs in a variety of disciplines, such as the environment, human rights, international and global affairs, journalism, and business.

The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers qualified students the opportunity to receive two bachelor’s degrees, one from Ithaca College and one from an appropriate school of engineering. Students who are interested in this program complete all the requirements for either the Physics B.S. or the Applied Physics B.S. degree in three years, and apply to transfer to the appropriate engineering school for two more years to complete a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Institutions that our past graduates in the 3-2 program have attended include Cornell University, Clarkson University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or the State University of New York at Binghamton. Attending other institutions is also possible.

Students in the 3-2 program excel thanks to small classes and individual attention from faculty members at Ithaca; when you move on to the second phase of the program, you will be well prepared for the rigors of an engineering curriculum. Our students have participated in a wide range of research and development fieldwork, including working with students at Cornell to design, build, and compete in a Formula SAE race car.

At the end of Ithaca's 3-2 program you will be ready to pursue graduate education at the nation's top engineering schools, or take a job alongside other IC alums at Intel, Agilent Technologies, and other engineering powerhouses around the world. One recent grad is reaching even further, helping to engineer a probe that will visit Jupiter's moons!

If your long-term objectives include graduate study in physics or a closely related field such as astronomy, engineering, or applied physics, you’ll find excellent preparation in Ithaca’s new physics B.S. program, which emphasizes research-intensive laboratory and methods courses and hands-on research in collaboration with physics faculty. The department also features a performance-based teaching laboratory that facilitates the latest methods in physics education.
Ithaca’s physics department is large enough to offer well-equipped, state-of-the-art research labs yet small enough to offer ample opportunity for individualized instruction. Scientific research is the cornerstone of the curriculum; the B.S. program requires the completion of an individualized research project and the submission of a related thesis. Students also collaborate with professors on faculty research projects, and they frequently present research findings on campus as well as regionally and nationally (for example, at meetings of the American Physical Society).

You’ll complete focused and intensive methods courses; an advanced lab in quantum mechanics or another research field; and an advanced course in a selected topic, such as astrophysics, optics, solid state physics, or electromagnetism. You may want to take additional coursework in advanced physics, mathematics, computer science, chemistry, or biology to strengthen your skills in areas that interest you. A thesis is also required before graduation. Here are a few recent titles: “Determination of Age and Mass of Herbig Ae/Be Stars”; “Identifying and Reducing Positional Errors in Cesium Magnetometer Surveys”; and “Compost Thermal Heating Project,” a student’s ingenious exploitation of the heat generated by compost heaps to recharge cell phone batteries.

Whatever career path you imagine, our combination of rigorous academic preparation and the mastery of research skills will prepare you for the real world. Recent graduates have gone on to Ph.D. programs at the University of Illinois and Oregon State University and advanced study in astronomy at Cornell University.

To understand the exciting advances in modern physics, you must be fluent in the language of mathematics. Our dual-major, mathematics-physics program recognizes this interrelation and supports students whose talents bridge both fields.

The program is designed for students who want to explore physics, from basic mechanics to quantum theory, and learn the mathematical language that describes it, from basic calculus to abstract algebra. To that end, the program offers a balanced curriculum that allows you to pursue both subjects equally. It also gives you more flexibility in selecting courses, allowing you to gain a firm understanding of both subjects. In addition, you may switch to a major program in either area up to the middle of junior year.

Through classroom work and lab projects, you'll learn physics as you gain skills in mathematical computation, modeling, reasoning, and analysis. You'll also have exciting opportunities for hands-on research. Our students are currently working on projects that range from computational modeling of asteroid surfaces to experimenting with advanced optics to re-engineering the campus with sustainable energy systems.

The dual-major program will give you the knowledge, experience, and organizational skills to face successfully all the intellectual and professional challenges that lie ahead. Our graduates have gone on to study for advanced degrees at prestigious schools worldwide or have begun careers in industry, technology, research, and other related fields, working as test engineers, research specialists, and project managers.

Mathematics is a highly valued tool in today’s world, combining quantitative thinking, formal reasoning, and creative problem-solving. Forget the familiar “when will I ever use this in real life” idea -- math is all around us, and you’ll use it to manage personal finances or to understand climate change, sports statistics, and Google analytics. It’s also terrific preparation for a variety of careers in business, industry, the sciences, and government: Being good with numbers and logical thinking will give you a boost in a competitive job market.

As a mathematics major at Ithaca College, you’ll have plenty of one-on-one time with professors. As a sophomore, you’ll take a seminar led by various faculty members that provides a taste of advanced mathematical topics, such as dynamical systems, non-Euclidean geometries, fairness, and mathematics of climate change. During your junior year, you’ll have the opportunity to work with faculty on research projects. Some recent examples include missile tracking systems, finger games, fractal tree growth structure, and Chebyshev polynomials. In your senior year, you’ll find a faculty mentor to guide you in completing a comprehensive thesis that will culminate in a public presentation of your work. Students have completed theses in cryptology, Fourier analysis, and representation theory, to name a few.

Early on in your studies, you may want to take advantage of the free tutoring available in the math tutorial room. As an advanced mathematics major, you’ll join your peers and faculty members in staffing that room, tutoring other students. You’ll also have the opportunity to participate in or organize game nights for the campus and math days for K-12 students.

Our program prepares you for further study in math and many other fields, including biostatistics, operations research, and environmental engineering. Our graduates have gone on to study for doctorates at prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins and Cornell; others have taken jobs as senior systems administrators and actuaries.

Know just what you want to do, but not sure how to do it? Our integrative studies major gives motivated students the opportunity to focus on interdisciplinary courses of study that fall outside the usual range of offerings.

As an integrative studies student, you'll follow through on your own academic and career goals by designing a major tailored to your specific interests. You may integrate your major around a theme, topic, issue, problem, or practice. Examples from previous years include intercultural studies and social change, not-for-profit administration, computer science and visual effects, sociopolitical photography, and music administration. The options are virtually unlimited: if you have a strong, clear sense of what you want to achieve, we'll help you do it.

Acceptance into the integrative studies program requires submission of a detailed, well-articulated proposal demonstrating the hows and whys of your suggested path of study, as well as the approval of each department in which you plan to take courses. You'll need to complete one year of study at Ithaca before you'll be eligible for the program. This gives you time to clarify, organize, and fine-tune your thinking on your chosen topic.