If you do not need to take a required writing course, you will be registered for one elective from the below list of classes. Please select three electives options in rank order on the FTES. Please refer to this list only, as these are the only courses that will fit into a first-year architecture student’s schedule. You will get an error message if you choose a course that is not on the Courses Available to First-Year Architecture Students list.
Quantitative
Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Title and Credit Hours | Course Description |
MAT | 221 | Elementary Probability and Statistics I (4) | First of a two-course sequence. For students in fields that emphasize quantitative methods. Probability, design of experiments, sampling theory, introduction of computers for data management, evaluation of models, and estimation of parameters. |
MAT | 285 | Life Sciences Calculus I (3) | Functions and their graphs, derivatives and their applications, differentiation techniques, the exponential and logarithm functions, multivariable differential calculus including constrained optimization. |
MAT | 295 | Calculus I (4) | Analytic geometry, limits, derivatives, maxima-minima, related rates, graphs, differentials, exponential and logarithmic functions, mean-value theorem, integration. |
Humanities
Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Title and Credit Hours | Course Description |
ENG | 119 | Topics in U.S. Literature (3) | United States literary and cultural texts studied in the context of American history, culture, and politics. Readings may be focused by historical periods or thematic issues. |
ENG | 121 | Introduction to Shakespeare (3) | Selected plays of Shakespeare read in conjunction with performances on video. |
ENG | 154 | Interpretation of Film (3) | Critical study of film from various historical periods. Formal, theoretical, and interpretive issues. |
ENG | 174 | World Literature, Beginnings to 1000 (3) | Readings from classics of antiquity and the first millennium, including Gilgamesh, The Iliad, Ramayana, the Bible, Chinese and Japanese literature, the Quran, and 1001 Nights. Texts are explored in historical context, both past and present. |
ENG | 182 | Race and Literary Texts (3) | Construction and representation of “race,” especially as it affects the production and reception of literary and other cultural texts. |
ENG | 184 | Ethnicity and Literary Texts (3) | Ethnicity in literary and theoretical texts. Emphasizing conceptual paradigms, social issues, and aesthetic considerations in the practice of reading texts from ethnically differentiated literary traditions. |
ENG | 192 | Gender and Literary Texts (3) | Construction and representation of “gender,” especially as it affects the production and reception of literary and other cultural texts. |
HOM | 165 | Understanding Music I (3) | The art of music. Development of musical styles in the West from ancient Greece through the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Assumes no prior musical knowledge. |
LIN |
201 | The Nature and Study of Language (3) | Introduction to the study of human language. Language change and diversity, usage, meaning, phonetics, grammatical description, and language learning. |
PHI | 107 | Theories of Knowledge and Reality (3) | An introduction to some major questions about knowledge and reality, such as the existence of God, the mind-body problem, free will and the nature and limits of knowledge. Historical and contemporary readings. |
PHI | 125 | Political Theory (3) | Introduction to theories of major modern political philosophers (Locke, Rousseau, Hume, J.S. Mill, Marx). Contemporary theories of liberty, justice, and equality. |
PHI | 175 | Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy (3) | Classical and contemporary readings on basic topics in social and political philosophy; political obligation and authority, justice and basic rights, liberty and equality, the justification of democracy. |
PHI | 192 | Introduction to Moral Theory (3) | Major philosophical theories about moral rightness, virtue, and the good life, such as utilitarian, Kantian, and Aristotelian theories. Historical and contemporary sources. Credit cannot be received for both PHI 192 and PHI 209. |
PHI | 197 | Human Nature (3) | Philosophical theories of human nature, their underlying metaphysical claims, and their ethical consequences. |
PHI | 251 | Logic (3) | Logic as a formal language, as a component of natural language, and as a basis of a programming language. Varieties of logical systems and techniques. Syntax, semantics and pragmatics. |
REL | 102 | Religion Today in a Globalizing World (3) | Consideration of the globalization of religions and the rise of worldwide trends: spirituality, fundamentalism, new religious movements, and major changes in established religions. |
REL | 108 | Religion & Its Critics (3) | A study of modern critics and critiques of religion and their contemporary significance, especially in relation to current media as modes of critique. |
REL | 131 | Great Jewish Writers (3) | Introduction to fiction by Jewish authors. Topics include modernization, rebellion against authority, alienation, childhood, superstition, and the holocaust. Some films included. |
REL | 156 | Christianity (3) | Christianity’s institutional forms, sacred writings, ideas and beliefs, worship practices, cultural and creative expressions, ethical and political roles in society, from antiquity to the present. How Christianity addresses human needs, concerns, and desires. |
REL | 165 | Discovering Islam (3) | Islam as a faith and a civilization. Understanding its origins, beliefs, rituals, and the historical development of its intellectual traditions in the pre-modern and modern eras, and its geographic, cultural and theological diversity today. |
REL | 246 | Religion & Popular Culture (3) | Popular expression of religion in and through cemeteries, holidays, music, film, media and sports. |
Social Sciences
Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Title and Credit Hours | Course Description |
ANT | 141 | Introduction to Archaeology and Prehistory (3) | Survey of the prehistoric past spanning the origins of humankind through the rise of complex societies. Class activities and field trips provide a hands-on introduction to archaeological interpretation. |
ANT | 185 | Global Encounters: Comparing World Views & Values Cross-Culturally (3) | Predominant views of reality and values in the cultures of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Humanistic study of cultures and nature of cross-cultural understanding. |
ECN | 101 | Principles of Microeconomics (3) | Consumer demand, theory of production, markets and prices, social welfare, and related topics. |
ECN | 102 | Principles of Macroeconomics (3) | Introduction to concepts and methods of economic analysis. Emphasis on such macroeconomic topics as gross domestic product, unemployment, money, and theory of national income. |
GEO | 105 | World Urban Geography (3) | Survey of world, urban geography. Major concepts of human geography for non-specialists. |
GEO | 155 | The Natural Environment (3) | Patterns of the physical phenomena at and near the surface of the earth. Surface configuration, climate, vegetation, and soil and their areal interrelationships. |
GEO | 171 | Human Geographies (3) | An integrative overview to human geography. Topics include human-environmental relations, demographic change, cultural landscape, urban and agricultural land use and economic restructuring. |
GEO | 272 | World Cultures (3) | The globalization of culture and the persistence of local cultures around the world. Case studies from different regions of the world examine geographical processes that shape ways of life. |
HST | 101 | American History to 1865 (3) | Founding and development of institutions. The Revolution and the new nation. Problems of growth and sectionalism. Challenge to the union. |
HST | 111 | Early Modern Europe, 1350–1815 (3) | Major characteristics of European political, social, and cultural life from Middle Ages to advent of democratic revolutions. |
HST | 121 | Global History to 1750 (3) | The development of global society up to 1750. Exchanges, connections and interactions between Africa, Asia and the Pacific, India, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. The relations between these regions, the Americas and Europe. |
HST | 213 | Africa: Ancient Times to 1800 (3) | A survey of African history from ancient times to1800. Focuses on political, social, economic, and environmental history of the continent. Themes: state formation, technology, production, trade, religion, migration, labor, slave trade, and biological exchanges. |
LLA | 201 | Elements of Law (3) | Provides an introduction to law and legal institutions. The course is designed to prepare lower-division undergraduates for the further study of legal topics in departments across the College of Arts and Sciences. |
MAX | 123 | Critical Issues for the United States (3) | Interdisciplinary focus on critical issues facing America. Perspectives of social science disciplines on the meaning of the American Dream, its past and its future. |
NAT | 105 | Introduction to Native American Studies (3) | Overview of critical issues in Native American Studies: colonization, religious freedom, environment, sovereignty, and politics of identity, interdisciplinary, comparative, and indigenous perspectives in relation to histories, societies, and cultures. |
PSC | 123 | Comparative Government and Politics (3) | Comparison of selected governmental institutions, individual and collective political actors, and issues across the industrialized and developing world. Particular attention to dynamics of socioeconomic and political change. |
PSC | 124 | International Relations (3) | Foreign policy, decision making, comparative foreign policy, international transactions, and the international system. Credit is given for PSC 124 or PSC 139, but not both. |
PSY | 205 | Foundations of Human Behavior (3) | Fundamental principles of mental life and human behavior. Significance of psychology in human relationships and self- understanding. |
SOC | 101 | Introduction to Sociology (3) | Principal concepts, methods, and findings in sociology. Societal structures, processes, institutions, and social roles from both macro- and micro analytic human behavior perspectives. |
SOC | 102 | Social Problems (3) | Application of sociological theory and methods to identification, description, and analysis of contemporary social problems. Critique and analysis of alternative strategies for social change. |
SOC | 248 | Ethnic Inequalities and Intergroup Relations (3) | Identification of individuals and groups by self and others as members of ethnic categories. Consequences of ethnic identifications for individual, group, and societal interaction. Emphasizing ethnic inequalities, group interactions, social movements and change, racism, prejudice, and discrimination. |
SOC | 281 | Sociology of Families (3) | Families and their connections to other social and economic institutions. Diversity of family forms and experiences. Formation and dissolution of relationships. Trends and changes. |
Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Title and Credit Hours | Course Description |
CHE | 106 | General Chemistry Lecture I (3) | Fundamental principles and laws underlying chemical action, states of matter, atomic and molecular structure, chemical bonding, stoichiometry, properties of solutions, chemical equilibria, and introductory thermochemistry. Credit is given for CHE 106 or 109 or CHE 150 but not more than one of these. |
CHE | 107 | General Chemistry Laboratory I (1) | Experimental study of basic principles and techniques of chemistry. States of matter, determination of formulas and molecular weights, simple volumetric and gravimetric analysis, heats of reaction. Equilibrium, rates of reactions, and qualitative analysis. Credit is given for CHE 107 or 129 or CHE 151 but not more than one of these. |
CSD | 212 | Introduction to Communication Sciences and Disorders (3) | Application of biology, physics, anatomy, physiology, and cognitive psychology to processes of speech, language, and hearing. Nature of disruptions to normal communication and scientific principles of prevention, diagnosis, and remediation. Cannot receive credit for both CSD 212 and CSD 303. |
EAR | 105 | Earth Science (3) | Scientific study of our planet, its history, and the processes that shape it and affect humans. Emphasis includes tectonics, continental surfaces, and climate. Lecture and recitation, no laboratory; no prerequisite. Intended for non-majors. Students may receive credit for either EAR 101 or 105 but not both. |
EAR | 117 | Oceanography (3) | A comprehensive introduction to the geology, physics, chemistry, and biology of the world ocean and its impact on global climate and environmental concerns. |
GEO | 155 | The Natural Environment (3) | Patterns of the physical phenomena at and near the surface of the earth. Surface configuration, climate, vegetation, and soil and their areal interrelationships. |
SCI | 104 | Science-Questions and Quests: Physical Phenomena I (3) | Science for non-science majors seeking to explain curious events through laboratory experiences and study of motion, gravity, machines, energy, and properties of matter. |