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Indiana University - College of Arts and Sciences

Indiana University - College of Arts and Sciences

Indiana University - College of Arts and Sciences

Introduction

Where endless curiosity & creativity yield every form of success

The College of Arts and Sciences supports students who are ready to explore, create, invent, and make a difference.

We prepare well-rounded, inquisitive, and innovative graduates to better the world. Students in the College pursue their passions while developing the skills that employers want and rewarding careers demand. The result: a degree that can help make you “robot-proof” in the rapidly transforming job market.

Why should you pursue a degree in the College?

Not every path is straight and narrow.

We prepare the explorers and the constantly curious—those whose dreams won’t fit into a one-size-fits-all degree. Our students are game-changers and explorers. They are not afraid to ask big questions. They believe they can change the world. And they often do.

Our faculty are leaders in their fields. Groundbreakers and creatives. Questioners of the status quo.

Together, our faculty and students form an extraordinary teaching and learning community at the heart of one of the world’s best universities.

  • We are enduring. We advance the time-honored legacy of a liberal arts education. Our story began two centuries ago, but it starts fresh with each new class of enterprising and talented students.
  • We are dynamic. We are a place where ideas form and transform, and where the pursuit of new knowledge never stops.
  • We are transformative. We educate well-prepared, confident students—those who go on to write and rewrite history.
  • We are ambitious. We motivate and support students who are willing to ask the big questions and influence what’s next. Our graduates believe they can change the world. And they often do.

Here’s to the go-getters and game-changers. To those who are ready to examine, create, invent, and make a difference. Who want to pursue their passions while mastering critical skills that employers want most.

We are the College of Arts & Sciences. Explore with us.

Why should a liberal arts education be the preferred choice for students today?

In the IU College of Arts and Sciences, we believe that helping our students land a first job after college is critically important. We also believe that the liberal arts and sciences offer something more substantial and profound. Here, we equip our students with the skills needed to question critically, think logically, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically. Not only are these the skills that employers say they value most in the workplace, but they also provide the best preparation for lifelong success in a world of complexity, uncertainty, and change.

This is why a liberal arts education has never been more valuable.

Today, the College is investing in innovation. We are asking big questions and seeking creative ways to deliver a newly imagined liberal arts experience—one that is distinctly relevant to 21st-century students. Rather than rest on the College’s impressive legacy, we are hard at work, drawing on our historic strengths and our creative will to find new and better ways to prepare our students to respond with confidence to the greatest challenges facing our world.

This is our vision.

Our mission

The College is an academic community encompassing three divisions and three schools, with more than 70 departments and programs spanning the arts and humanities, social and historical sciences, and natural and mathematical sciences. We are comprised of world-renowned faculty and highly skilled staff.

The members of the College are:

  • Engaged in creative activity, basic and applied research, and scholarship that advance disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge. Our work serves Indiana University, the state of Indiana, the United States, and the world.
  • Dedicated to the liberal arts, which teach our students to question critically, think logically, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically. These skills serve as the foundation for living the examined life and succeeding in an increasingly global, ever-changing workplace.

Rankings

One of the world’s best places to study the sciences, arts and humanities, international affairs, and media

What is the College of Arts and Sciences? These numbers will help you understand, but you should also explore our academics, student experience, research opportunities, and career preparation. And, of course, learn how to become a College student.

Highly ranked programs in many fields

Few rankings exist for undergraduate liberal arts programs at national universities, but our graduate rankings offer a sense of our programs’ reputation and commitment to helping you reach your potential.

  • #1 The Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology is the oldest and one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind, and home to the top-ranked doctoral program in the field. —National Research Council
  • #2 Social Psychology Graduate Program, U.S. News & World Report
  • #3 African History Graduate Program, U.S. News & World Report
  • #5 B.F.A. Dance Program, Onstage
  • #7 Analytical Chemistry Graduate Program, U.S. News & World Report
  • #7 Nuclear Physics Graduate Program, U.S. News & World Report
  • #8 Cognitive Psychology Graduate Program, U.S. News & World Report

IU, College of Arts + Sciences programs highly ranked in latest U.S. News and Report.

Economics + Business

The College's Department of Economics and the Kelley School of Business rank 24th worldwide and 14th nationally in U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of “Best Global Universities for Economics and Business.”

Arts + Humanities

Indiana University ranks 39th worldwide out of 334 universities in U.S. News and World Report's 2022 rankings for "Best Global Universities for Arts and Humanities."+

  • #7 in the nation for the number of students studying abroad, Open Doors 2017 Report
  • #31 Public National University, U.S. News & World Report
  • #45 Global University for Arts and Humanities, U.S. News & World Report
  • #54 Most Innovative University in the world, Reuters

Locations

  • Bloomington

    790 E. Kirkwood Avenue, 47405-7101, Bloomington

Questions