The program in Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts is one of the distinctive and defining aspects of Harvey Mudd College. From its inception, the College has regarded a strong grounding in these areas as an essential part of the education of engineers, scientists and mathematicians, who need to be mindful of the richness and complexities of the human experience as well as the social contexts and consequences of their own endeavors.

In addition to the Common Core course, students must complete 11 full semester courses (one of them in the spring semester of the first year) in a coherent program planned with the approval of their humanities, social sciences and the arts advisor. This program must include two key elements:

• a concentration of courses in a single discipline or in an interdisciplinary field chosen from the distinct areas of liberal arts study offered at The Claremont Colleges
• a distribution of courses in different disciplines that exposes students to the varieties of intellectual approaches that inform the humanities and social sciences

To foster the growth of an intellectual community, students must take at least six courses (including HSA 10) from departmental faculty members. Students may select their remaining courses from a large number available at Harvey Mudd College and the other Claremont Colleges.

For more information regarding these requirements, see the listing under Departmental Programs in this catalogue.