The College of Letters and Science

Office of the Deans
200 Social Sciences and Humanities Building
(530) 752-0392; http://www.ls.ucdavis.edu

The College of Letters and Science provides students with the opportunity to actively engage the central academic disciplines of the university. The largest of the four undergraduate colleges at UC Davis, the College of Letters and Science offers the majority of the campus's general education courses, more than 40 major programs of study and thousands of courses per year across a broad range of subject areas. Its nearly 500 faculty members are organized into three Divisions—Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; and Social Sciences. The college confers Bachelor of Arts (A.B.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and Bachelor of Arts and Science (B.A.S.) degrees.

The College of Letters and Science is a community of scholars and students sharing a commitment to liberal education rather than to specialized, vocationally oriented training. The college exposes you to the worlds of human experience, of ideas, of artistic accomplishments and of matter and things. Within this curriculum you are able to explore a variety of academic fields, engage in the pursuit of fundamental knowledge and gain the capacity for independent study and thought. By learning to think carefully and critically, you will be able to continue the ongoing process of education that begins in the classroom but continues over a lifetime. You will have learned how to learn—the ultimate objective of a liberal arts education.

The educational goals of the college are reflected in the three primary groups of requirements established by the faculty: the English Composition Requirement, the Foreign Language and Area Requirements and the Major Requirements.

The English Composition Requirement ensures that you are well versed in written communication skills.

The Foreign Language and Area Requirements provide you with a broad background of knowledge, guide you in an exploration of the interdependencies of knowledge and acquaint you with other cultures.

The College of Letters and Science acknowledges the value of language learning and encourages students to acquire proficiency in a foreign language before graduating from UC Davis. The goals of language learning are the following: communicating complex ideas in the target language; acquiring understanding of a variety of cultural perspectives and differences; fostering intercultural communicative competence; gaining access to cultural production from another time and place; enhancing knowledge of other disciplines through the target language; recognizing the nature and structure of languages, including one's own; and developing the capacity to participate actively in multilingual communities both at home and abroad.

The Major Requirements provide you with intellectual depth and competence in a selected area of study.

The college has a well-developed system of faculty advisers, student peer advisers and professional staff advisers who are available for individual consultations with undergraduates in a variety of settings, from the deans’ office to departmental offices to campus residence halls.

The strength of the college lies in the faculty’s commitment to advancing the frontiers of human knowledge through research, artistic expression and other creative endeavors and to the effective communication and application of that knowledge through teaching and public service. Together, faculty and students in the College of Letters and Science create a climate that enables students to achieve their highest potential.