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DIRECTOR OF THE MORSE ACADEMIC PLAN:
Professor Borenstein
DIRECTOR OF THE EXPOSITORY WRITING PROGRAM:
Professor Hoy
The Morse Academic Plan (MAP) of the College of Arts and Science is an integrated general education curriculum in the liberal arts. The MAP is named for Samuel F. B. Morse, an early faculty member of the University. Best known as inventor of the electric telegraph, Morse taught fine arts at NYU and was an eminent painter. In his breadth of talent and high achievement as both an artist and scientist, Morse symbolizes the range of skills and interests that the MAP is designed to foster.
The MAP provides a core academic experience for undergraduates at NYU. Through a challenging array of foundational courses, the program heightens cultural awareness, hones critical reading skills, and promotes creative and logical thinking. It also gives students extensive practice writing and speaking English and proficiency in at least one other language. Rather than specifying a fixed canon of knowledge, the MAP focuses on modes and methods of humanistic and scientific inquiry. In each case, students are free to pursue particular interests by choosing among a number of courses. Students examine our contemporary culture—its origins and social structures, its modes of expression, and its inherent diversity and evolving patterns of thought. In other classes, they consider the place and importance of modern science—its quantitative and analytical foundations, its processes of reasoning, and its relationship to technology and to our views of the natural world. By helping them to broaden their perspectives, gain new pathways for intellectual inquiry, and develop the skills, background, and social awareness to thrive in dynamic circumstances, the MAP thus seeks to prepare students for their later studies and to equip them well for lives as thinking individuals and members of society.
Program
The MAP has four components:
1. The Expository Writing Program
2. Study of a foreign language
3. Foundations of Contemporary Culture (FCC)
4. Foundations of Scientific Inquiry (FSI)
Though structured and integrated, the MAP curriculum affords students flexibility in a number of ways. It permits the choice of different tracks in each component, the satisfaction of some courses
by examination or Advanced Placement credit (foreign language, FSI), and the substitution of departmental courses (FCC, FSI).
Given this flexibility, students work individually with advisers to plan course schedules that take into account their past preparation, current interests, and longer-term goals. While there is no prescribed schedule of courses that will be appropriate for every student, the following broad guidelines should be kept in mind:
- Incoming freshmen should complete their MAP courses by the end of sophomore year. This will leave them free in their junior and senior years to focus on their major and elective courses. Some science majors, engineering students, premedical students, and students placed in the International Writing Workshop sequence may need to delay starting, and thus finishing, a component of the MAP for a semester or more. Students who pursue international study may also need to delay completing their MAP courses beyond the sophomore year.
- Students must complete Writing the Essay (V40.0100) during their first year. Those placed into the prose writing or Inter-national Writing Workshop sequences must begin in their first semester and must register for their remaining writing course(s) in the semester(s) immediately following.
- Although Freshman Honors Seminars are not a part of the MAP, qualifying students are strongly urged to register for one of these classes in their first semester. These seminars with distinguished faculty members promise an intellectually stimulating experience right at the start of college.
- In designing the MAP, the faculty sought to ensure that all students would receive a broad exposure to the liberal arts early in their college careers. With this wide academic horizon, the MAP encourages students to discover new intellectual interests outside their intended areas of specialization and to pursue those interests with elective courses outside their majors in their later undergraduate years.
Expository Writing
It is difficult to exaggerate the value of clear and effective writing. The Expository Writing Program at NYU assumes that writing is not merely a useful skill but also a way of learning and knowing. Its courses focus on the examination of evidence, the development of ideas, and the clear expression of those ideas in a variety of different kinds of essays. In these writing courses, students routinely move from exploration to argument as they read and make use of various texts—written, visual, experiential—to create a spectrum of persuasive essays. Examined texts become more complex, and the writing tasks more difficult, as students grapple with intriguing questions that lead to richer ideas and more interesting forms of expression. The essays students write become more formal and argumentative as the semester’s work progresses.
For a complete description of the curriculum, see the Expository Writing Program (40) section of this bulletin.
Foreign Language
The study of foreign languages is an integral part of a liberal arts education. It nurtures an awareness of the diversity of human culture and serves the practical need for language skills in fields such as government, business, and research. New York University is a particularly exciting setting for language study because of its location in a great cosmopolitan city, its international student body, its many renowned language programs and centers, and its numerous opportunities for study abroad.
In addition to the foreign language courses offered for academic credit, the College offers opportunities for students of modern languages to practice their skills in real-world situations outside the classroom. NYU Speaking Freely is a free, noncredit program that allows students to practice their speaking and aural comprehension skills and to explore the linguistically diverse cultures of New York City. For more information about this popular program, contact the Office of the Associate Dean for Students, Silver Center, 100 Washington Square East, Room 909.
Increasingly, college graduates must be prepared to function in a global society. Apart from the inherent interest of learning about other cultures, many NYU students take the opportunity to study or travel abroad as preparation for their future careers. For more information about study abroad programs, visit the Office of Global Programs, 110 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003-4170, and consult the Programs Abroad section of this bulletin.
Requirement: To fulfill the foreign language component of the Morse Academic Plan, students must show or attain proficiency in a foreign language through the intermediate level. Ordinarily, this is accomplished by the successful completion of two years of language study in the College, through the second semester of a regular intermediate-level language sequence. Some languages are also taught in intensive courses, allowing students to complete the equivalent of two years of study in a single year.
After two years of college language study or the equivalent demonstrated proficiency, students should have gained a broad competence in a language, but true fluency of written or oral expression will not usually have been developed at this point. For this reason, all students are encouraged to continue their language study beyond the intermediate level. In particular, students studying modern languages will find it most beneficial to immerse themselves in the living culture of a language by studying, traveling, or working abroad. Likewise, students of all languages, whether ancient or modern, are encouraged to continue their studies with elective courses in literature at the advanced level.
Exemptions: Students may fulfill the foreign language component of the MAP by presenting outstanding scores on the SAT Subject Test or Advanced Placement Test in a foreign language, or by passing a departmental proficiency examination. For further information on language placement and exemption, see “Placement Examinations” in the Academic Policies section of this bulletin. For Advanced Placement Test equivalencies,
consult the chart in the Admission section, also in this bulletin.
Students whose secondary schooling was in a language other than English and other than a language offered in the College, or who complete the International Writing Workshop sequence (V40.0004, V40.0009), are exempt from the foreign language requirement. Also exempt are students in the B.S./B.E. program.
Courses: Listed below are courses covering the second semester of the intermediate level of language study. Intensive courses, which allow students to complete the equivalent of two years of study in a single year, are also listed where available. Completion of any of the following courses will fulfill the foreign language requirement. Please consult the individual departmental listings for information on prerequisite courses.
Intermediate Swahili II (Africana Studies) V11.0204
Intermediate Latin: Vergil (Classics) V27.0006
Intermediate Greek: Homer (Classics) V27.0010
Intermediate Chinese II (East Asian Studies) V33.0204
Intermediate Japanese II (East Asian Studies) V33.0250
Intermediate Korean II (East Asian Studies) V33.0257
Intermediate Cantonese II (East Asian Studies) V33.0413
Intermediate French II (French) V45.0012
Intensive Intermediate French (French) V45.0020
Intermediate German II (German) V51.0004
Intensive Intermediate German (German) V51.0020
Intermediate Modern Greek II (Hellenic Studies) V56.0106
Intermediate Modern Irish II (Irish) V58.0103
Intermediate Italian II (Italian) V59.0012
Intensive Intermediate Italian (Italian) V59.0020
Intermediate Arabic II (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies) V77.0104
Intermediate Persian II (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies) V77.0404
Intermediate Hindi (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies) V77.0408
Intermediate Turkish II (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies) V77.0504
Intermediate Hebrew II (Hebrew and Judaic Studies) V78.0004
Intermediate Portuguese II (Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures) V87.0004
Intensive Intermediate Portuguese for Spanish Speakers (Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures) V87.0021
Intermediate Russian II (Russian and Slavic Studies) V91.0004
Intermediate Czech II (Russian and Slavic Studies) V91.0204
Russian Grammar Review for Native Speakers (Russian and Slavic Studies) V91.0005
Intermediate Spanish II (Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures) V95.0004
Intensive Intermediate Spanish (Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures) V95.0020
Intermediate Tagalog (Filipino) II (Asian/Pacific/American Studies) V15.0404
Intermediate Urdu II (Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies) V77.0304
Each department offering language instruction in the College has designated a member of its faculty to coordinate its courses and policies. For more information on specific language classes, placement, or exemption, please contact the language coordinator, director of language programs, or director of undergraduate studies named in the individual departmental listings.
Thanks to an exchange arrangement with Columbia University, students may also enroll in the following languages, offered through the intermediate level and given at Columbia: Armenian, Bengali, Dutch, Finnish, Gujarati, Hungarian, Indonesian, Kannada, Polish, Pulaar, Punjabi, Romanian, Sanskrit, Serbo-Croatian, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Modern Tibetan, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Wolof, and Zulu. For information about these courses, visit the Office of Academic Affairs, Silver Center, 100 Washington Square East, Room 908.
Foundations of Contemporary Culture
The Foundations of Contemporary Culture (FCC) sequence of the Morse Academic Plan is a series of four coordinated courses in the humanities and social sciences. Within each of the four offerings, students are free to pursue their particular interests through their choice of individual classes. Overall, the structure of the FCC ensures that every student in the College gains a common core of skills and experiences in the liberal arts.
In addition to the information on the FCC provided in this bulletin, detailed descriptions of each year’s course offerings may be found on the MAP Web site.
CONVERSATIONS OF THE WEST
Through exploration of contrasting and complementary works in the humanities from different periods, Conversations of the West provides a historical, literary, and philosophical context for education in the liberal arts. Students may choose from four tracks: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Antiquity and the Renaissance, Antiquity and the Enlightenment, and Antiquity and the 19th Century. In each case, the classes begin with works from some of the ancient civilizations that have shaped the development of cultures in the West. Typically, the classes have the following readings in common: the books of Genesis and Exodus from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Gospel According to Luke and Acts of the Apostles from the Christian New Testament, a Platonic dialogue and a Sophoclean or Euripidean tragedy, Vergil’s Aeneid, and Augustine’s Confessions. In the second half of the course, the themes and ideas emerging from these texts are followed as they are maintained, reinterpreted, or disputed by later thinkers.
Conversations of the West is not a survey but, rather, an examination of how texts influence subsequent thinking, create traditions, and reflect societal ideals. Conversations of the West thus aims to provide a richer understanding of how cultures are constructed, modified, and represented.
WORLD CULTURES
World Cultures prepares students for life in a globalized world by introducing them to the ways in which humans come to understand themselves as members of societies and by fostering their appreciation of the dynamics of cultural interaction and influence. Individual sections focus on specific social or cultural groups different from the dominant traditions of contemporary Europe and North America. They share a common concern to examine the ways cultures have interacted, for example, through trade, colonization, and immigration; how such groups define themselves against internal and external differences; and how the dominant perspective of Western modernity both makes possible and limits comprehension of the ways in which people outside that position understand, experience, and imagine their lives.
Offerings include emergent traditions, diaspora formations, and societies understood as nationally, geographically, or culturally distinct from the West. Courses focusing on ancient civilizations apart from Greece and Rome are also included.
SOCIETIES AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Over the past several centuries, enormous social transformations have taken place around the world. To understand the complexity of these phenomena, new methods have been developed to study societal structures and human behavior. Each of the courses under Societies and the Social Sciences begins from a particular disciplinary approach, social concern, or topic, in order to orient students to the characteristic methods of these social sciences. Students learn how issues are objectified for study, how data is collected and analyzed, and how new understanding is thereby achieved. Whether through an interdisciplinary approach, consideration of their historical development, or reflection on critical and positivistic debates, the courses help students both to appreciate the unique insights afforded by these methods and to recognize the limits of such inquiry. In this way, students move beyond the particular focus of the class to a broader understanding of methods and problems in the social sciences generally.
EXPRESSIVE CULTURE
In Expressive Culture, students explore the complexities of artistic expression by focusing on one of five media: sounds, images, words, performance, or film. Each course introduces requisite historical, formal, and critical vocabularies; examines fundamental issues associated with interpretation of the arts making use of these media; and investigates the complex relations between artistic activity and other facets of social organization. The courses also make use, whenever possible, of the rich cultural resources of New York City.
Foundations of Scientific Inquiry
The Foundations of Scientific Inquiry (FSI) component of the Morse Academic Plan is a series of three coordinated courses in quantitative reasoning and the natural sciences. Together, these courses ensure that every student in the College gains a fundamental understanding of how mathematics and laboratory experimentation advance scientific investigation. While some students acquire this background through course work offered in the science majors, FSI courses are especially designed to meet the needs of nonscience students. Within each of the three offerings, students are free to pursue their particular interests through their choice of individual classes.
In addition to the information on the FSI provided in this bulletin, detailed descriptions of each year’s course offerings may be found on the MAP Web site.
QUANTITATIVE REASONING
Students in Quantitative Reasoning engage mathematical concepts in a variety of contexts in the natural or social sciences. All courses include a substantial amount of problem solving that requires both conceptual and
computational work.
NATURAL SCIENCE I
Scientific knowledge has its basis in our natural curiosity about the world around us and our place in it. These courses approach the physical sciences with the intent of asking and trying to answer interesting questions, dealing with topics ranging from the origin of our universe and planet to how human activity affects our environment. Students consider the important roles played by laws of physics and chemistry in biology, earth and environmental sciences, astrophysics, and cosmology, and develop an understanding of how the physical sciences inform the natural sciences generally. Mathematics is introduced in each course with frequent applications to the subject matter. Predictions that can be made only with the use of mathematics are clearly delineated, showing the powerful role it plays in our understanding of the universe. Wherever possible, the courses relate science to societal problems and develop a historical perspective.
NATURAL SCIENCE II
The complexity of the biological realm continues to fascinate and challenge modern scientists, who are currently engaged in such diverse pursuits as exploring the organization and function of the brain, reconstructing the origin of the human species, linking the multiplicity of interactions in ecosystems, and deciphering the influence of heredity on complex traits. The courses in Natural Science II take a nontraditional approach to the life sciences, with an emphasis on approaching science as a dynamic process of investigation and discovery. Each course selects a broad theme that is at the forefront of contemporary research, then uses specific questions and examples to introduce students to the methodology of scientific inquiry, the critical evaluation of results, and the mathematical tools used to quantify
scientific information.
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