Students in art history classes might focus on ancient ruins, European landscape painting or Japanese anime. Our classes place value on the study of original objects, and students at all levels make site visits and do research in museums. Whether a student is interested in East Asia or North America, Maya ceramics or medieval manuscripts, the art history program seeks to understand questions of visual literacy and the roles that art and architecture play in our present world.

The interdisciplinary program of Latin American & Latino/a Studies (LALS) fosters a rich and critical understanding of Latin America, including Brazil and the Hispanic Caribbean, in its broadest sense. The program focuses on the cultural production, history and political, social and economic structures created by the inhabitants of the area extending from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, from California to Cuba, and in dialogue with the rest of the world. Students explore the diversity that existed in Latin America before the arrival of Europeans, the societies that subsequently developed among Native Americans, Europeans, Asians and Africans, and contemporary issues and forms of expression both of Latin Americans and of Latinas/os in the United States.

Students may take studio courses in many media, from sculpture and drawing to video, photography and printmaking. We also offer interdisciplinary courses organized around conceptual questions and themes. Classes take place in studios with spaces for hand-setting type, using bandsaws, creating installations and designing computer graphics. All senior art majors have their own studio spaces.

Smith’s Music Department is a lively center of musical activity with classroom courses that integrate the study of global musical genres and performance practices with critical questioning of music's complex role in society. Across offerings in composition, classical music, world music, music theory and popular music, courses emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to musical knowledge, with faculty working at the intersections of American studies, anthropology, dance studies, gender studies, and political theory.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures offers multiple pathways for students to develop their knowledge of the vibrant cultures of China, Japan and Korea. While developing linguistic and cultural fluency through our language, literature and culture courses, students will engage with a diverse array of genres from traditional poetry to popular fiction and will explore issues such as translation, identity and gender within traditional and modern contexts. Students can choose to further expand their knowledge of East Asia through courses in anthropology, art history, economics, government, history, music, religion and world literatures.

The object of inquiry in American studies is culture—usefully defined as a society’s “whole way of life”—the sum of the ways a society and its subjects at once understand and remake the world. Taking the contested and complex geographical, political and cultural space(s) named by America as a field for exploration, we ask how people in these spaces, in the present and in the past, make sense of their world, their relationships and themselves. Because culture includes everything from agriculture and architecture to xenophobia and zoos, American studies draws on the insights and methods of numerous academic disciplines, such as history, economics, sociology, anthropology, literary studies, art history, political science and musicology.

Smith’s architecture program combines studio work with courses in architectural history. In studios, students explore the built environment “as a person experiences it,” building models by hand, using laser cutters and designing with sophisticated computing technology. Classes on urban space, public architecture and landscape design complement studio work. Often students work on local projects and at the MacLeish Field Station in Hatfield.

Explore the art of French, engage with its cultures and rediscover your own through others’ perspectives. The Department of French Studies offers about 30 courses in French language, literature and culture. Students build linguistic skills from beginning through advanced levels in grammar, phonetics and composition and use state-of-the-art technology to assist in their learning. French studies examines issues such as immigration, secularism, identity, gender and education across space (France and Francophone countries) and time, and at the crossroads of literary studies, art, history, linguistics and social sciences.

Classics is the study of ancient Greek and Roman civilization, which laid the foundation of the western tradition in literature, philosophy, history, art, science and mathematics. Classics is thus not confined to one field or method, but has always been inherently interdisciplinary. Classics students spend most of their time reading Greek and Latin texts in the original languages, but they can also take courses in English translation in a variety of disciplines in order to get a broader, interdisciplinary perspective. Classics makes a dynamic and rewarding stand alone major, but it can be (and often is) paired with a second major.

Why study geosciences? Because the Earth is fascinating! Our planet is geologically dynamic, with 4.5 billion years of history and a future we want to protect. Studying geosciences at Smith means you’ll learn to the fullest extent possible how the Earth works. You’ll explore multiple disciplines, including geology, biology, chemistry, physics and math. Courses highlight hands-on and discovery-based learning by doing, modern field and laboratory techniques, and interactive student-faculty research experiences. A degree in geosciences can lead to a variety of rewarding careers that address pressing issues, including climate change, energy and water resources, environmental stewardship and natural hazards.

How is it that the culture of German-speaking Europe has so profoundly influenced and shaped Western civilization—and especially the culture of the United States—through the centuries and into today? The Department of German Studies and Italian Studies provides the opportunity for students to explore such questions and others in its language, literature and culture courses. Students encounter a culture of “poets and thinkers” (as well as scientists, engineers, artists, and some admittedly unsavory characters), and have the opportunity to experience German language and culture firsthand through Smith’s own study abroad program in Hamburg, Germany.

Africana studies considers how racial blackness, and the concept of race itself, influences the development of the modern world. We investigate the social, historical, cultural and aesthetic works and practices of populations of African-descent throughout the diaspora. A multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary endeavor, our interrogations begin not with race as an assumed concept but as a site of profound social formation that must be considered in relation to gender, class, nation, ethnicity, religion and sexuality. We encourage students to explore classes from such departments as philosophy, government, psychology, women and gender studies and more.

Smith’s anthropology offerings promote awareness and understanding of ethnic and cultural diversity on a global scale as well as in the United States. We challenge students’ assumptions about their cultures by introducing them to societies and social groups whose principles and prejudices are different from their own. As a result, students carry a greater sensitivity to the cultural dimension of human experience in their work and lives.

The Department of Biological Sciences treats the life sciences in all their breadth and diversity, including the study of molecules, cells, whole organisms, ecosystems, plants, animals and microorganisms. The requirements for the major in the biological sciences provide both a solid foundation in biology and opportunities to pursue special interests. The major embraces three broad core areas: cells, physiology and development; genetics, molecular biology and evolution; and biodiversity, ecology and conservation.

The Smith College Department of Dance gives students a broad view of dance in preparation for professional performance careers, as a training ground for choreographers, or to prepare for study in graduate dance programs. Students who do not intend to pursue dance professionally are also welcome. In both the undergraduate and graduate programs, the faculty is dedicated to fostering each student’s unique talents as the student explores creative dance experiences. The Smith dance department is a member of the Five College Dance, a nationally recognized model for excellence in dance in higher education.