The Arts & Sciences curriculum defines the set of academic experiences that will be shared by its students. It ensures that all students receive the core elements of a Duke liberal arts education, regardless of their background, academic path, or co-curricular activities. These elements include engagement with different disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, active interaction with peers and faculty, and sustained study in at least one discipline.
Students must complete 34 credits to graduate.
First-year Experience
All Trinity students will participate in a first-year experience that explores a broad theme from multiple perspectives. Experiences include two topically-related courses and one first-year writing course (W120).
First-year students may participate in one of two programs:
- The FOCUS program, which includes 20 distinct clusters of interdisciplinary seminars that take place in the fall semester. FOCUS students have shared housing and integrated learning experiences. FOCUS students take W120 in the fall or spring semester. Program applications open February 1.
- The Constellations program, which includes 16 themes that each explore a common topic from multiple perspectives. Students take three related courses, one of which is W120, and participate in two experiential activities over the first year. At least one of the related courses must be taken in the first semester. Topics will be announced in May.
Writing
Trinity students must complete three writing courses, including first-year writing (W120) and at least one course after their first year.
Languages
Students will take two to three language courses in one of the following configurations:
- A sequence of courses that includes three classes in the same language (e.g., 101, 102, 203)
- Two 300-level classes in the same language
- A 300-level course in one language and two sequential courses in another language
Liberal Arts Requirements
Trinity students must complete two courses in each of six distribution categories for a total of 12 required courses.
Distribution Categories within the Arts & Sciences Curriculum
CE: Creating and Engaging with Art
- Courses in this area involve the production, performance and/or experience of artistic creativity. Students develop cognitive, affective and corporeal capacities through the process and production of knowledge via the creative arts; explore through practice the aesthetic forms that arise across cultures and communities and formulate insights about human creativity by making art and reflecting on how values and meanings are expressed through arts practice.
HI: Humanistic Inquiry
- Courses in this area interpret literary and aesthetic expressions that span geographical locations, historical periods and cultures. Students analyze works and practices; engage with philosophies, religions and intellectual traditions; investigate communication practices and media; and gain skills in research methods associated with humanistic inquiry.
IJ: Interpreting Institutions, Justice, and Power
- Courses in this area investigate the events, ideas and practices that shape human societies. Students examine institutions, ethical and cultural traditions, religious systems, and the historical and current events that shape these large-scale features of societies; examine the structures that underlie inequality, power and societal change; and apply a diverse set of qualitative and quantitative scholarly practices.
NW: Investigating the Natural World
- Courses in this area investigate and develop models for physical and biological processes. Students develop foundational knowledge about the causes of natural phenomena; explore the structure and temporal evolution of physical and biological systems; apply experimental, analytical and computational methods; and learn the power and limits of scientific explanations.
QC: Quantitative and Computational Reasoning
- Courses in this area involve mathematical reasoning, statistical analysis and computational methods. Students engage in formal, inductive and deductive reasoning; apply statistical modeling and inference methods; learn tools and techniques for data analysis; develop algorithms to solve problems; design, develop and analyze computational systems; and interpret claims based on computational models and simulations.
SB: Social and Behavioral Analysis
- Courses in this area examine human individual behaviors, group dynamics and societies. Students explore thought processes, decisions, beliefs, emotions and motivations; examine how individuals develop over the life course and in response to experiences; and study the development and expression of identities, the establishment of social structures and political institutions, and the dynamics of economic systems.
Century Courses
Century Courses are designed to encourage exploration of disciplines outside of a student’s previous academic experiences. They do not carry prerequisites.
- Students receive two codes for up to two Century Courses. This allows a student to fulfill two requirements by taking one Century Course.
- For example, a Century Course carrying two codes in HI (Humanistic Inquiry) will receive credit for the two required HI courses, reducing the total number of classes they must take to fulfill their Liberal Arts requirements.
- While students may take as many Century Courses as they wish, they may only use only two to fulfill two requirements each. Additional Century Courses taken will fulfill only one requirement.
Century Courses will be introduced in Fall 2026.
FAQs
While they share some similarities, the two programs are separate and distinct.
The FOCUS Program creates a vibrant community of faculty and students who share intellectual space with each other during the fall semester of their first year. Students live together in the same residence fall, which offers increased opportunities for exchange and collaboration. FOCUS seminar clusters include a weekly dinner and provide a multidisciplinary examination of a theme or topic (e.g., genetics, neuroscience and law, global health, thinking through music and the arts, etc.).
In FOCUS clusters, students will also be required to take W120, a first-year writing course.
Constellations accomplish similar goals of creating community among students and leveraging multidisciplinary approaches to timely topics of broad interest. Most Constellations include more students than a single FOCUS cluster. Constellations classes are not limited to 18 students each, for instance, and the number of courses in a Constellation may range from 4 to 10, allowing students additional choice in course selection. Unlike FOCUS, Students must take at least one Constellation course each semester. Additionally, Constellations do not have the residential component as FOCUS does.