Academics

For more than a century, Puget Sound has offered some of the most forward-looking academic programs in the country, providing a solid intellectual foundation.

Puget Sound’s academic program combines study in the arts, humanities, and natural and social sciences with opportunities for discovery at the intersections of knowledge. At the program’s heart is a challenging four-year core curriculum — a vast set of course offerings from which each student selects eight.

As you navigate the core, you work with an advisor to chart a path through Puget Sound’s 1,200 annual course offerings. By your second year, you declare a major. Options include interdisciplinary programs in fields such as Asian studies, international political economy, and neuroscience. Puget Sound is also the only liberal arts college in the Northwest to offer a liberal arts-focused degree in business through our School of Business and Leadership and a music program of conservatory caliber.

Whether in the classroom or laboratory, on stage, or in the gallery, through academic internships or projects in the greater community, you will find avenues for communicating your ideas and testing your theories. Whatever major you choose, you might also pursue independent research, study abroad experience, and a senior thesis or capstone project. Each is a chance to broaden your perspective and deepen your understanding of yourself and the world around you.

Learn more about:

Featured Department

Pacific Rim/Asia Study-Travel Program

Every three years a group of Puget Sound students ventures out into the world for nine months of rigorous academic and personal inquiry. Visiting eight Asian nations, the group engages in a vast multicultural experience that forces them to confront novel systems of culture, economics, politics, religion, and philosophy. The course of study for the program begins on campus well before the group departs for Asia--each student is required to take three prerequisites before the year abroad. Follow the adventures of this year's travelers!

Featured Faculty

Dexter Gordon, Race and Pedagogy Initiative

Professor of African American Studies and Communication Studies, Professor Gordon is also a leader of the Race and Pedagogy Initiative -  a collaboration between Puget Sound and the broader community to educates students and teachers at all levels to think critically about race and to act to eliminate racism. The initiative includes organized, ongoing campus discussions through  forums and special events, including a second National Race and Pedagogy Conference to be held on campus in Octoboer 2010. Learn more about the Race and Pedagogy Initiative.