The College of Arts and Sciences has three distinct functions within the framework of the University.

1) Its primary function is to offer a strong liberal arts program designed to help the students prepare themselves for life in their own cultural setting by acquiring the means and desire to continue the processes of intellectual development and character formation throughout their lives. "The purpose of education," wrote John Stuart Mill, "is to make capable and cultivated human beings." "Education has for its object the formation of character," wrote Herbert Spencer. We believe that people are people, no matter what their careers, and that if we can help people to become more capable and sensible, they will have better careers and lives. It is our belief that the best preparation for any profession or vocation is a thorough foundation in those major fields of human interest, which are included in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. A program of liberal studies at the University of Memphis aims to provide the students with a store of factual knowledge, to introduce them to varying sets of principles, to stimulate them to think about and evaluate facts and principles, and to encourage them to order their own affairs and those of their society with the talent, insight, and discrimination they develop.

2) The College of Arts and Sciences offers this kind of education to the candidates for its own degrees, and to the students of other colleges of the University, all of whose degree plans call for courses in the arts and sciences.

3) The college offers preparatory courses for students interested in careers in medicine, dentistry, nursing, teaching, law and other professions; specific pre-professional programs, designed to prepare students to qualify for admission to professional schools, are available.

Organization of the College

Academic Programs

College and Degree Requirements

Academic Advising

Pre-Professional Training

List of Programs

African and African American Studies

Anthropology

Biology

Chemistry

Computer Science

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Earth Sciences

Economics

Emergency Management

English

Environmental Studies

Foreign Languages

History

International Studies

Bornblum Judaic Studies

Legal Thought and Liberal Arts

Mathematical Sciences

Philosophy

Physics

Political Science

Pre-Health Studies

Psychology

Public Administration

Religious Studies

Social Work

Sociology

Women's and Gender Studies

Aerospace Studies

Military Science

Naval Science