Schools, the Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies

The School of Architecture

The School of Architecture, Princeton’s center of teaching and research in architectural design, history, and theory, provides students with a course of study that reflects contemporary and emerging issues in architecture. Its roots reach back to 1832, when Professor Joseph Henry, an amateur architect and scientist, taught a course on the history of architecture. The School of Architecture was opened in 1919; its official opening was delayed due to World War I.

Principal degrees offered by the school include a bachelor of arts (A.B.), a master of architecture (M.Arch.), and a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.). The master of architecture program, accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), is intended for students who plan to practice architecture professionally. The curriculum for the master’s degree emphasizes design expertise in the context of architectural scholarship.

Architecture is understood as a cultural practice involving both speculative intelligence and practical know-how. Students are encouraged to construct a personal course of study around a core of required courses that represent the knowledge essential to the education of an architect today. Graduates of the program are qualified to take the state professional licensing examination after the completion of a required internship.

The four-year doctoral program focuses on the history, theory, and criticism of architecture, urbanism, landscape, and building technology. The approach is interdisciplinary, covering a broad range of research interests from an architectural perspective. Working closely with the faculty of the school and allied departments in the University, students build individual programs of study involving at least two years of course work, general examinations, and a dissertation.

Students at the School of Architecture benefit from its small size and thorough integration with the University community. In recent years, the school has enrolled approximately 60 graduate students and roughly the same number of undergraduates. Its curriculum always has responded to changes in the profession and in architectural education, providing students with courses that reflect contemporary and emerging issues in architecture.

The School of Engineering and Applied Science

Engineering education at Princeton is distinguished by technical excellence as well as a broad exposure to the social, economic, political, and artistic contexts that drive and are driven by technological development. In 2005, the engineering school established the Center for Innovation in Engineering Education to build on this unique combination of depth and breadth.

Engineering research at Princeton also takes a broadly multidisciplinary approach, bridging science, social science, and the humanities to solve societal problems. The Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), for example, involves 77 faculty members in 11 departments and has developed new generations of devices for photonics, telecommunications, medicine, and other fields. The Center for Information Technology Policy, a joint venture with the Woodrow Wilson School, addresses the societal impact of computer technology, particularly in the areas of privacy and security.

Other interdepartmental programs include applications of computing, architecture and engineering, engineering biology, engineering and management systems, engineering physics, environmental studies, geological engineering, and robotics and intelligent systems. In both its research and teaching, the engineering school is actively engaged with local and national businesses to bring engineering innovations to market and to better educate students. Total engineering research expenditures for 2005–06 were $48.5 million.

Engineering education at Princeton began in 1875 and grew into the formal creation of the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1921. Throughout its history, the school has helped create new fields of study, including aeronautical engineering in 1942 and the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering in 1999. The school now includes six departments: chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and operations research and financial engineering.

Degrees offered by the school include a bachelor of science in engineering (B.S.E.), a bachelor of arts (A.B.) in computer science, a master of science in engineering (M.S.E.), a master of engineering (M.Eng.), and a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.). In 2005–06, the school included 774 undergraduates and about 545 graduate students. More than 125 faculty members serve the six departments.

The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

The Woodrow Wilson School was founded in 1930 as the School of Public and International Affairs. A professional school that prepares talented women and men who seek careers in public service, it offers a rigorous education for undergraduates and graduate students. Its degree programs include a two-year course of study leading to a master in public affairs (M.P.A.), a one-year program for mid-career professionals leading to a master in public policy (M.P.P.), and a Ph.D. program in public affairs.

In its early days the school was a small, interdisciplinary program at the undergraduate level. Beyond normal course work, students took part in semester-long “policy conferences,” in which they focused on policy issues and conducted original research in order to formulate policy recommendations. These conferences are still key to the school’s undergraduate curriculum.

In 1948 a graduate professional program was added, and the school was named in honor of President Wilson. That program was greatly strengthened in the 1960s through a generous gift from Charles Robertson ’26 and Marie Robertson.

The fledgling school shaped the internationalist outlook of a new generation of leaders that emerged from World War II. It counts among its alumni two secretaries of state, a secretary of defense, several senators and governors, a chair of the Federal Reserve Board, leaders of nonprofit organizations, many ambassadors, and other influential policymakers.

Today the school emphasizes policy-oriented research and learning in its graduate program, serving interests in both domestic public policy and international affairs. M.P.A. candidates follow a core curriculum and then branch into one of four fields of concentration. An M.P.A.-J.D. joint-degree program and five certificate programs expand the graduate curriculum.

Both undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to gain real-world experience either domestically or internationally. Undergraduate task forces have included work abroad or have studied U.S. domestic issues. Graduate students are required to complete a policy workshop—recent workshops have focused on immigration policy, managing mineral resources, microfinance, nuclear non-proliferation, police reform, and the right to primary education. Graduate students also gain professional experience during the required summer internship between their first and second years.

Starting this fall, the Woodrow Wilson School is offering a new initiative called “Scholars in the Nation’s Service,” to encourage more of the nation’s best and brightest students to pursue careers in the U.S. federal government, especially in the international relations arena.

The six-year program, beginning in a student’s junior year, will include a summer federal government internship, approximately two years of federal government service after college, and a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School.

Study of the Humanities and the Life Sciences

Whether focusing on a junior paper that traces irony from Shakespeare to Toni Morrison, strolling through the University Art Museum to study early Chinese art and archaeology, or presenting on the microeconomics involved in corporate restructuring, Princeton undergraduates have outstanding opportunities in the humanities and the life sciences.

Students may choose from among 34 majors and participate in more than 37 special programs, many of them interdisciplinary or interdepartmental. The University also provides ample support resources, such as a modern language lab that bolsters the instruction in 17 foreign languages currently offered.

The Creative Arts

A major initiative is under way to further enhance arts programming for students through the new University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. The center will serve as a cultural hub in a dedicated arts neighborhood on campus.

Music Study. Princeton attracts student musicians who want a broad liberal arts education and the chance to pursue their musical interests. The Department of Music offers courses in composition and theory, as well as music history and literature. Several courses that incorporate student performance are offered each year.

Creative Writing. The Program in Creative Writing offers undergraduate students the unique opportunity to pursue original work in fiction, poetry, and translation under the guidance of renowned practicing writers. Throughout the academic year, a reading series brings to campus several distinguished poets and novelists to read from their work.

Theater and Dance. The Program in Theater and Dance offers workshop courses in writing, acting, directing, design, dance, and choreography—all taught by professional performing artists. The program also presents a series of student-acted productions each year. Modern dance courses focus on technique and composition, while the program’s modern dance concert presents works choreographed by students and faculty.

Visual Arts. The Program in Visual Arts introduces students to the studio arts in the context of a liberal arts education. Courses are offered in ceramics, drawing, film theory and history, painting, photography, digital photography, printmaking, sculpture, and film and video. Facilities include painting and drawing studios; a computer lab for digital photography; darkrooms; digital cameras; light kits and audio equipment; a computer lab for video editing; a printmaking shop; and ceramics and sculpture studios.

Interdisciplinary Studies

Interdisciplinary and interdepartmental programs are available to complement more traditional courses of study. Participants in programs take designated courses in the subject area and prepare substantial independent work toward completion of a certificate of proficiency.

In addition to the programs that offer certificates, Princeton also has academic units that are interdisciplinary in nature and draw faculty members and students together through teaching and research. A sampling of these is listed below:

Councils, Institutes, and Centers

• Bendheim Center for Finance

• Center for Migration and Development

• Center for the Study of Religion

• Council of the Humanities

• Council on Science and Technology

• Davis Center for Historical Studies

• Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia

• James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions

• Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics

• Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination

• Princeton Center for Theoretical Physics

• Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI)

• Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS)

• Princeton Institute in Neuroscience

• Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM)

• Princeton Writing Program

• Program of Freshman Seminars in the Residential Colleges

• Program in Law and Public Affairs

• University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts

• University Center for Human Values