New Concentrations for 2009–10
New this fall, concentrations in:
- Clinical psychology
- International relations
- Legal studies
- Visual arts
See News for details.
This page contains content from the 2008–09 academic year. For current information, visit the Harvard Extension School website at www.extension.harvard.edu.
Areas and Fields
The ALM curriculum is divided into three academic areas—biological sciences (Area A), social sciences (Area B), and humanities (Area C)—that include 15 fields of concentration:
Biological Sciences (Area A)
- Anthropology and Archaeology* (physical)
- Biology
- History of Science*
Social Sciences (Area B)
- Anthropology and Archaeology* (social and cultural)
- Foreign Literature, Language, and Culture*
- Government
- History
- History of Science*
- Linguistics*
- Medieval Studies*
- Middle Eastern Studies*
- Psychology
Humanities (Area C)
- Celtic Languages and Literatures
- Dramatic Arts
- English and American Literature and Language
- Foreign Literature, Language, and Culture*
- Linguistics*
- Literature and Creative Writing
- Medieval Studies*
- Middle Eastern Studies*
- Religion
Interdisciplinary fields. The fields above marked with an asterisk (*) fall into two areas and are considered interdisciplinary fields. Though interdisciplinary concentrations include courses under more than one area, students must pursue fields in one primary area. The chosen area should reflect the student’s methodological inclination and has an impact on the selection of a proseminar, elective courses, and thesis topic.
Students may choose their electives from the broad range of courses available in an interdisciplinary field, as long as they fall outside the area of the field of concentration. For example, medieval studies concentrators in humanities may select medieval studies courses under social sciences for their electives.
The foreign literature, language, and culture concentration can be focused either on the humanities or social sciences in non-English-speaking settings. If students wish to focus on literature, language, film, or the arts, they should take a humanities proseminar and plan to develop a thesis on one of these subjects.
Students who wish to focus on ethnography, media, or other aspects of everyday life should take a social sciences proseminar and develop their thesis on one of these topics. Concentrators in this field may focus their studies on one particular country (for example, France, Spain, or Russia), or they may approach one or more countries comparatively. No more than two graduate-level language courses can be accepted toward degree requirements.
A variety of courses chosen from several different fields—including literature, art and architecture, philosophy, history of science, religion, history, and foreign languages—satisfy both field and elective requirements. See the degree course search.