Areas of Study

Graduate Liberal Studies at Wesleyan offers courses in a broad range of disciplines, from government and literature to biology and studio art. Students pursuing a degree are required to focus their studies in one area of concentration while supplementing with electives from at least two others. This combination of depth and breadth allows students to choose their focus based on their interests and goals while retaining the hallmark cross-disciplinarity of a liberal arts degree. Master of Arts (MALS) students can further refine their course of study with a capstone, while a thesis is required for the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree. For educators, Wesleyan’s GLS degrees blend content from your teaching area with a selection of educational studies and psychology courses designed to support you as a teacher.

Arts

The Wesleyan GLS concentration in the arts reflects the diversity of creative, technical and academic approaches practiced across the arts, and emphasizes the critical importance of interdisciplinary studies to the development of a personal practice or teaching core. Broadly speaking, arts courses may be in studio arts, photography, film, art history, design, ethnomusicology and theater, among other disciplines. Students may receive special permission to work on tutorials with dance instructors. Students may elect to focus on studio arts, pursue a “theory and history” track, or combine these areas of focus.

Education & Human Development

The Wesleyan GLS concentration in Education & Human Development includes courses that investigate education and human development through the lens of ideas, discoveries, and movements in psychology, history, sociology, and more.

Humanities

The GLS humanities concentration at Wesleyan explores the ways people observe, review, process and document the human experience. Humanities courses include offerings in classics, literature, language, philosophy and cultural theory. Writing (creative, nonfiction and poetry), literature studies, literary theory and area studies (European novel, classical civilization) that focus on literature, philosophy and cultural theory may be pursued through the humanities concentration. 

Sciences

The GLS sciences concentration includes courses in environmental field science, biology, astronomy, psychology, forensics, data analysis and more. Students seeking specialized training in areas such as chemistry and physics may arrange to work one-on-one with Wesleyan faculty to pursue their personal and professional interests.

Social Sciences

The GLS social sciences concentration includes courses in government, economics, sociology, history, American studies, anthropology, psychology, political science and more.