A Message From President Thomas J. Schwarz

I am pleased to present the Purchase College Catalog for 2008–2010. This is the College’s first online-only Catalog. The decision to go online only is in keeping with the College’s environmental sustainability initiatives and is expected to save approximately 7.6 metric tons of paper for each edition.

The Catalog provides details of the programs, courses, facilities, and regulations that will govern the College during the next two years. I hope you will enjoy this opportunity to investigate fully the variety and vitality of opportunities at Purchase College: the distinctive combination of programs in the liberal arts and sciences and the performing and visual arts, complemented by our impressive facilities and campus resources.

Purchase College is built upon a four-school academic structure: the School of Humanities, the School of Natural and Social Sciences, the School of the Arts, and the School of Liberal Studies & Continuing Education.

• The School of Humanities provides both depth and breadth through its traditional majors (history, language and culture, literature, and philosophy) and those that bridge the arts and the liberal arts (art history, cinema studies, creative writing, drama studies, and journalism).
   
  
• The School of Natural and Social Sciences offers focused majors in anthropology; biochemistry; biology; chemistry; economics; environmental studies; mathematics/computer science; media, society, and the arts; political science; psychology; and sociology. Its faculty and courses are also strongly represented in the College’s interdisciplinary programs, including the majors in new media and women’s studies.
   
  
• The School of the Arts comprises the Conservatories of Dance, Music, and Theatre Arts & Film and the School of Art+Design. The College’s flagship programs in the performing arts (acting, dance, dramatic writing, film, music, and theatre design/technology) are internationally known. The visual arts programs (drawing, painting, graphic design, photography, printmaking/art of the book, and sculpture/3-D media) enjoy superb facilities and excellent technological support. The School of the Arts also offers a B.A. degree in arts management, designed to produce arts administration professionals who possess a practitioner’s commitment to and knowledge of the arts, combined with the financial and management skills needed in business.
   
  
• Finally, the School of Liberal Studies & Continuing Education offers the liberal studies B.A. degree completion program as well as a wealth of credit and noncredit courses, training programs, and community service activities.

To complement and enrich the academic programs, Purchase College provides an equally distinctive living, cultural, and recreational environment. The Performing Arts Center, a unique four-theatre complex, annually mounts more than 90 professional events and numerous student performances. The Neuberger Museum of Art, the 10th largest university museum in the country, offers exhibitions, concerts and films, educational programs, and tours. Both contribute directly to the academic programs while providing members of the College and the wider community with a rich concentration of the arts. The gymnasium is available for sports and fitness activities. Our 500 acres of grounds provide an attractive mixture of sports fields, forests, and elegant buildings. The construction of new dormitories and apartments and the renovation of existing apartments are enhancing the residential life of our students. Purchase also offers five sites—in Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, and China—for study abroad.

Purchase College’s commitment to excellence in the liberal arts and sciences complements its distinction in the performing and visual arts. During the lifetime of this catalog, we will become increasingly selective, and our academic programs will further develop the rich connections between and among scholarly and artistic disciplines. Our faculty will be increasingly involved with our students on campus as well as in the classroom, bringing their research into the curriculum and the classroom, resulting in a highly distinctive academic and creative community. Our goal is to provide access to the best public education in the arts and the liberal arts and sciences that this country can produce—and to be a true value in higher education.

I hope that you will come to share these riches with us at Purchase as a visitor, spectator, parent, family member, and especially as a student.

Thomas J. Schwarz, President
Purchase College, State University of New York