Lafayette offers dynamic, meaningful and life-altering courses that help students understand today's complex issues so they can be effective agents of change.
The Common Course of Study (CCS) creates an outcome-based, all-inclusive academic core that will evolve and change as we review how well we are accomplishing what we aspire to teach our students.
Learn more about CCS
The First-Year Seminar introduces students to the academic and cultural life of the College. By focusing on one of more than 40 intriguing course topics, such as Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, Miracles, Global Hunger and Popular Music and Race in America, students examine personal assumptions and biases, thereby building informed perspectives.
Learn more about the FYS
Departmental honors and honors in interdisciplinary major programs are awarded for outstanding performance in writing a senior thesis or in conducting senior research. Once the thesis is written, the student defends it before a committee that includes his or her mentor, all or part of the departmental faculty members, and in some cases, a guest faculty member from another college.
Learn more about Departmental Honors
With strong programs in engineering, natural and social sciences, and the humanities, Lafayette is a rich environment for interdisciplinary study. Interdisciplinary academic programs encourage students to integrate knowledge and develop critical-thinking skills that transcend fields of study.
Learn more about Interdisciplinary Programs
Students from different majors team up to attack real-world problems posed by businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies in this distinctive course. Enrollment is competitive. Students rate Tech Clinic among their most interesting and valuable experiences at the College.
Learn more about Tech Clinic
The Center for Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership (IDEAL) provides resources, curricular connections, and initiatives that build and sustain a culture of creativity and collaboration. Hands-on learning, collaboration with external partners, and connections between the liberal arts and engineering are hallmarks of the program.
Learn more about the Dyer Center
Student opportunities in the Community-Based Learning and Research Initiative range from individual research with a faculty member to working in multidisciplinary teams that address real-world problems in the context of rigorous classroom learning.
Learn more about Community-Based Learning and Research