Nontechnical Breadth Requirements
A. First-Year Course Requirements
38-101 EUREKA!: Discovery and Its Impact
76-10X First-Year Writing Course
99-101 Computing @ Carnegie Mellon
B. Science and Society Course Requirements
38-304 Reading and Writing Science or
Choose to take one of the preapproved electives
C. Engage courses
38-110 ENGAGE in Service
38-220 ENGAGE in the Arts
38-230 ENGAGE in Wellness: Looking Inward
38-330 ENGAGE in Wellness: Looking Outward
38-430 ENGAGE in Wellness: Looking Forward
D. Cultural/Global Understanding Course Requirement
Any student who finds an appropriate CMU course which is not on the list and might fulfill this requirement can contact Tara Primiero to see if the course can be added to the list. Study abroad and transfer courses will be considered for this category. However, this requirement cannot be fulfilled with AP, IB, or Cambridge credit. Students must complete 9 units of this requirement.
19-291 Special Topics: Environmental Systems on a Changing Planet
57-173 Survey of Western Music History
57-209 The Beatles
57-306 World Music
66-213 The American Railroad: Decline and Renaissance in the Age of Deregulation
70-342 Managing Across Cultures
76-217 Literature & Culture of the 20th and 21st Century
76-221 Books You Should Have Read By Now
76-232 Introduction to African American Literature
76-239 Introduction to Film Studies
76-241 Introduction to Gender Studies
76-386 Language & Culture
79-104 Global Histories
79-145 Genocide and Weapons of Mass Destruction (beginning Fall 21)
79-189 History of Democracy: Thinking Beyond the Self (beginning Fall 21)
79-201 Introduction to Anthropology
79-202 Flesh and Spirit: Early Modern Europe, 1400-1750
79-202 The Other Europes: The Habsburgs, Communism, & Central/Eastern Europe, 1740-1990
79-205 20th & 21st Century Europe
79-208 Witchcraft and Witch-Hunting
79-210 Identity, Nationhood, and State
79-211 Modern Southeast Asia: Colonialism, Capitalism, and Cultural Exchange
79-214 Paris in Revolt: History, Literature, and Film
79-216 Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
79-217 The War in Vietnam
79-219 Modern Cuba: A Travel Guide for Millennials, 1898 to the Present
79-220 Screening Mexico: Mexican Cinema, 1898 to Present
79-222 Between Revolutions: The Development of Modern Latin America
79-222 China and the Second World War
79-223 Mexico: From the Aztec Empire to the Drug War
79-227 Modern Africa: The Slave Trade to the End of Apartheid
79-229 Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1880-1948
79-230 Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1948
79-231 American Civil Rights Movement: From Garveyism to Black Power
79-232 Arabian Peninsula Environmental History
79-233 The United States and the Middle East since 1945
79-234 Technology and Society
79-235 Caribbean Cultures
79-240 Development of American Culture
79-241 African American History: Africa to the Civil War
79-242 African American History: Reconstruction to the Present
79-244 Women in American History
79-245 Capitalism and Individualism in American Culture
79-250 Voting Rights: An Unexpected History
79-255 Irish History
79-257 Germany and the Second World War
79-261 The Last Emperors: Chinese History and Society, 1600-1900
79-262 Modern China: From the Birth of Mao ... to Now
79-263 Mao and the Chinese Cultural Revolution
79-264 Tibet and China: History and Propaganda
79-265 Russian History: From the First to the Last Tsar
79-266 Russian History: From Communism to Capitalism
79-267 The Soviet Union in World War II: Military, Political, and Social History
79-275 Introduction to Global Studies
79-280 Coffee and Capitalism
79-283 Hungry World: Food and Famine in Global Perspective
79-284 Modern War: Geopolitical Conflict in Historical Perspective
79-307 Religion and Politics in the Middle East
79-328 Photographers and Photography Since World War II
79-343 Education, Democracy, and Civil Rights
79-345 Roots of Rock & Roll
79-349 The Holocaust in Historical Perspective
79-350 Early Christianity
79-358 Nazi Ghettos: From Spatial Segregation to Killing Zones
79-375 Science & Religion
79-377 Food, Culture, and Power: A History of Eating
80-100 Introduction to Philosophy
80-101 Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society
80-250 Ancient Philosophy
80-251 Modern Philosophy
80-253 Continental Philosophy
80-254 Analytic Philosophy
80-255 Pragmatism
80-276 Philosophy of Religion
82-xxx Any course from Modern Languages
84-380 Grand Strategy in the United States
85-350 Psychology of Prejudice
85-352 Evolutionary Psychology
99-3xx Any of the "Country Today" courses
D. Nontechnical Elective Requirements
To fulfill this requirement, students must complete a minimum of four nontechnical courses totaling at least 36 units. These courses should be from the College of Fine Arts, the Tepper School of Business and/or Dietrich College. Lists of exceptions can be found in the links below. A maximum of 18 units may be fulfilled with AP, IB, and Cambridge credit.
- Additions: a non-comprehensive list of courses that do satisfy the Nontechnical Elective Requirements.
- Deletions: a non-comprehensive list of courses that do NOT satisfy the Nontechnical Elective Requirements.
Certain courses offered in academic units other than CFA, DC and Tepper are considered non-technical and may be taken to fulfill Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business Course Requirements. The following courses may be used to satisfy those requirements. Again, this list is not presumed to be exhaustive. Students who would like to petition to add a course to the list can contact Dr. Hovis.
Computer Science
05-392 Interaction Design Overview
15-221 Technical Communication for Computer Scientists
MCS Interdisciplinary
38-132 DC Grand Challenge First-Year Seminar: Health in Unhealthy Times
Public Policy & Management
90-717 Writing for Public Policy
90-718 Strategic Presentation Skills
90-733 Urban Development
90-765 Cities, Technology and the Environment
90-767 Welfare Policy
90-778 Media and Public Policy Making
90-810 Population and Policy
90-818 Health Care Quality & Performance Improvement
90-828 Energy, Climate Change, and Economic Growth in the 21st Century
90-847 Grand Corruption and Rule of Law
Carnegie Mellon University-Wide Studies
99-241 Revolutions of Circularity
99-421 Faces of Wo/Men
The intent of the Nontechnical Breadth Requirements is to provide breadth in background and exposure to non-technical areas. For this reason, certain technical courses from these colleges are excluded. These courses are listed below, though this list is not presumed to be exhaustive. New courses will undoubtedly be offered which are not currently listed. Students who have concerns about whether or not a course can fulfill the requirement can contact Dr. Hovis.
The following courses are considered to be technical courses and may not be used to fulfill the Nontechnical Breadth Requirement:
Statistics
36-011 AP Statistics
36-200 Reasoning with Data
36-201 Statistical Reasoning and Practice
36-202 Statistics & Data Science Methods
36-207 Probability and Statistics for Business Applications
36-208 Regression Analysis
36-217 Probability Theory and Random Processes
36-225 Introduction to Probability Theory
36-226 Introduction to Statistical Inference
36-247 Statistics for Lab Sciences
36-295 Independent Study
36-303 Sampling, Survey and Society
36-309 Experimental Design for Behavioral & Social Sciences
36-315 Statistical Graphics and Visualization
36-401 Modern Regression
36-402 Advanced Methods Data Mining
36-410 Introduction to Probability Modeling
36-461 Special Topics in Statistics
36-462 Special Topics in Statistics
36-625 Probability and Mathematical Statistics I
MCS Interdisciplinary
38-012 AP Environmental Science
Architecture
48-215 Materials and Assembly
48-217 Structures
48-315 Environment I: Climate & Energy
48-400 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio I
48-410 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio II
48-412 Environment II: Mechanical Systems
48-500 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio III
48-510 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio IV
48-752 Zero Energy Housing
Design
51-341 How Things Are Made
51-401 Senior Design Lab
Art
60-223 IDeATe Portal: Introduction to Physical Computing
College of Fine Arts
62-150 IDeATe Portal: Introduction to Media Synthesis and Analysis
Business Administration
70-110 Business Computing
70-122 Introduction to Accounting
70-207 Probability and Statistics for Business Applications
70-208 Regression Analysis
70-371 Operations Management
70-391 Finance
70-428 Financial Statement Analysis
70-451 Management Information Systems
70-453 Business Technology for Consulting
70-460 Mathematical Models for Consulting
70-461 Real Time Decisions with Resource Planning Systems
70-465 Technology Strategy
70-471 Supply Chain Management
70-492 Investment Analysis
70-495 Corporate Finance
70-497 Derivative Securities
Economics
73-252 Advanced Microeconomic Theory
73-253 Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
73-265 Economics and Data Science
73-372 International Money and Finance
Philosophy
80-110 Nature Mathematical Reasoning
80-210 Logic and Proofs
80-211 Logic and Mathematical Inquiry
80-223 Causality and Probability
80-305 Choices, Decisions, and Games
80-310 Formal Logic
80-311 Undecidability and Incompleteness
80-314 Causal Discovery, Statistics, and Machine Learning
80-315 Modal Logic
80-316 Causation Probability & AI
80-317 Introduction to Ramsey Theory
80-405 Game Theory
80-411 Proof Theory
80-413 Category Theory
80-511 Thesis Seminar
80-513 Seminar of Philosophy of Mathematics
80-514 Categorical Logic
80-516 Causality and Learning
Psychology
85-111 Self-Paced Lisp Lab
85-213 Human Information Processing and Artificial Intelligence
85-219 Biological Foundations of Behavior
85-310 Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
Social & Decision Sciences
88-198 Research Training: Social and Decision Sciences
88-223 Decision Analysis
88-251 Empirical Research Methods