Departments, Programs, and Courses
The requirements detailed in the sections below are in addition to the regulations and requirements of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences listed in the preceding sections. Students should be familiar with the requirements of the Graduate School and those of their department or program.
Research centers of the Graduate School are described in the section titled Research Centers and Institutes, a subsequent section of this site. Faculty lists reflect the 2008/2009 academic year.
Abbreviations and Symbol
A system of abbreviations and symbols is used in the course listings that appear on this website.
Part of each course number is an alphabetical prefix that indicates the University school, college, or program (first three letters) and the department or division (next two letters) in which the course originates. For example, GRS EN 732 indicates a course in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Department of English. The alphabetical prefixes that appear on this website are explained in the table below.
The course number indicates the course’s level of difficulty. Courses at the 500 and 600 level are open to both undergraduate and graduate students; those listed on this website are approved for MA and PhD credit. Graduate students in these courses are often expected to complete extra work in the form of special projects. Students should consult the course instructor about any special requirements.
| 700–899 | Primarily for graduate students |
| 900–999 | For graduate students only |
An X after a course number indicates that the course is given off campus.
Course descriptions usually offer a brief outline of the content of the course, any prerequisites or corequisites, the instructor, and the semester the course is offered.
The following abbreviations are frequently used:
| prereq | prerequisite |
| coreq | corequisite |
| cr | credits |
| sem | semester |
Not offered means the course is not offered during the current academic year but may be offered in the future. In many cases, these courses are offered every other year.
Offered irregularly means the course will be offered if there is sufficient demand.
Courses carry 4 credits per semester unless specified otherwise.
Abbreviations Used in Course Numbers
| CAS | College of Arts & Sciences (see GRS for department codes) | |
| COM | College of Communication | |
| CM | Mass Communication, Advertising & Public Relations | |
| CO | Communication core course | |
| FT | Film & Television | |
| JO | Journalism | |
| CFA | College of Fine Arts | |
| ENG | College of Engineering | |
| AM | Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering | |
| BE | Biomedical Engineering | |
| EK | Engineering Core Course | |
| SC | Electrical, Computer & Systems Engineering | |
| GRS | Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (department and division abbreviations apply also to CAS) | |
| AA | African American Studies | |
| AH | Art History | |
| AL | Applied Linguistics | |
| AM | American & New England Studies | |
| AN | Anthropology | |
| AR | Archaeological Studies | |
| AS | Astronomy | |
| BF | Bioinformatics | |
| BI | Biology | |
| BS | Biostatistics | |
| CB | Cellular Biophysics | |
| CH | Chemistry | |
| CL | Classical Studies | |
| CN | Cognitive & Neural Systems | |
| CS | Computer Science | |
| EC | Economics | |
| EI | Editorial Studies | |
| EE | Energy & Environmental Sciences | |
| EN | English | |
| ES | Earth Sciences | |
| GE | Geography & Environment | |
| HU | Humanities | |
| HI | History | |
| IR | International Relations | |
| LC, LG, LH, LJ, LK, LL, LR, LT, LY, LZ | Modern Languages & Comparative Literature | |
| LF, LI, LS, LX | Romance Studies | |
| LD | African Languages | |
| LF | French | |
| LG | German | |
| LI | Italian | |
| LL | European Literature | |
| LP | Portuguese | |
| LR | Russian | |
| LS | Spanish | |
| MA | Mathematics | |
| MB | Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & Biochemistry | |
| MF | Mathematical Finance | |
| MU | Music | |
| NE | Neuroscience | |
| NS | Natural Sciences | |
| PH | Philosophy | |
| PO | Political Science | |
| PS | Psychology | |
| PY | Physics | |
| RN | Religion | |
| RS | Religious Studies | |
| SO | Sociology | |
| SS | Social Sciences | |
| US | Urban Studies | |
| GSM | Graduate School of Management | |
| MED | School of Medicine | |
| MET | Metropolitan College (generally uses same department abbreviations as GRS) | |
| UA | Urban Affairs | |
| SAR | College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College | |
| SED | School of Education | |
| SDM | School of Dental Medicine | |
| SPH | School of Public Health | |
| EB | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | |
| STH | School of Theology | |
| TA | Church Music & Arts | |
| TE | Religious Education; Religious Development & Human Learning | |
| TH | Church History & Historical Theology | |
| TN | New Testament | |
| TO | Old Testament | |
| TT | Philosophy of Systematic Theology | |
| TY | Pastoral Psychology; Psychology of Religion | |
| UNI | University Professors Program | |
| XRG | Cross-registration outside the University | |
| BC | Boston College, Geology Program |
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9 January 2009
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