About the College
Our nearly 30 majors in the College of Arts and Sciences prepare graduates for leadership roles in local, national, and global communities. Distinctive about the University of Mary Washington is its emphasis on meeting the learning needs of undergraduates through innovative teaching, personalized advisement, and strong support for undergraduate research and active learning. We are proud of our historic Honor Code, which represents our long term commitment to building a strong community. Our relatively small size insures that every student gains significant attention and mentoring from our award winning faculty. Few colleges of our size offer the range of courses we have, from English to Arabic, computer science to environmental science, and from women’s and gender studies to historic preservation. The College of Arts and Sciences is particularly proud of the investment its faculty has made to undergraduate research.
At Mary Washington, we stress collaborative learning, individual intellectual development, and respect for diverse points of view, because we believe that these activities enable graduates to be effective in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. An undergraduate major in the liberal arts develops for each student critical thinking, clarity of expression, and a breadth of knowledge that provides the firmest foundation for personal fulfillment, professional success, and productive participation in society.
Students engage with many learning communities while in the College of Arts and Sciences: they join with their entering class in courses that build their skills and their sense of opportunity; they develop close ties through their major or majors; and they connect to local and national communities through internships, service learning, and community service. Their broad curricular choices encourage students to explore personal interests, meet diverse groups across campus, or prepare for specific graduate and professional programs, such as law, medicine, business, or social service. At Mary Washington, activities within and beyond the classroom promote the lifelong learning that makes our graduates successful in a wide variety of careers and universally respected by employers.
