Our students learn to pair critical thinking with technical expertise. They develop ethical awareness alongside a pragmatic understanding of real-world constraints and challenges, enabling them to meaningfully impact the issues that most matter to them. An education in H&S provides students with opportunities to engage directly with their communities. Students regularly travel to conferences to present their research; they engage in specialized creative workshops; they assist local organizations in problem-solving; and they meet alumni in their industries.
The H&S Experiential Learning Promise
H&S is proudly the liberal arts home of Ithaca College—serving every student, no matter their major. We are a vibrant community of 160+ faculty, offering nearly 800 courses across 35 diverse majors. Our academic programs span the arts, humanities, social
The Reach of H&S Donor Support
The liberal arts equip students with the transferable skills and civic imagination to thrive in an uncertain world and to craft fulfilling, sustainable, and purposeful lives.
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The H&S Summer Scholars Program is a signature experiential learning program that offers 35+ students the opportunity to spend the summer in Ithaca pursuing self-designed projects under the mentorship of a faculty member. It is partly supported by the H&S Science Research Fund.
Whether in the lab, the field, or a studio, students gain professional experience while developing skills they will carry forward into careers, graduate school, and beyond. The challenges we face today (and those our students are tasked with addressing) require cross-disciplinary conversations and collaboration. This program brings together student scholars and faculty across disciplines in ways that fully complement our strategic plan's objective of facilitating interdisciplinary activities.
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With a heartfelt thanks to our donors, each year we support many H&S students as they pursue research and professional development beyond IC’s borders. In academic year 2025-2026, H&S sponsored 70+ students who traveled to conferences, presented their work, engaged in on-site research activities, or engaged in a workshop. These initiatives were largely supported through our annual fund. It is our faculty who coordinate these experiential learning opportunities for students, and it is donor generosity that helps to make them possible.
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Both our annual and our endowed funds help to ensure that our faculty have the necessary tools to contribute meaningfully to their disciplines and to ensure that their instruction is cutting-edge, whether we are revamping our graphic design or architectural studios or acquiring new scientific instrumentation
These funds also ensure that faculty can attend conferences in their disciplinary areas and travel to far-away research sites, keeping them at the forefront of their fields and enabling them to bring new knowledge back to their classrooms.
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Ithaca College now offers foundational summer courses to first year students, many of which involve the liberal arts. The Summer College for High School Students, established over a decade ago at the all-college level, significantly involves liberal arts faculty and courses. In 2025, the Computer Science department launched a Tech Innovation Summer Academy (TISA) for high school students interested in computing, an initiative made possible through a generous gift.
Additionally, funds like the Heinz and Judith Koch Fund support scientific instrumentation in our STEM fields.
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Endowed scholarships are donor-funded financial awards designed to support students year after year. Awards, like the Bill and Donna Bergmark Endowed Scholarship, sustain a spark in students that reveals itself in the passion and rigor they bring to their studies, the relationships they build with faculty, and the discoveries they make that they can claim as their own.
Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference
With the help of the H&S Annual Fund, five undergraduate students across history, religious studies, and sociology presented their research at the Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference at Lycoming College, and the students returned victorious, with one student having won the prize for the best paper on a historical topic for her look at gender in the religious right, and another student whose research paper received a public call-out from the keynote speaker during his talk on indigenous ethics.
Research at Vieques National Wildlife Refuge
With the help of the H&S Annual Fund, Professors Susan Swensen and Cynthia Becker (Biology) led a trip of 8 students researching evolution and marine biology to Puerto Rico to disseminate research and develop new coral reef research programs. Students presented their findings at the Vieques National Wildlife Refuge, and they presented their research here at home at the Whalen Symposium, on April 7th at IC.
Sociology Students Attend Organizers Workshop
With the help of the H&S Annual Fund, 11 sociology students took part in a specialized workshop on social justice organizing led by the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at the Alex Haley Farm outside of Knoxville, Tennessee.The Kairos Center is a national organization that works to build a movement to end poverty, led by the poor. This workshop invited youth leaders to learn from mentors from around the country who specialize in work with healthcare, housing, prison abolition, LGBTQIA2S+ rights, immigrant rights and religious struggles, among other intersecting issues. Participants returned to campus energized, and they presented about their experiences, focusing on how young people can get involved in social change.
Experiential Learning Events in H&S
Student Voices: On Presenting at Conferences and Attending Workshops
Jude Graham attended the North American Hand Papermakers Conference: "I'm incredibly thankful for these wonderful opportunities I've had as a student here at Ithaca, and it's helped shape my experience as a growing artist. This trip in particular has been extremely transformative to my final year as a senior in Ithaca, as well as my experience as an artist being alongside Pat and Julianne. It was an amazing experience to see the possibilities of this craft, see and meet some of the most influential people in the paper making world, and meet new people in the art community."
Connect With Our Advancement Office
Ithaca College
Division of Advancement
953 Danby Road, Ithaca, NY 14850-7000
The School of Humanities & Sciences is proudly the liberal arts home of Ithaca College—serving every student, no matter their major. We are a vibrant community of more than 160 faculty, offering nearly 1000 courses across 35 diverse majors. Our programs span the arts, humanities, social sciences, and STEM. Each has a responsibility to prepare all students at IC to address the changing demands of our dynamic and turbulent world. Learn how you can help us advance our mission and promote experiential learning by support the H&S Ann