The Newhouse curriculum is anchored in the liberal arts and sciences. Your courses outside of Communications will help to introduce you to the expanse of knowledge upon which to build your media studies. Not only will you explore the various means to reach different publics in your media studies, but you will become aware of the range of knowledge and emotions, ideas and values which compose effective communication. Because effective communication draws upon a broad base of knowledge, all Newhouse students take a range of liberal arts courses including courses in the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, as well as courses which develop writing skills, quantitative skills and skills in a foreign language.

The Newhouse core curriculum deliberately overlaps with the Liberal Arts Core of the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. Some of the requirement descriptions and rationales presented in the Newhouse Fact Book are taken from the College of Arts and Sciences Liberal Arts Core. The Writing Intensive course list, as well as the divisional lists—Social Sciences, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Humanities— were developed by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Students typically are required to complete 122 credit hours to earn a Bachelor’s degree in communications. No more than 42 credits of these 122 can be taken in Newhouse course work, and no fewer than 61 credits must be taken from courses offered by the College of Arts and Sciences. Therefore, half of your courses will be in the liberal arts and sciences. Your involvement in your major courses in Newhouse will increase as you progress in your education. In addition to your Newhouse major, your skills requirements, and your divisional requirements, you will complete a professional specialization which will include courses to complement and enhance your skills and knowledge of the music business.  These courses will be in the Whitman School of Management and in the College of Visual and Performing Arts as outlined in the Specialization section later in this guide.