The PCAS Difference
PCAS offers courses that aim to help students develop the computing (especially programming) skills they need to succeed across majors and minors in LSA. We help students as they become computational scientists, artists who use computational media, and scholars who analyze computational systems and their effects — and help to re-design them using a liberal arts lens. The introductory PCAS courses require no mathematical background beyond algebra and no prior computer programming experience.
PCAS will offer two minors starting in Winter 2024, Computing for Expression and Computing for Scientific Discovery, that prepare students to integrate computation into their problem-solving, creative practices, and analytical toolkit. PCAS graduates will be comfortable with programming, will be expert at communicating goals with both designers and developers, and will rise to the challenge of creating technology that furthers social goals.
PCAS statement in support of a just community
The Program in Computing for the Arts and Sciences embraces the University of Michigan’s commitment to an environment that values and respects all people. We appreciate the many perspectives that enrich our campus and seek to extend that influence to communities beyond.
We are dedicated to offering courses that thoughtfully consider the varied social and ethical impacts of computing. We acknowledge that the technology sector in the United States has significant disparities in representation. Decisions around technology have often worsened inequalities rather than addressing them. Our courses place technological decisions within historical contexts to highlight social and ethical considerations.
