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Other Major Modified w/ Human-Centered Design

Any major may be modified with human-centered design, with necessary approvals. A major modified with human-centered design includes three prerequisites, plus a total of six courses selected from Design Foundation, Ethnographic Methods and Psychology, and Design. The modified major should be planned as a unified, coherent whole, and not consist of a series of unrelated courses.

For additional information about majors, courses, and degree requirements:

Guide to Programs & Courses

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Student Testimonials

Students discuss the benefits of adding human-centered design (HCD) to their Dartmouth education.

Human-Centered Design at Dartmouth

HCD is for students who want increased confidence in their ability to think and act creatively through interdisciplinary collaboration, ideation, and prototyping.

Required Courses*

COURSE TYPENUMBER OF REQUIRED COURSESCOURSES
Section 1: 
Design Foundation **		1 courseENGS 12 Design Thinking
Section 2:
Ethnographic Methods and
Human Factors/ Psychology ***		2 courses

Choose 2 courses from the following with one course from outside the student's major department:  

ANTH 3: Intro to Cultural Anthropology
ANTH 18: Intro to Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
ENGS 15.07: Research Methods for Human-Centered Design
GEOG 11: Qualitative Methods and the Research Process in Geography
SOCY 11: Research Methods 
PSYC 22: Learning
PSYC 23: Social Psychology
PSYC 28: Cognitive Psychology
PSYC 38: Cognitive Neuroscience
PSYC 43: Emotion
PSYC 50.02: Decision Making

PSYC 51.11: Thinking
PSYC 53.10: Social and Affective Motivations in Decision-Making
PSYC 53.12: The Behavior of Groups
PSYC 53.13:Social Neuroscience

Section 3: Design Electives ****3 courses

Choose 2 courses from the following:  


ENGS 15.01: Senior Design Challenge I
ENGS 15.02: Senior Design Challenge II

ENGS 15.09: Design Ethics

ENGS 15.11: Design & Education

ENGS 15.12: Design & Entrepreneurship 
ENGS 18: System Dynamics in Policy Design and Analysis
ENGS 19.01: Future of Energy Systems

ENGS 21: Introduction to Engineering
ENGS 44: Sustainable Design
ENGS 75 :Product Design
COSC 23.01: Augmented and Virtual Reality Design
COSC 25.01: UI/UX Design I
COSC 25.02: UI/UX Design II
COSC 28: Advanced Projects in Digital Arts
COSC 29.04/PBS 15: Impact Design

COSC 29.06 Digital Tangible User Interfaces 

COSC 63.01 Augmented and Virtual Reality Development

COSC 67: Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction

COSC 89.34: Human-Centered Generative AI 
FILM 51: Game Design
PBPL 43: Social Entrepreneurship
SART 65: Architecture I
SART 66: Architecture II
SART 68: Architecture III

* Please note that some courses may require prerequisites in addition to those noted. Check with Dartmouth's Undergraduate Registrar for exact requirements. 

** It is recommended that students take ENGS 12 first. 

*** Students majoring in Cognitive Science, Cultural Anthropology, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Sociology may substitute an additional course from "Section 3" in place of a second course from "Section 2". 

**** When possible, it is recommended that students complete the course under "Section 1" and at least one course under "Section 2" before taking courses under "Section 3". 

Course Planning

Due to the potential overlap between the human-centered design courses and existing majors, there is potential for creating a program of study that does not add significant value beyond a straight major. Students wishing to modify their major with HCD should have a proposed plan showing the following:

  1. a strong intellectual rationale
  2. something new and significant that is not possible with the straight major
  3. no significant overlap in courses between the modifier and the primary field of the major

Students should discuss their plans with their major advisor and the HCD minor faculty advisor, Professor Peter Robbie, before they submit their major declaration. Formal proposals for the modified major require approval of both the major department and Professor Vicki May Engineering Sciences Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education.

For additional information about majors, courses, and degree requirements, see:

Guide to Programs and Courses

Questions? For course planning questions, please contact Professor Peter Robbie.