The requirements listed below pertain to all students matriculating in August 2025 and January 2026.

All of the following sections are required to be completed to graduate.

Overall Credits Required (120 credits)

  • Total: 120 credits
  • Human Ecology: 45 credits (courses from DEA, FSAD, HD, NS, PUBPOL at any level or HE at the 3000/4000 level)
  • Human Ecology, outside the major: 11 credits (from DEA, HD, NS, PUBPOL at any level or HE above 1500 level). 

1. Fashion Design Core Courses (36 credits)

Take all of the following:

  • FSAD 1140  Principles of Design Computing  
  • FSAD 1250  Fashion, Art & Design Thinking  
  • FSAD 1350  Fibers, Fabrics, and Finishes
  • FSAD 1360  Fiber and Yarn Analysis Laboratory  
  • FSAD 1450  Introduction to Fashion Design  
  • FSAD 2310  Fashion Product Management  
  • FSAD 2370  Structural Fabric Design
  • FSAD 2660  Activewear Design & Product Development
  • FSAD 3200  Global Textile and Apparel Sustainability
  • FSAD 3320  Product Quality Assessment  
  • FSAD 4440 Global Fashion Management  
  • FSAD 4660  Textiles, Apparel, and Innovation (seniors only) 

2. FSAD Additional Courses (12 credits)

Choose any four additional FSAD courses, two courses must be at the 4000 or 6000 level.  

FSAD Special Studies including: FSAD 4000, 4010, 4020, 4030, 4990 cannot count here. 

3. Introduction to Management (3 credits)

Choose one of the following:

  • AEM 1200  Introduction to Business Management
  • HADM 1810  Introduction to Management
  • ILRID 1700  Introduction to Organizations and Management 

4. Business Practice (3 credits)

Choose one of the following:

  • FSAD 3330  Retail Buying and Merchandising  
  • AEM 2011  Spreadsheet Modeling 

5. Marketing (3 credits)

Choose one of the following:

  • AEM 2400  Marketing
  • HADM 2410  Marketing Principles 

6. Communication (3+ credits) 

Take one COMM course or foreign language. 

COMM 4970, 4980, and 4990 cannot count here.

7. Business Strategy (3-4 credits)

  • AEM 3110  Design and Innovation
  • AEM 3121  Branding & Brand Management
  • AEM 3249  Entrepreneurial Marketing and Strategy  
  • AEM 4080  Innovation and New Product Management  
  • ILRHR 4640  Business Strategy
  • ILROB 4260  Managing for Creativity 

8. Accounting (3 credits)

  • AEM 2210  Financial Accounting
  • HADM 2230  Financial Accounting Principles
  • NBA 5530  Accounting and Financial Decision Making
  • NCC 5500  Financial Accounting 

9. CHE Core Curriculum (5 credits)

Students must complete all three courses in their first three semesters:

  • HE 1800 Blazing Your Trail in Human Ecology
  • HE 1850 Introduction to Human Ecology
  • HE 2000 Social Justice, Thriving, and the Human Experience

10. First-Year Writing Seminars (6 credits)

The two required first-year writing seminar courses must be completed during the first two semesters at Cornell.

11. Psychology (3 credits)

Choose one of the following courses:

  • HD 1120 People in Perspective: Brain, Mind, and Society
  • HD 1130 Introduction to Human Development
  • PSYCH 1101 Introduction to Psychology 

12. Social Science (3 credits)

Choose one 3 credit course from Anthropology, Sociology or Global Development 

13. Introductory Economics (3 credits)

  • ECON 1110 Introductory Microeconomics

14. Humanities (3-4 credits) 

Choose one art history course. 

15. Quantitative Analysis (3-4 credits)

Choose one of the following:

  • PUBPOL 2100 Introduction to Statistics  
  • AEM 2100 Introductory Statistics and Data Science  
  • ILRST/STSCI 2100 Introductory Statistics
  • MATH 1710 Statistical Theory and Application in the Real World 

Must be taken at Cornell. AP Statistics is not accepted.

16. Data Analysis (3-4 credits)

Choose one of the following:

  • AEM 2820 Introduction to Database Management Systems
  • AEM 2831 Excel VBA Programming for Non-Dyson
  • AEM 2841 Python Programming for Data Analysis & Business Modeling for Non-Dyson  
  • AEM 2850 R Programming for Business Analytics and Data Visualization
  • AEM 3030 Explorations in Analytic Modeling AND AEM 4435 Data Driven Marketing  
  • AEM 4410 Marketing Research
  • HD 2930 Introduction to Data Science for Social Scientists  
  • INFO 2950 Introduction to Data Science
  • INFO 2951 Introduction to Data Science with R
  • PUBPOL 2070 Big Data for Big Policy Problems  
  • SOC 3740 Analyzing Complex Data Structures: Network, Spatial, Multilevel, and Text Data
  • STSCI 1380 Data Science for All 

17. Natural Science I (3-4 credits)

Biology 

  • BIOG 1140, 1440 or 1445, BIOMG 1350, BIOEE 1610, or AP Biology score of 5

Chemistry

  • CHEM 1560 or 2070, 2080, or AP Chemistry score of 5

Physics

  • PHYS 1101 or 2207, 1102 or 2208, or AP Physics score of 5
     

If AP isn’t used to satisfy the requirement, then the course must be taken at Cornell. No lab is required.

18. Natural Science II (3-4 credits)

Choose any 3-credit course with a PBS, BIO-AS, PHS-AS, BIOLS-AG, or BIONLS-AG Course Distribution.

No AP credit allowed. Course must be taken at Cornell.

19. Ethics (3-4 credits)

Choose from one of the following:

  • AEM 3205 Ethics in Business and Organizations
  • BSOC 2061 / STS 20161 / PHIL 2960 Ethics and the Environment  
  • COMM 4300 Ethics in New Media, Technology, and Communication  
  • CRP 3011 Ethics, Development, and Globalization
  • DEA 4220 Ecological Literacy and Design
  • GDEV 3240 Environmental Sociology
  • FSAD 4021 Apparel and Textiles in Developing Nations I  
  • DEA/FSAD 4025 Design for Change: Imagining Decolonial Futures  
  • DEA/FSAD 4800 Ethical Design: Engine of Positive Change
  • ILROB 4760 Morality at Work
  • INFO 1200 Information Ethics, Law, and Policy
  • INFO 4270 Ethics & Policy in Data Science
  • NTRES 3320 Introduction to Ethics and Environment 

20. Electives (Variable)

Any courses that are not taken in areas 1-19 above count as electives.

21. Physical Education Requirement (2 courses)

Physical Education must be completed in order to graduate. However, physical education does not count toward college and university minimum credit requirements for full-time status, nor does it count towards the 120 credits required for graduation.

22. Swim Test Requirement

A successful swim test must be completed in order to graduate.

 

College Policies 

TOTAL CREDITS TO GRADUATE = 120  

• Students must complete 120 credits toward graduation.  

• A maximum of 15 credits of AP credit and in absentia credit can count towards the 120 total credits.  

• A maximum of 15 credits of Study Abroad/Exchange, Cornell-In-Washington or Capital Semester can count towards total electives.  

45 HE credits:

Courses from: DEA, FSAD, HD, NS, PUBPOL at any level or HE above 1500 level 

• Students must complete a minimum of 45 Human Ecology credits.  

• HE non-departmental courses at the 1500-level and below do not count toward the 45 HE credits.  

• Students must enroll in a minimum of one 3-credit course each semester in HE for their first four semesters, excluding winter and summer sessions.  

11 credits HE credits outside the major:   

Courses must be from DEA, FSAD, HD, PUBPOL at any level or HE above 1500 level.  

•   Students must complete a minimum of 11 HE credits outside of the Division of Nutritional Sciences (DNS). All DNS courses are listed under the course code “NS”.   

•   FWS, HE non-departmental courses below the 1500 level, Statistics and Research Methods courses (PUBPOL 2100, PUBPOL 3120, DEA 3550, or  
HD 2830), Special Studies (4000, 4010, 4020), and teaching assistantships (4030) do not count toward this requirement. 

•  These can be taken S/U only if course is NOT used to fulfill a curriculum requirement [Areas 1-18 on the following pages].  
 

HUMAN ECOLOGY CORE COURSES: Within these required 11 credits listed above, 5 credits will come from the following courses.   

  • HE 1800 Blazing Your Trail (1 credit) 
    Required in the first fall semester of matriculation to HE (first-year students only)
  • HE 1850 Introduction to Human (1 credit) 
    Required in the first spring semester of matriculation to HE Human Ecology (first-year, internal & external transfers)
  • HE 2000 Social Justice, Thriving, and the Human Experience (3 credits)  (updated course name effective Fall 2025)
    First-Year students will complete HE 2000 in their third semester.  
    Internal and external transfer students must complete HE 2000 in their first fall in Human Ecology.  

Pass/Fail Courses (S/U)

  • S/U grading option may not be used for any required course unless it is the only grade option offered for that course.
  • S/U may be used for the 9 HE credits outside the major and for electives.
  • Students may apply no more than 12 credits of S/U toward graduation requirements. If a required course is only offered S/U, it will not count toward this limit. Students may take more S/U courses if they choose, but the additional credit will not be applied toward graduation.
  • The deadline for changing grade options is the 57th calendar day of the semester, the same as the “drop” deadline. 

Special Study Courses (4000, 4010, 4020, 4030)

  • A maximum of 12 credits of special study course work from Human Ecology or other colleges will count toward the 120 overall credits. Courses will be indicated on the class roster with a Component of either IND or RSC. (Additional credits can be taken but will not be applied.)
  • A maximum of 12 credits of 4000-4030 may count toward the 43 HE credit requirement.
  • A maximum of 3 credits of 4000-4020 (not including 4030) may count toward the 9 credits outside the major requirement as long as the special study is in a department outside the student’s major.
  • Students cannot TA (4030) the same course for credit more than once or take and TA the same course simultaneously. 4030 does not fulfill any requirements toward the major. Registration for 4030 may not exceed 5 credit hours per semester. 
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