Majors & Minors

The minor provides students with the ability to integrate the ecological and cultural dimensions of landscape architecture into their course of study. Studies are about repairing and sustaining natural systems in cities, about the history of human settlements, places, and gardens in urban landscapes, and about the cultural and aesthetic meanings of landscape architecture design. This is an excellent emphasis for students in environmental studies, civil engineering, planning and anthropology. This minor is not available to architecture majors.

Admission Requirements

Students in good academic standing who have completed the freshman year are eligible.

Course Requirements

The minor in landscape architecture consists of three required courses (10 units) and a minimum of 10 units of upper-division courses.

The major in Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Media and Politics underscores the global reach and import of the nations in the Americas, Europe and Africa in which Spanish and Portuguese are spoken. By focusing on the study of language, literature and cinema as well other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, students learn to think critically about the cultural, political, and historical questions involved in the study of Latin American and Iberian societies.

The Latin American Studies minor recognizes the lasting importance of U.S.-Latin American relations. The overriding goal is to encourage students to learn more about Latin America by combining conceptual, area and language studies during their time at USC. The purpose of this 20-unit minor is to deepen students' knowledge of Latin America by offering courses from multiple disciplines within a context of close faculty guidance. The gateway requirement of one 4-unit course provides the student with options in both humanities and the social sciences, and the designated electives are similarly meant to allow students to blend these specialties.

For fulfillment of the requirements for the minor a student must choose four classes outside of his or her major department dedicated exclusively to the minor (which may be the same four classes). After the gateway course, these elective courses must be spread across at least two disciplines and/or departments.

Four courses in Latin, of which one may be LAT 222 and at least three must be at the upper-division level.

One additional upper-division course: either Latin (LAT) or Classics (CLAS).

TOTAL: five courses

The Latinx News Media Minor is designed to give students a grounding in the historical, theoretical, social and cultural landscape of Latino news media. In addition, the course work will expose students to trends in the development of current and evolving content strategy, distribution and news consumption trends. The minor will prepare students to create content for Latinx communities, media organizations, bilingual news outlets and independent distribution.

The minor requires at least 16 units.

The minor in Law and Biopharmaceutical Sciences studies the intersection of pharmaceutical and regulatory science and the legal system through examining contemporary issues related to the oversight, management, production and management of legal content from the perspective of science and pharmacy. 

The minor consists of a minimum of 20 units of course work from USC Gould and USC Mann. At least 16 units must be unique to this minor and do not overlap with the major, another minor or general education requirements.

Only students with a declared major are eligible to apply.

The Law and Migration Studies minor introduces students to the U.S. legal system as it relates to various aspects of immigration law, its impact on our communities and consequences on our society nationally and globally.

The Law and Migration Studies minor totals 20 units; 12 required units and 8 elective units, as detailed below.

The minor in law and public policy draws upon four fields of study: public policy and management, law, economics and political science. It provides students with an understanding of the political and economic contexts in which laws are made as well as how legal institutions shape policy formulation. Students learn to analyze the consequences of policy and alternatives; the roles played by government, business and nonprofit organizations in public decision making; and the legal bases for various areas of public policy.

Students minoring in law and public policy take 20 units, including the gateway class, PPD 225 Public Policy and Management, and one elective. The latter enables the student to focus on a specific area of law.

In the Law and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence minor, students study the effect AI and machine learning has on society and examine how the law is responding to the regulation of artificial intelligence as it becomes more pervasive in everyday life.

The Law and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence minor totals 20 units; 8 required core units, 8 Law elective units, and 4 other elective units from various departments as detailed below.

The Law and Social Justice minor provides foundational knowledge of current legal systems of justice and encourages critical-analysis skills to recognize where and how changes can be made.

The Law and Social Justice minor totals 20 units; 8 required units and 12 elective units, as detailed below.