Decision Science
DESC- Decision Science Courses
Faculty
Anya Butt, Anna Christensen, Russ Goodman, Erik Insko, Keith Jones, Mark Thomas, Katelin Valster
Statement of philosophy
Effective decision-making is essential for personal success, leadership, and civic engagement. Decision Science is an interdisciplinary field focused on understanding, improving, and implementing decision-making by individuals, groups, and organizations in order to achieve solutions that are informed, transparent, and defensible. This field includes investigating how decision-makers define, accept, and solve problems, along with how they learn from the results of their actions. The field incorporates domain-specific concepts along with specific ideas from areas such as ethics, data analysis, risk assessment, critical thinking, and communication skills. The Decision Science minor at Central College provides a strong foundation in decision theory, data literacy, problem-solving, and communication. It integrates key frameworks, cognitive biases, and quantitative tools, encouraging students to apply these principles across disciplines.
Decision Science Minor Requirements (Minimum 19 credits)
- Complete all of the following Decision Science courses: (4 credits)
DESC 110 Introduction to Decision Science (1)
DESC 310 Applied Decision Making (3)
- Complete one of the following courses in data literacy: (3- 4 credits)
DATA 110 Data-driven Decisions (3)
MATH 105 Introduction to Statistics (4)
MATH 215 Applied Statistics (4)
PSYC 335 Fundamentals of Statistics (4)
SOC 248 Statistics for Sociologists (4)
- Complete one of the following courses in ethics of philosophy: (3-4 credits)
COMM 380 Communication Ethics (4)
PHIL 121 Ethics (3)
PHIL 125 Logic (3)
PHIL 345 Environmental Ethics (4)
PHIL 346 Biomedical Ethics (4)
- Complete at least 9 credit hours of interdisciplinary elective courses that address making and communicating quality decisions. Elective courses must be selected in consultation with your advisor and approved ahead of time by a decision science faculty member.
At least 3 credits of these electives must be at or above the 300-level.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the minor, no elective course can count toward both the decision science minor and other major(s)/ minor(s), and they must come from three different disciplines.