The curriculum emphasizes a broad and substantial education in astronomy, physics and mathematics. A faculty actively engaged in research provides first-rate instruction and opportunities for undergraduate involvement in research.

A bachelor’s degree in astronomy can prepare students for graduate study in astronomy (about 50% of our graduates take this path), but those who seek employment in other fields can fill the same jobs as physics and computer science majors.The Department of Astronomy oper­ates the Kitt Peak Station of the Warner and Swasey Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, home of the Burrell Schmidt telescope. This telescope is used for surveys and ultra-deep imaging with a large format CCD. The department is also a member of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which operates a 2.5m telescope with multi-object spectrographs and wide-field imager at Apache Point, New Mexico.