The Faculty of Arts and Sciences officially unveiled its 1996-97 guide to courses last week, with a cover that is the first of the decade to prominently feature human subjects.

While the register has been available on the World Wide Web for several months, the published version is, with a few minor exceptions, the final draft of the undergraduate course guide.

The new catalog lists 14 new classes in the Core Curriculum. Eight of these will actually be offered next year, while six have been bracketed for the future.

The only new Science A course to be offered next year will also be the first Core course ever to include major units on engineering, according to McKay Professor of Applied Physics Frans A. Spaepen, the course instructor.

The class, Science A-33: "The Architecture of Condensed Matter," will explore the physics and chemistry of various substances, including liquids, crystalline solids and polymers.

"This course will have something for people of a very different interest," Spaepen said. "It will emphasize the scientific aspect of materials--how they're built--and [also] how they're used in specific industrial applications: airplanes, computers etc."

Spaepen said he co-taught a similar Core course in the past with Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics David R. Nelson, but said the new course will scale back some of the science from the original in order to incorporate the engineering.

He said he expects between 15 and 70 students to enroll.

One new Core course that should draw even more is Historical Study A-17: "Modern Political Ideologies," which is being co-taught by Assistant Professor of Government and of Social Studies Pratap Mehta and Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France Stanley Hoffmann.

Mehta said yesterday that Hoffmann used to co-teach the course with the late Cowles Professor of Government Judith N. Shklar and decided to revive it for the coming year after a four-year hiatus.

He said the course covers major political philosophy concepts in a historical context, with an emphasis on the concrete effects of those ideas on political movements.

The course will feature an updated syllabus with a renewed emphasis on nationalism, Mehta said.

With Shklar and Hoffmann, the course regularly drew more than 250 students, but Mehta said he couldn't guess how many would show up this year.

Reading loads for the course will be heavy--up to 300 pages per week. But the course will provide a good introduction to the time period for potential history, government and social studies concentrators, Mehta said.

A third new Core taught by high-profile professors will be Social Analysis 54: "American Society and Public Policy."

Professor of Government and of Sociology Theda Skocpol, who has advised President Clinton, will teach the course along with Professor of Sociology Mary C. Waters.