Seven existing classes were approved yesterday at the first General Education committee meeting of the year, bringing the total number of courses approved for the new curriculum to 51.

Four of those classes will be welcome additions to the Science of the Physical Universe category, which before yesterday had only one offering.

Science A-43: “Environmental Risks and Disasters,” Earth and Planetary Sciences 5: “Introduction to Environmental Science: Atmosphere, Ocean, and Biosphere,” Earth and Planetary Sciences 109: “Earth Resources and the Environment,” and Earth and Planetary Sciences 133: “Atmospheric Chemistry” will count toward Science of the Physical Universe.

Three other classes, all from the Core, were also approved.

Senior lecturer Deborah D. Foster’s Folklore and Mythology 111: “Embodied Expression/Expressive Body: Dance in Cultural Context” will count toward Culture and Belief.

Philosophy Professor Richard Moran’s Moral Reasoning 56: “Self, Freedom, and Existence” will count toward the Ethical Reasoning requirement.

And Social Analysis 66: “Race, Ethnicity, and Politics in the United States”—taught by Government Professor and Gen Ed committee member Jennifer L. Hochschild—will be the third offering in the United States in the World category.

Despite these new additions, three out of the eight new Gen Ed categories have yet to include newly-developed classes: Empirical and Mathematical Reasoning, Science of the Physical Universe, and the United States in the World.

—Staff writer Bonnie J. Kavoussi can be reached at kavoussi@fas.harvard.edu