General Degree Requirements
General University and College Requirements for all Baccalaureate Degree Programs Offered in the Department
All departmental degree programs require earning 124 semester credits that include fulfillment of both University and College of Arts and Sciences requirements in addition to the specific requirements of the major. Of these 124 credits, 64 must be completed at the 2000 or higher level and 32 must be completed at the 3000 or 4000 level.
University Core Requirements
- English Composition I & II : ENGL 1110 (3 credits) and one of the following: ENGL 1130-1230 (3 credits). Students in the Honors Program satisfy this requirement with alternative honors readings course. Students must achieve a "C" or better grade in these courses.
- Multicultural Courses: One must involve U.S. culture and the other non-western culture. There are a number of designated courses that satisfy this requirement. Many students take MUS 2220, History of Jazz, which satisfies both the U.S. culture requirement and the fine arts requirement (see below).
- Math and Other Competency Areas: These requirements are met by fulfilling the College and departmental requirements given below. Students must achieve a "C" or better average collectively for these courses.
College of Arts and Sciences Requirements
- Orientation Course: ARS 1000 (1 credit), a one hour orientation course is required for incoming 1st year students. The Department of Earth, Ecological and Environmental Sciences usually teaches a section of ARS 1000 for those incoming students who have declared a major (or expressed an interest) in environmental sciences/studies or geology.
- Writing Intensive Courses: Students must complete two courses designated as writing intensive (WAC-writing across the curriculum). The first WAC designated course is taken after completion of the English Composition requirement and may be taken from any department. The second WAC course is a junior/senior level course required for the major (EEES 3900 for environmental sciences/studies majors; EEES 4610 for geology majors).
- Foreign Language Requirement: Students must complete the course sequence through course 2150 in a single foreign language (Spanish, French, German, Latin or Japanese). For students with little or no High School language background, this usually means a four course sequence: 1110 & 1120 (4 credits each) & 2140 & 2150 (3 credits each). Students who exhibit varying degrees of (high school based) proficiency in a single language may test out of some or all of these courses based on placement tests.
- Humanities Requirement: Includes one History course (3 credits) usually selected from HIST 1010-1120; one Fine Arts course (music, theatre, art, art history), usually 3 credits; one Literature course (3 credits), usually ENGL 2700-2730; and 6 additional credits (2 courses) of any humanities electives so long as no more that 6 total humanities credits are from the same department.
- Social Science Requirement: Requires 9 credits (2 courses) of any humanities electives with no more that 6 credits from the same department.
- Natural Science Requirement: For environmental science/studies or geology majors, this requirement is taken care of within the requirements of the degree programs.
