The College of Liberal Arts offers three degree programs: the Bachelor of Arts, Plan I; the Bachelor of Arts, Plan II; and the Bachelor of Science in Psychology. A degree titled Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science is currently in the stages of development and, if approved, may be available in Fall 2010.
The requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree include courses in the natural sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, and the humanities. The degree is designed to give each student flexibility in the selection of courses to meet individual goals and interests by allowing non-prescribed electives in virtually every program offered in the college. Students must select a major and, in most cases, a minor, in any of the departments of the College of Liberal Arts. A current list of majors offered through the College of Liberal Arts is available on the Student Affairs website. For more information, see the section on Majors below.
The Plan II Honors Program is designed to provide a broad, liberal, and challenging education for a limited number of students whose high school class standing and admission test scores indicate strong academic potential and motivation. The Plan II Honors Program includes the basic coursework required of Plan I students, but much of this work is done in small sections that are restricted to Plan II students and taught by professors selected for their excellent teaching records. Additional required courses explore the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences and provide considerable opportunity for individual research, writing, and speaking. The remainder of the student’s program is made up of approved electives.
As an alternative to the Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Psychology, the Bachelor of Science in Psychology is designed to offer students a more extensive scientific program that may better prepare them for graduate study or employment in research fields. Students interested in mathematics-based or physiology-based areas of psychology have the opportunity to develop more breadth and depth in the fields that complement their area of interest within psychology. To accomplish this goal, the curriculum for the Bachelor of Science in Psychology puts more emphasis on natural sciences and less on language arts.
The Bachelor of Arts, Plan I, requires the completion of all requirements for one major offered through the college. If the major requires a concentration or specialization, a student may officially complete only one within the major. An example: A major in Asian Cultures and Languages must specialize in either Chinese, Japanese, Hindi/Urdu, Malayalam, or Sanskrit; a student may officially declare only one specialization.
The number of semester hours required in the major varies with the field selected. Unless the requirements of the major state otherwise, a major in Liberal Arts consists of at least twenty-four but no more than forty-two semester hours. Students in most majors must also fulfill the requirements of a minor. The minor consists of a specific number of semester hours of coursework completed outside the student’s major field. The requirements of the minor are established by the major department, but additional restrictions may be imposed by the academic department(s) in which the student takes the minor courses. The same courses may not be used to fulfill the requirements for both a major and a minor.
Students should consult with their academic advisor to determine the course of study best suited to their academic goals and interests.
A current list of majors offered through the College of Liberal Arts is available on the Student Affairs website.
