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Curriculum Requirements
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The BIS degree requires a minimum of 120 semester hours.
Core education requirements:
A. Writing and research
6 credit hours: UNIV 111, 112 Focused Inquiry I, II – This two-semester sequence is required of all first-year students and provides the foundation of the Core Education Program. Students begin their Core shared experiences through the summer reading program with follow-through in the FI sequence as they engage in similar assignments and projects both in and out of class.
3 credit hours: A research and academic writing course that emphasizes academic argument, information retrieval, analysis and documentation. ENGL 200 may be used to fill this requirement or an equivalent course designed by the department/school.
B. Quantitative literacy
3 credit hours: a quantitative literacy course from following list of approved courses
| MATH 131 |
Introduction to Contemporary Mathematics |
| MATH 141 |
Algebra with Applications |
| MATH 151 |
Pre-calculus Mathematics |
| MATH 200 |
Calculus with Analytic Geometry |
| MGMT 171 |
Mathematical Applications for Business |
| STAT 208 |
Statistical Thinking |
C. Core general education
9 credits: Including one course from each of the following areas:
1. Natural/physical sciences
|
|
| BIOL 101 | Biological Concepts |
| BIOL/ENVS 103 | Environmental Science |
| CHEM 110 | Chemistry and Society |
| ENVS 201 | Earth System Science |
| FRSC 202 | Crime and Science |
| INSC 201 | Energy! |
| PHYS 103 | Elementary Astronomy |
2. Humanities/fine arts
|
|
| ENGL 215 | Readings in Literature |
| HIST 201 | The Art of Historical Detection |
| HUMS 250 | Reading Film |
| MASC/INTL 151 | Global Communication |
| PHIL 201 | Critical Thinking |
| PHIL 250 | Thinking About Thinking |
| RELS 108 | Human Spirituality |
| WRLD/INTL 203 | Cultural Texts and Contexts |
| WRLD 230 | Introduction to World Cinema |
3. Social/behavioral sciences
|
|
| ANTH/INTL 103 | Cultural Anthropology |
ECON 101/
INTL 102 | Introduction to Political Economy |
| INTL 101 | Human Societies and Globalization |
| HUMS 300 | Great Questions of the Social Sciences |
| POLI 103 | U. S. Government |
| POLI/INTL 105 | International Relations |
| PSYC 101 | Introduction to Psychology |
| SOCY 101 | General Sociology |
| WMNS 201 | Introduction to Women’s Studies |
D. Additional general education requirements
9 credit hours: Select at least 3 courses offered by the College of Humanities and Sciences that are not required in your focus area.
E. Capstone course
3 credit hours: This requirement may be fulfilled through a service-learning project, a research project with a faculty member, a study abroad program, a senior thesis paper or a practical internship. This requirement ties learned experience in the Core Education Program with a practical application and will be completed through an upper-level course in the student’s focus area. Students may use the capstone in either of their minor areas or they can propose a unique capstone appropriate for their focus area.
Focus area
The individually designed interdisciplinary focus area requires a minimum of 36 semester credits, 24 of which must be upper-level credit. The focus area has to combine at least two areas of study. One way to accomplish this is to complete the requirement for two minors as designated in the Undergraduate Bulletin.
Electives
Maximum of 57 credits
Other requirements
The curriculum plan must also meet the following university policies and degree requirements:
- No more than 63 semester hours may be from two-year colleges (e.g., junior or community colleges).
- No more than 30 semester hours in applied science credit from a transfer institution in a nontraditional area (e.g., early childhood education, horticulture, hotel and restaurant management) can be used toward the degree, and it must be transferred as part of the focus area.
- B.I.S majors are required to participate in assessment activities as determined by the director (e.g., focus groups and exit surveys). Assessment information is used to assist faculty in evaluating program effectiveness.
Students have a variety of credit options, including CLEP examinations, credit for formal military training and credits for certain professional certifications when they do not duplicate college course work.
