School of Continuing Studies

To earn the Bachelor of General Studies, you must complete a minimum of 120 credit hours distributed across three learning areas: arts and humanities, science and mathematics, and social and behavioral sciences.

• You complete 12 credit hours in each of the three learning areas. The 12 credit hours required in each learning area must include courses from at least two academic departments.
• In addition, you complete an 18 credit hour concentration in one of the three learning areas. The 12 credit hours required in the 18 credit hour concentration must include courses from at least two academic departments. You must earn a minimum grade of C– in the courses you use to fulfill the concentration requirement. You may use passing grades below C–, as well as credits for courses taken on a pass/fail basis, only as elective credit.
• You also complete an additional 66 hours of elective credit - including a minimum of 15 additional credit hours in the arts and sciences. No more than 30 credit hours in any one school or technical program can be applied toward this 66-hour requirement.

The following table summarizes the number of credit hours you are required to earn in each learning area.

Learning Areas

The three learning areas required by the degree program give you broad exposure to the humanities and sciences.

Arts and Humanities
Arts and humanities courses provide knowledge and interpretive frameworks through which you may reflect on the complexity of human history, assess the difficulties of determining moral values, appreciate the range and value of human emotion and thought, and be sensitive to the varieties of aesthetic expression.

Departments that offer courses that fulfill the arts and humanities distribution requirements include

African-American Studies
American Studies 
Classical Studies
Comparative Literature
English
Fine Arts 
Foreign Languages
Folklore
History
History and Philosophy of Science
Musicology and Music History
Philosophy
Religious Studies
Speech
Theatre and Drama

Science and Mathematics
Science and mathematics courses give you an appreciation of the physical and biological environment, introduce the discipline of systematic inquiry, provide insight into experimental methods and results, and illustrate the role and methods of the mathematical sciences.

Departments that offer courses that fulfill the science and mathematics distribution requirements include

Anatomy and Physiology 
Astronomy 
Biology 
Chemistry 
Computer Science 
Geology
Mathematics
Microbiology
Physics
Plant Science
Zoology

Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social and behavioral sciences courses give you the means to analyze and understand the social institutions in which you live, as well as the behavior of individuals as they relate to one another and the world.

Departments that offer courses that fulfill the science and mathematics distribution requirements include

Anthropology 
Criminal Justice
Economics
Geography 
History
Linguistics
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology

Independent Study Courses that Fulfill Distribution Requirements

The following table shows which independent study courses fulfill the course distribution requirements.

Note: Courses listed in area A, area B, and area C may also be taken for elective credit
(area E).