Mar 19, 2024  
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]

General Education Requirements for the B.A. and B.S. Degrees (A&S)


General Education Requirements (41-64 credits)


Students in the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree programs are required to fulfill the general education requirements described below.

Note: Students in the English with Certification in Secondary Education, B.A. must follow a restricted version of the General Education Requirements below.

First-Year Seminar

(first year, fall semester)

Foundations of Citizenship

  • One citizenship/community course
  • One diversity course

Exploration and Breadth

  • One mathematics course
  • One arts course
  • Three humanities courses
  • Two social sciences courses
  • Two 4-credit lab sciences courses

Foundational Competencies

  • Two writing courses (first year, spring semester, and second year, fall semester)
  • One information technology literacy course
  • Two writing-intensive courses

Four UIS Courses

  • Four courses from four categories


Learning Beyond the Classroom (LBC)

  • One LBC 400  
  • One career preparation or independent critical thinking activity outside the regular classroom


Career Preparation

  • One career preparation class

First-Year Seminar (3 credits)


The college believes that the successful completion of a First-Year Seminar (FYS) is important for all first-year students. The FYS is designed to instill intellectual passion in first-year students. Students experience small-group interaction and refine the skills associated with discussion and deliberation of ideas and alternative viewpoints.

Foundations of Citizenship


Students must take one course from a list of approved courses in two areas: citizenship/community and diversity. These courses may also be used to fulfill an arts, humanities, or social science distribution requirement. In addition, if approved by the major department, these courses may count toward the major. Those students who are pursuing a double major and students in degree programs requiring 55 or more credits in the major, may use approved UIS courses to fulfill these requirements.

  • Citizenship/Community 0 or 3 credit(s)
  • Diversity 0 or 3 credit(s)

Citizenship/Community


Courses that fulfill the citizenship/community requirement can be found here .

Notes: Citizenship/Community


Students majoring in a program requiring 55 or more credits and students pursuing a double major may select one of the following UIS courses to fulfill the college’s citizenship/community requirement:

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ)


Any course offered by the College of Arts and Sciences that is designated by a “D” following the course number fulfills the DEIJ requirement. Courses that fulfill the diversity requirement can be found here . (NOTE: UIS courses do not satisfy the requirement except in the exceptional circumstances noted below.)

Note(s): Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ)


Students majoring in a program with 55 or more credits required for the degree and students pursuing a double major may select any UIS diversity course (designated by a “D” after the course number) to fulfill the college’s diversity requirement.

Exploration and Breadth


Mathematics (0 or 3 credits)


The college believes that students must demonstrate basic college-level mathematics skills by successfully completing any mathematics course (except M 118   and  M 119 ) taught by the A&S mathematics department.

Arts* (3 credits)


Select

  • one course from art history, music, cinema, or drama.

Humanities* (9 credits)


Select

  • three courses from three different disciplines from the following list: literature, foreign language, history, philosophy.

Laboratory Science (4 or 8 credits)


  • Two 4-credit laboratory courses from biology, chemistry, physics, or SCI.
  • One laboratory course may be a 4-credit, college-approved UIST course. (NOTE: UIST 150  cannot be counted as a laboratory course.)

Social Science (6 credits)


Non–Social Science Majors:

Select

  • two courses from two different disciplines from the following list: economics, politics, psychology, sociology.
Social Science Majors:

Select

  • two courses from outside the major
  • two different disciplines from the following list: economics, politics, psychology, sociology.

Note(s):


*Students who are pursuing a double major and students in degree programs requiring 55 or more credits in the major may use an UIS course to fulfill one requirement among the arts and humanities within the exploration and breadth category.

Foundational Competencies


Writing Courses (0 or 3 or 6 credits)


Additional Information:

Some students may qualify to waive required writing courses based on their SAT, ACT, or AP Language and Composition scores.  Please see the First- and Second-Year Writing Program for more information.

Writing-Intensive Courses (0 or 3 credits)


In addition to  WRT 110W  and WRT 210W , students must take two writing-intensive courses, one of which must be taken in the major. Writing-intensive courses are indicated by a W following a course code (e.g., CMM 250W ).

A writing-intensive course is one in which students do some writing for most class meetings, in addition to the writing they do for examinations and term projects. The nature of the writing varies from course to course; it may include journals, laboratory reports, short essays, or substantial research projects. Besides covering the usual content, a writing-intensive course devotes class time to the writing process: planning, drafting, revising, or editing. While each discipline has its own research methods and distinctive scholarly style, writing-intensive courses stress the common denominators of academic discourse. Writing-intensive courses have met the guidelines approved by the faculty.

University Interdisciplinary Studies (UIS) (12-13 credits)


Students must take one UIS course in each of the UIS areas (UISA, UISC, UISS, and UIST).

Learning Beyond the Classroom (LBC) (0-12 credits)


To enhance career preparation and independent critical thinking skills, undergraduate students in the college will complete a Learning Beyond the Classroom (LBC) experience.

The LBC experience requires that students achieve a minimum of four of the following learning objectives:

Mandatory:

  • Independent learning
  • Higher-order skill development (e.g., research, applied writing, leadership, critical and creative thinking, etc.)
  • Problem solving and resourcefulness

At least one of the following:

  • Professional development (e.g., learning about the world of work, professional behavior etc.)
  • Personal development (e.g., self-awareness, ethical values, resilience, social relationship skills)
  • Developing professional contacts and networking

There are two ways to fulfill the LBC requirement:

  1. Most students fulfill the Learning Beyond the Classroom (LBC) requirement through a pre-approved course involving significant independent learning activities. A list of those courses may be found here .
  2. Students may also satisfy this requirement by choosing an alternative Learning Beyond the Classroom (LBC) option. Those options include:
  • Completing an internship, practicum, student teaching placement, or independent research course that is not on the list of ore-approved courses. Such a course must be under the supervision of a faculty member.
  • Completing a short-term or long-term Study Abroad course of study, signified in the Course Catalog and arranged by the University of Hartford Study Abroad Office.
  • Completing a Teaching Assistantship (e.g., teaching a laboratory section of CH 110 - College Chemistry ).
  • Completing a Service Learning/Civic or Community Engagement project (e.g., substantial involvement in organized activities related to serving the community, such as working to develop and/or advocate for public policy).

Students selecting this second, alternative LBC option must complete the electronic LBC Approval Form from the Dean’s Office before beginning the project, describing in detail the project proposed, explaining how it satisfies the learning objectives listed above, and including the name, title, email address, and phone number of the supervising faculty member. Once that form is submitted to the A&S Dean’s Office (lbc@hartford.edu), the student will be registered for  LBC 400 - Learning Beyond the Classroom  so that they receive credit for the LBC experience. NOTE: Students will also be expected to complete and submit a midterm progress report and a final summary of the Learning Beyond the Classroom experience, both signed by the approved supervising faculty member.