Undergraduate Areas of Study

Undergraduate areas of study include all majors, concentrations, teacher licensure programs, minors, and second majors that are available to UNC Greensboro students. Students seeking a baccalaureate degree must select a primary major, and may, after consultation with an advisor, also select a minor or a second major.

Major

A major is a formalized curricular program leading to a degree. A concentration is a formalized curricular sequence established to achieve a specific goal within a major. Each academic unit or department establishes the course requirements for each major program, concentrations within a major, and related area requirements. All program requirements follow the general structure described below.

Major Description

The following information is always included at the beginning of the major listing:

1. Name of major
2. Degree awarded
3. Total credit hours required for the degree
4. Concentrations available (if more than one area of study is available)

Program Admission Requirements

Special program admission and/or continuation requirements, if any, are listed immediately following the description of the major and degree. A number of programs have requirements that must be met before the student can be formally admitted to the major and permitted to take upper-level courses. Such requirements usually involve completion of foundation courses, achievement of a certain GPA, and completion of a specified number of credit hours. Certain programs require portfolio review or audition for admission.

Program Course Requirements

General Education Requirements

All students completing undergraduate degrees at UNC Greensboro are required to complete General Education Requirements. All undergraduate programs follow General Education requirements. Most programs in the College of Arts and Sciences have College Additional Requirements (CIC) in addition to the General Education requirements. General Education requirements, including specific courses specified by the program, are listed prior to the major requirements.

Major Requirements

Major requirements include all courses that must be taken within the major department for completion of the degree. All undergraduate majors require a minimum of 27 credits in the major program of study.

Majors that provide students with more than one concentration or area of study within the major will usually separate the Major Requirements into Core Requirements and Additional Concentration Requirements. Core courses are those courses required of all students in the major, regardless of concentration. Concentration requirements are additional courses required only for a specific concentration.

A program of study taken by a student as a second major, in addition to the student’s primary major, must meet all requirements as stated for that major. For example, a student pursuing English as the primary major who wishes to obtain a second major in French, must meet all the requirements for the English major as well as those for the French major.

Related Area Requirements

A number of majors require courses from other departments or programs for completion of the degree. Such courses are listed as “Related Area” requirements following the major requirements.

Teacher Licensure Requirements

Programs that lead to teacher licensure also list teacher licensure requirements.

Second Academic Concentration Requirements for Teacher Licensure Programs

Several teacher licensure programs require students to complete a second academic concentration in addition to the primary major program. Students in teacher education programs should check with their advisors or with the School of Education Licensure Programs for available second academic concentrations.

Electives

Most programs do not specify which electives a student must take although some may make suggestions. Electives are those courses taken to complete the credits required for the degree after fulfilling General Education requirements and major, related and/or other program requirements.

Minors

A minor is a formalized curricular sequence taken by a student outside his or her major area of study. Programs that can be taken as minors are described following descriptions of the major and second major. A minimum of 15 credit hours in a department is required to complete an area of study as a minor. Several areas of study can be taken only as minors. See individual programs for details.

Special Curriculum Option (Plan II)

For students whose intellectual interests and professional goals span more than one Academic Department, a special curriculum option—called Plan II—allows students to design an individualized interdisciplinary course of study drawing on existing faculty expertise and interest. Plan II programs should reflect the same kind of rigorous intellectual investigation found in UNC Greensboro’s established department based majors. Rigorous intellectual investigation varies by discipline, but typically involves a scaffolded set of courses that build upon each other; some degree of formal theoretical analysis is often, if not universally, desirable.

Developing an individualized program is a time consuming process, often taking one year from initial intent to final approval. Students must file a statement of intent to pursue Plan II with the University Curriculum Committee prior to completing their first 45 institutional credit hours, and submit the full plan for review prior to completing their first 60 institutional credit hours. Students desiring to pursue Plan II should be advised that there is no guarantee that their proposed program will lead to graduation until it has been fully approved.

Required steps have been adopted by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee for approving Plan II programs. The following is an abbreviated description of the procedures that must be followed:

1. Consult with the Student’s First Office regarding established UNC Greensboro majors &/or minors to determine if a program that supports the student’s interdisciplinary goals already exists (Plan II programs that replicate existing programs with minor variations will not be approved).
2. Select a faculty advisor with academic expertise in the primary component of the interdisciplinary major.
3. With the help of the faculty advisor, Select another faculty member with expertise in a different component of the interdisciplinary major, as well as a representative of the Unit Advising representative to serve on an advisory committee.
4. Develop a formal proposal with the advisory committee.
5. Proposal must be reviewed by the lead faculty advisor’s academic unit’s curriculum committee.
6. Proposals are then reviewed by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

Minor modifications to an approved Plan II program may be made if approved by both the faculty advisor and the University Registrar’s Office. Other modifications require the full process outlined.