General Education

General Education Curriculum

The General Education curriculum consists of the following requirements:

• Four core courses (13 credits)
• Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS)/Distribution requirement (15 credits)
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) requirement (16 credits)
• Cocurricular activities (3 semester units, typically 6 half-credit classes)

General Education Advising

General Education requirements are not normally waived, substituted, or modified. Advisors may submit such requests if students have received incorrect advice. Requests are reviewed on an individual basis by Helene Hiner or Brad Baltensperger for the General Education Executive Committee.

Core Courses (13 credits) The core courses are designed to promote active engagement in learning, coherence within the curriculum, integration within and across disciplines, strong communication abilities, and development of university-level habits of mind.

Perspectives on Inquiry (UN1001) – 3 credits. This first-year seminar course is required during each student's first year at Michigan Tech. Most sections are taught in fall semester, including special sections for Honors students. The few sections during spring semester are open to transfer students, newly-arrived students, and a select number of other first-year students.

World Cultures (UN1002) – 4 credits. This required course is taught primarily during spring semester in large lecture sections.

Modern Language Option for World Cultures (UN1002)
Two semesters of a modern language taken at Michigan Tech along with UN 1003 World Cultures lab may be substituted for UN1002. UN1003 is only taken by students concurrently enrolled in modern language. Students may begin their two semesters of modern language in the fall or spring semesters of their first year. Students with transfer or AP language credit, or who plan to study abroad, should see the humanities department modern language director for advice. The two semesters of language and UN1003 meet the requirement for UN1002 plus 3 credits of Distribution/HASS for a total of 7 credits.

Transfer credit for UN1001 and UN1002: Two core courses, UN1001 Perspectives on Inquiry and UN1002 World Cultures, may not be taken off-campus once a student is enrolled at Michigan Tech. There are acceptable transfer courses for incoming transfer students (not yet enrolled at Michigan Tech) for these courses.

Composition (formerly Revisions)  (UN2001) – 3 credits. This writing-intensive course is to be taken in the student's second year at Michigan Tech.

Institutions (UN2002) – 3 credits. The course is to be taken in the second year.

Transfer credit for UN2001 and UN2002: Students are permitted to transfer courses from other institutions to satisfy the Composition (formerly Revisions) and Institutions requirements. Students must check with the Michigan Tech Transfer Services Office to find out which courses qualify before a class is taken off-campus.

HASS Requirement for students enrolled Fall 2008 and later (15 credits)

Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences (HAAS) 2008 Fall

HASS Distribution List

Distribution Courses for students enrolled BEFORE fall 2008 (15 credits)

Distribution Requirement (list for students entering before Fall 2008)

Students must take six credits from the World Cultures list and six credits from the Institutions list (see Distribution Courses). The final three credits can come from either list. A number of 2000-level distribution courses, marked with an asterisk, are designated as courses that can be taken during the first year in the same term as Perspectives on Inquiry and/or World Cultures.

Note the following restrictions:

• Some courses are labeled as "activities." A student may apply no more than three credits of approved activities courses to satisfy the distribution requirement
• 9 credit hours must be at the 3000 level or higher.

Transfer Credit for Distribution/HASS

Distribution/HASS courses may be transferred in for credit. It is important that a student check with the Transfer Services, in the Registrar's Office, to inquire what course(s) may be transferred from a specific institution before a class is taken off-campus.

International Study Abroad for Distribution Courses

General Education International transfer credit for study abroad students (students with transfer credit from institutions outside of the US) will be assigned by International Programs and Services (IPS) without regard to specific distribution list requirements. It is understood that IPS will apply non—Michigan Tech courses to distribution based on their being equivalent or congruent with existing general education distribution courses. Michigan Tech courses taken as study-abroad will be applied to distribution list requirements based upon the distribution list the course is on.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Requirement (16 credits)

All Michigan Tech baccalaureate graduates must take a minimum of 16 credits of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or computer science. Check with your department or advisor for major-specific requirements. Some programs specify all 16 credits; others may not. For example, a computer science course may be a requirement for some departments but not others.

Note the following restrictions:

1. At least 12 of those credits must be outside the student's major field.
2. Students must complete 4 credits or more in mathematics. See list (link below).
3. Students must complete one laboratory science course. See list (link below).

For curricula that do not specify mathematics and lab science requirements, students can meet these requirements by taking courses listed here: STEM Courses (Math/Lab Science Requirement)

Cocurricular Requirement (3 units)

Three Cocurricular Activities units are required for graduation. A unit involves the same time commitment as an academic semester credit but is not included in calculation of the GPA or in the overall degree-credit requirement. Repeatable courses may not be repeated for co-curricular general education credit.

As a part of the cocurriculum, titles of activities successfully completed will appear on the student’s transcript with a pass/fail grade. These hours will be included as “earned hours” but will not be included in “GPA hours.”

Enrollment in a cocurricular activity will count toward satisfactory progress for financial aid purposes and toward status as a full-time student. Some cocurricular activities may have lab fees.

Please note that most physical education activities will last for seven and one-half weeks, or one-half semester. A student would need six of these 0.5-semester units to fulfill the 3-semester-unit co-curricular requirement. Some ROTC courses are also approved for co-curricular activity, and a few of these (and a few PE courses) are a full semester in length and count for 1 semester unit. These are identified in the course descriptions list, which is effective fall 2001. These are identified in the course descriptions list, which is available here: Cocurricular Courses

General Education Curriculum Links

General Education Goals www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/prov/GeneralEducation2008/gened.htm

Simplified General Education Transfer Credit Rules
In 2001, transfer credit for General Education was simplified, particularly in the Distribution List area. This first link lists the rules currently in place for transfer credit, and the other links list earlier changes:

• General Education Transfer Credit Codes (Fall 2008)
• General Education Transfer Credit CHANGE (memo, Fall 2007)
• Transfer credit - General Education (2005)
• Transfer credit - General Education (memo, 2001)