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 Requirements

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 along with UN1003 World Cultures lab may be substituted for UN1002. Students with transfer credit for modern language who wish to pursue this option must have a minimum of 6 semester credits in the same language in order to take UN1003.  Students who have taken a modern language placement exam or an AP exam must take the validation course on campus in conjunction with UN1003 plus one additional course in the same modern language.  Students must receive a grade of B or higher in the validation course to receive advanced placement credit.   Students taking modern language courses at Michigan Tech should take UN1003 in conjunction with one of the modern language courses.  Six credits of a modern language and UN1003 meet the requirement for UN1002 plus 3 credits of HASS for a total of 7 credits.

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 UN1001, UN1002, UN2001 and UN2002: Students are permitted to transfer courses from other institutions to satisfy these 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 (Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences) Requirement for students enrolled Fall 2008 and later (15 credits)

Students must take 15 credits from the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Distribution List with the following limitations:

• 6 credit hours must be at the 3000 or 4000 level.
• No more than 3 credits from the HASS Creative Endeavors list may be used to satisfy the HASS Distribution list requirements.
• No more than 3 credits from the HASS Supplemental List may be used to satisfy the HASS Distribution list requirements.

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

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)
• Transfer credit - General Education (2005)