Majors and Minors

A Description of the Program Course Minors

In May of 2000, the faculty voted to make course minors available to students with certain restrictions as to the number of majors & minors which a student could pursue. Departments, programs, and concentrations were invited (but not required) to develop minors.

Major(s) & Minor(s)

1. A Major is Required. Students are required to have one major.* This is the only requirement. A second major, minors, and Honors are optional.

2. Optional Second Major. Students may have up to two majors; a student with two majors may not have a minor*.

Exception: A student who chooses an Honors major plus minor may have a second major outside of Honors if that second major is the same subject as the Honors minor. This is the only circumstance in which a student may major and minor in the same subject.

3. Optional Minors. Students may have one or two minors*, if they have only one major.

a. A minor may be completed in course or as part of an Honors program.

b. Most departments and programs, though not all, will offer course minors. Those departments or programs which will not offer course minors under the new program are: Comparative Literature, Economics, Political Science, Sociology & Anthropology, and Studio Art. (These departments or programs will continue to offer Honors minors.)

c. "Concentrations" under the old program are now considered to be interdisciplinary minors.

d. A student who chooses an Honors major plus minor may have an additional course minor outside the Honors Program.

4. The Overlap Constraint: Minors will include at least five credits, four of which may not overlap with the student's major or other minor. The overlap rule applies to any two entities taken at one time but not collectively to three entities taken together (it is a pair-wise not a global overlap rule). This means that a student who has a major in Medieval Studies, for example, and minors in English and Women's Studies, must meet the overlap rule in each possible pairing but not in the three taken together. So a course might overlap between Medieval Studies and English and a different course might overlap between Medieval Studies and Women's Studies. There is an optional Overlap Checksheet to help in planning non-overlap.

Exceptions to the overlap rule:

The overlap constraint is not applicable to courses that departmental majors or minors MUST take in other departments; e.g. Mathematics courses required for an Engineering major are not automatically excluded from a minor defined by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

For an Honors major who is also a double major, the overlap constraint does not apply to the relationship between the Honors minor and the second major since these will always be in the same field (see 2a above). Thus an English Honors major who is a History Honors minor and also a History course major as part of a double major is not violating the constraint.

*All majors, minors & concentrations must be approved by the departments or programs.

Sample programs

Major: Biology
Minor: Philosophy

Majors: History, Chemistry

Major: Art History
Minors: French, Women's Studies

Honors Major: Political Science
Honors Minor: Black Studies

Honors Major: Linguistics
Honors Minor: Sociology and Anthropology
Course Minor: Music

Honors Major: English
Honors Minor: History
Course Major: History