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Undergraduate

Bachelors Requirements

All Liberal Arts undergraduate students must complete at least 120 credit hours that count toward their bachelor’s degree with a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher. In addition, each student must complete the required courses within their major as part of their 120 hours.

All students admitted to the IU School of Liberal Arts after August 1, 2013, must fulfill the requirements described below. Students admitted before that date may elect these requirements by informing their advisor and the Miriam Z. Langsam Office of Student Affairs or may obtain their degree under the requirements in effect at the date they were admitted to IUPUI.

All students must meet three types of requirements: IUPUI General Education Core, baccalaureate competencies, and major requirements.

General Education Requirements
  •  A minimum of 120 credit hours is required for either a B.A. or a B.S. degree in the IU School of Liberal Arts.
  •  A minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 (C) is required for graduation.
  •  A minimum of 40 credit hours must be at the 300-400 level.
  •  A minimum of 26 credit hours must be completed after formal admission to the IUPUI.
  • Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours of their major course work in residence in the appropriate department in the IU School of Liberal Arts. Some departments have more restrictive residency requirements. Students should check with their major advisor.
  • Courses taken using the Pass/Fail option can be applied only as electives, however they may not be used to satisfy any of the major, minor or school distribution requirements. A maximum of eight courses, with no more than two per year, may be taken as Pass/Fail.
  • All candidates for degrees in May and August must file an application for the degree by December 1 of the previous year. All candidates for December degrees must file an application for the degree by September 1 of that year. Candidates for degrees in December, May, or August may participate in the May commencement.
  • Credit hours from the following courses will not count toward the 120 hours needed for graduation: English G009, G010, G011, G012, G013, G015, and W001; Mathematics course lower than M118 (e.g., MATH 00100, 11000; 111000 dependent upon the date completed).
  • Once a course has been applied toward one requirement, it cannot be used to satisfy a second requirement, except where explicitly stated otherwise. In addition, except in cases of variable title courses, internships, and other special courses, no course will be counted more than once toward graduation.

Degree Requirements
The requirements for IU School of Liberal Arts baccalaureate degree programs include the common general education core approved by the faculties of both the IU School of Liberal Arts and the Purdue School of Science at IUPUI, and are a curriculum based on the IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning.

Candidates for the B.A. and B.S. degrees must complete the following requirements:

IUPUI General Education Core

Beginning fall 2013, all beginning first-year students at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) are required complete 30 hours of general education course work (the IUPUI General Education Core) prior to graduation with either an associate degree or a baccalaureate degree. This course work is aligned with the Indiana Statewide Transferable General Education Core competency domains and once completed, will subsequently transfer to another Indiana state educational institution. The IUPUI General Education Core is also based on the IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning, the essential ingredients of an undergraduate educational experience at IUPUI. These principles form a conceptual framework for all students' general education but necessarily permeate the curriculum in the major field of study as well. More specific expectations for IUPUI's graduates are determined by the faculty in a student's major field of study. Together, these expectations speak to what graduates of IUPUI will know and what they will be able to do upon completion of their degree.

Foundational Intellectual Skills

  • Core Communication (Principle of Undergraduate Learning 1): 6 credits: Note that Liberal Arts majors must complete ENG W131 (or ENG W140) with a grade of C (2.0) or higher.
  • Analytical Reasoning (Principles of Undergraduate Learning 1 and 2): 6 credits
  • Cultural Understanding (Principle of Undergraduate Learning 6): 3 credits
  • Intellectual Breadth and Adaptiveness
  • Life and Physical Sciences (Principle of Undergraduate Learning 4): 6 credits: Note that Liberal Arts majors must complete at least one credit in a laboratory science.
  • Arts/Humanities and Social Sciences (Principle of Undergraduate Learning 4): 9 credits total, with at least 3 credits in each area.

Liberal Arts Baccalaureate Competencies
A. First-Year Experience (1-3 cr.)
This course introduces students to IUPUI’s culture and values; familiarizes the student with campus resources, especially academic uses of technology; provides the student with skills in dealing with life at IUPUI; and introduces the student to an overview of the humanities and the social and natural sciences. Transfer students with 18 or more credit hours are not required to take this course. First year students entering or intending to enter the IU School of Liberal Arts should enroll in: SLA S100 (2 cr.)

Students transferring from another IUPUI school may use University College: UCOL U110 (1-2 cr.)

B. Writing Proficiency (3 cr.)

Competency in English composition is required. Prerequisite of a C (2.0) or higher in ENG W131. This requirement may be satisfied in the following ways:

  1. By completing ENG W231, ENG W230, ENG W270 or ENG W290 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher;
  2. For transfer students, by completing course work equivalent to ENG W231, ENG W230, ENG W270, ENG W290 or GEWR UN200 with a grade of C (2.0) or higher at another campus or institution.
  3. For transfer students with 80 or more transfer credits, by completing a petition for exemption from the Writing Proficiency requirement available in the Miriam Z. Langsam Office of Student Affairs, CA 401.

The IU School of Liberal Arts strongly recommends that students complete English W131 (or ENG W140) during their first semester or as soon afterward as placement test scores and course availability allow. Students should also take ENG W231, ENG W230, ENG W270, or ENG W290 as soon as possible after becoming liberal arts majors.

Note: Special English for Academic Purposes(EAP) sections of ENG W001 and ENG W131 have been designated for students whose first language is not English.

C. Computer Proficiency

Computer science and computer technology courses intended to develop the student’s problem-solving ability and promote the understanding and use of logical structures of thought. Computer courses must focus on programming or data manipulation.

D. Life and Physical Sciences Laboratory (1cr)

One laboratory science course is required, but may be part of the coursework taken in the IUPUI General Education Core. This area allows for a choice of courses treating the natural phenomena of the world according to models of scientific thought.

E. Advanced Courses

Students are required to have 40 credit hours in 300-400 level coursework including courses in their major.

F. Arts and Humanities (3cr.)

This area presents insights into aesthetics, ideas, and systems of values.
These credit hours must come from one of the areas below. Courses in one’s first major field of study cannot be used to fulfill this requirement; however, a course taken as part of a structured minor may be used to fulfill this requirement.

  • Africana Studies: (AFRO)
  • American Studies (AMST) 
  • American Sign Language (ASL) excluding World Langauges courses
  • Classics: (CLAS) excluding World Lanuages courses
  • Communication Studies: (COMM-R, excluding COMM R-110, and COMM-T only)
  • East Asian Languages and Cultures: (EALC) excluding World Language courses
  • English-Creative Writing or Writing and Literacy: (ENG-W), excluding courses in the Writing Proficiency area.
  • English Literature:  (ENG-L)
  • Film Studies: (FILM)
  • Folklore: (FOLK) excluding FOLK F101
  • German: (GER), excluding World Language courses
  • History: (HIST) excluding HIST H105, HIST H106, HIST H108, HIST H109, HIST H113, HIST H114
  • Latino Studies: (LATS)
  • Medical Humanities and Health Studies: (MHHS)
  • Museum Studies: (MSTD)
  • Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)
  • Philosophy: (PHIL)
  • Religious Studies: (REL)
  • Spanish: (SPAN) excluding World Language courses
  • Women’s Studies: (WOST) excluding WOST W105
  • World Languages and Cultures: (WLAC)

G. Social Sciences (3cr.)

This area uses procedures and information developed in the social sciences to examine the complexities of societies and human interaction.

These credit hours must come from one of the following areas. Courses in one’s first major field of study cannot be used to fulfill this requirement; however, a course taken as part of a structured minor may be used to fulfill this requirement.

  • Africana Studies (AFRO)
  • Anthropology (ANTH)
  • Communication Studies (COMM-C and COMM-M only)
  • Economics (ECON)
  • English-Linguistics (ENG-Z)
  • Folklore (FOLK)
  • Geography (GEOG)
  • Global and International Studies (INTL)
  • History (HIST) excluding HIST H105, HIST H106, HIST H108, HIST H109, HIST H113, HIST H114
  • Journalism and Public Relations (JOUR)
  • Latino Studies (LATS)
  • Medical Humanities and Health Studies (MHHS) excluding MHHS M201
  • Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS)
  • Political Science (POLS)
  • Psychology (PSY)
  • Sociology (SOC)
  • Women’s Studies (WOST)

H. World Language and Culture

Second-year competency in a single world language is required.  Students may earn additional language credit by taking a placement test and completing an advanced course. This requirement may be satisfied in one of the following ways:

  • By passing the full second-year sequence of courses in a single language;
  • By completing a third or fourth-year course1;

This requirement may also be met with second-year proficiency in American Sign Language.

Placement Test  Students with previous experience in French, German, or Spanish should take the World Language Placement Test at the Testing Center to assess their level of language proficiency.

Students who complete the course into which they were placed with a grade of C or higher are eligible for special credit at a reduced fee for the appropriate lower-division course(s) that precede the course taken. Language special credits can only be awarded for languages taught in the World Languages and Cultures department at IUPUI. Special credits count toward graduation and toward the world language requirements.

Non-native English Speakers: Students for whom English is not a first language may be exempted from the language requirement, without credit, by completion of ENG W131 and either ENG W231, ENG W270, ENG W250 or ENG W290 with the required grade of C or higher.

Students whose native language is not English may demonstrate proficiency in their native language and earn 3 to 6 hours of 298/299 special credits by successfully completing a specific 300-level course. They may not, however, receive credit for taking first- and second-year courses in their native language. Students are also considered “native speakers of another language” if they have completed secondary (high) school in that language. For additional questions, consult the Department of World Languages and Cultures (WLAC).

Transfer Credits:  Students with transfer work from other universities may have some of their work counted toward the distribution requirements even if their courses, when transferred in, were not designated as matching the courses listed previously. The Associate Dean for Student Affairs and the departments, when appropriate, will determine whether transfer courses satisfy the distribution requirements.

Major Requirements
The requirements for each major in the IU School of Liberal Arts are described, along with course descriptions, in the Liberal Arts section of the bulletin entitled ‘‘Departments, Programs and Centers.’’ A minimum of 29 credit hours must be taken in the major subject area. Any course in which the student receives a grade below C (2.0) may not be used to fulfill the major area requirement (thus a C– does not qualify). However, courses in which the student receives below C, but above an F, will count toward the 120 credit hour total provided that the student does not repeat the course.

Electives
Candidates for a degree in the IU School of Liberal Arts must complete the IUPUI General Education Core requirements, the baccalaureate competencies and the requirements of their major department. Usually, students will still need to complete additional hours in order to reach the graduation requirement of 120 credit hours. These remaining credit hours are known as electives.

Minors and Certificate Programs

IU School of Liberal Arts students may complete one or more minors and/or certificate programs. Minors will not appear on the student’s transcript until graduation. Students in other schools at IUPUI may complete minors in the IU School of Liberal Arts.

Only courses in which students receive a C (2.0) or higher can be applied to minors and certificates. Specific requirements are described in the section of this bulletin entitled ‘‘Departments, Programs and Centers.’’  Courses required for minors and certificates may also be used in fulfilling other requirements, including IUPUI General Education Core requirements, the baccalaureate competencies requirements if listed.

Students must receive departmental or program approval for the courses to be used for minors as well as approval for courses not taken at IUPUI that they wish to count in a minor. Special credit may be applied to minor requirements with departmental approval.

IU School of Liberal Arts minors are presently offered in many areas; as additional minors are being developed and approved, they will be added to the electronic version of the Bulletin.   Students must receive departmental or program approval for the courses to be used for minors as well as approval for courses not taken at IUPUI that they wish to count in a minor. Special credit may be applied to minor requirements with departmental approval.

Other Options
The IU School of Liberal Arts allows students to complete double majors and double degrees. Students seeking a double major must consult advisors from each of the departments in which they propose to study. Students must complete the requirements for each of the two majors as well as all other school requirements for a degree.

While most students work on a single degree at a time, a student may work on what is essentially two degrees in two different schools at IUPUI simultaneously (e.g., a B.A. from Indiana University in English and a B.S. from Purdue University in Psychology). Proposed dual degrees programs must be approved by the appropriate advisors and deans in both schools.　Students must complete all requirements in the two schools for the two different degrees.

1 Students interested in receiving credit for lower-division language courses, see the section ‘‘Special Credit for Foreign Language Study.’’