The College of Arts & Sciences uses a course-unit system. Most courses taught in the College are worth one unit, and students in the College generally take four units per semester.
Students in Arts & Sciences who start at Stetson in the Fall of 2009 or later are required to complete at least 32 units to graduate.† These units are roughly divided into three categories: General Education (10 units), the Major (10-12 units), and Electives (10-12 units).
† Students who transferred to Stetson as Juniors (i.e. with at least 15 units/60 credits) in the 2009-2010 academic year are required to complete at least 30 units to graduate.
The general education requirements for the College of Arts and Sciences are summarized below. Students who started prior to Fall 2009 should see: Pre-Fall 2009. This is intended to be a general guide. An official statement of the requirements can be found in the University Catalog.
Students enrolled in the Honors Program must satisfy a different set of requirements, which are explained in a separate document: General Education Requirements for the Honors Program.
GENERAL EDUCATION (10 units)
The General Education requirements are divided into three categories: Foundations (3 units), Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Natural World (5 units), and Personal and Social Responsibility (2 units). For most of the requirements you will have a selection of courses to choose from so that you may satisfy the requirements with courses that appeal to your interests. A key component of a liberal education is to learn about the modes of enquiry from a diverse set of disciplines, so no more than three courses used to meet General Education requirements may come from a single department and at least 16 of the 32 units required for graduation must come from departments outside the department of your major.
Foundations (3 units)
In these courses, you develop skills in analytical, critical, and quantitative thinking; in written and oral communication; and in problem-solving as individuals and as members of groups and communities. You must complete one course from each of the following three areas:
First-Year Seminar (1 unit)
First-Year Seminars focus on topics of broad interest and are open to all students regardless of their intended (or declared) major. First-Year Seminars are designed to improve your ability to analyze ideas and express them persuasively in oral presentations and in writing. In your seminar, you will have regular practice in the modes of intellectual conversation that are the hallmark of educated women and men. The First Year Seminars that are offered changes each year. Course titles, descriptions, and brief biographies for the instructors may be found by clicking on the link at the bottom of: First Year Seminar Home Page.
Writing (1 unit)
Writing skills are critical for success in college and in life after graduation. One writing course must be completed at the level of ENGL-101 or higher during your first year with a minimum grade of C.
Quantitative Reasoning (1 unit)
Quantitative reasoning skills play an important role in analyzing the world and in choosing the best plans to address local, national, and global problems. Quantitative Reasoning courses ("Q" courses) develop your understanding of the conceptual and theoretical tools used in quantitative reasoning and problem-solving. They are taught in a range of disciplines. Some majors, particularly in the Natural Sciences, require at least one specific math course to be taken, and that course may also be used to satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning requirement.
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Natural World (5 units)
Courses in this category of General Education enhance your understanding of the world, encourage you to reflect on your own and other’s beliefs, develop your capacities for aesthetic responsiveness, and strengthen your understanding of human societies and the natural world. You must complete 5 courses from 5 of these 6 areas:
Creative Arts (1 unit)
Creative Arts courses ("A" courses) develop your aesthetic awareness and your ability to interpret forms of cultural expression intelligently and critically. Four credits earned in Music courses with the MC, MCA or MCE course prefix may be used in place of an "A" course.
Culture and Belief (1 unit)
Courses that satisfy the Culture and Belief option ("B" courses) enhance your understanding of the beliefs, ideologies, and traditions that contribute to human culture.
Historical Inquiry (1 unit)
Historical Inquiry courses ("H" courses) develop your understanding of history as a form of systematic inquiry into the human past.
Individuals, Societies, and Social Systems (1 unit)
Courses that satisfy the Individuals, Societies, and Social Systems option ("S" courses) improve your understanding of the concepts and methods essential to the study of people, societies, or institutions.
Modern Languages (1 unit)
These courses enhance your knowledge of the world by developing your proficiency in another modern language and by emphasizing the role of language in culture. You can meet this requirement by completing a Stetson course numbered 102 or higher in French, German, Russian, or Spanish (an "L" course).
The Physical and Natural World (1 unit)
Courses that satisfy the Physical and Natural World option ("P" courses) foster your understanding of natural phenomena, through the examination of major concepts, theories, and scientific methods in the physical and life sciences. These courses include a laboratory experience that connects theory with observation.
Personal and Social Responsibility (2 units)
Courses in this category of General Education will develop your capacities for reflection and action in your personal, professional, and public lives. You will learn to analyze your principles and beliefs, and you will develop skills for active civic engagement. You must complete 2 courses from 2 of these 5 areas. One of the two courses must be a Junior Seminar.
Environmental Responsibility (1 unit)
Environmental Responsibility courses ("R" courses) provide a sense of place in the natural environment by helping you think critically about the human relationship to the earth.
Ethical or Spiritual Inquiry (1 unit)
Ethical or Spiritual Inquiry courses ("E" courses) foster your critical reflection on ideas and practices underlying ethical decisions, individual and societal values, or commitments to religious or spiritual belief.
Health and Wellness (1 unit)
Health and Wellness courses ("W" courses) increase your understanding of the relationship between lifestyle and physical and psychological well-being.
Human Diversity (1 unit)
Human Diversity courses ("D" courses) focus on the dynamics of human difference. You will critically examine how and why categories based on physical, social, or mental attributes arise and how our assumptions about such categories affect our interactions with other humans and our perceptions of the world.
Social Justice (1 unit)
Social Justice courses ("J" courses) develop your critical awareness of and engagement with the structures, processes, and consequences of social justice and injustice.
Your Junior Seminar will focus on one of these five areas of Personal and Social Responsibility, but will ask you to think more broadly, beyond the paradigms or methods of any single disciplinary approach. As you address complex and persistent questions, at issue in the world around you, you will draw on your foundation in General Education – skills in reading, writing, thinking, and problem-solving – as well as the knowledge and understandings you are developing in your Major and Electives.
Cultural Events/Campus Engagement
In addition to completing 32 course units, you will join Stetson’s intellectual and creative life outside the classroom by participating in at least three approved events for each semester you are enrolled at Stetson. These include lectures by distinguished visitors, musical performances, plays, and art shows. See Cultural Attendance Requirement for details.
THE MAJOR, MINOR, AND ELECTIVES
In addition to a breadth of study in General Education, you will develop deeper knowledge of a subject through at least 10-12 courses in one of the College's defined Majors or the Individualized Major available through the Honors Program. Additional courses in your chosen field of study may be taken as Electives. In most cases, you can select your Major any time in your first semesters at Stetson. Through Electives, you can choose to complete the courses for a Minor consisting of 4 to 5 units. A formal Minor is not required, however. In fact, you are free to select Electives to pursue an intellectual or creative passion of your own, or to strengthen preparation for graduate study or professional schools of law, medicine, education, music, counseling, or business.
THE SENIOR PROJECT
No matter what Major you choose, in your senior year, you will complete a Senior Project, a capstone experience that will draw upon the understandings and skills you have developed both in General Education and in your Major. Senior Projects range from essays in the humanities to experimental or field reports in the sciences, to community-based research in the social sciences, to creative or performance projects in the arts. The titles of recent projects are available on the College website: www.stetson.edu/artsci/home/media/ThinkingMatters.pdf .
Revised: 01/11/13