Field Major Requirements

A minimum total of 120 credit hours is required for the Field Major. In addition to meeting the requirements of the WSU General Education Program and the requirements of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, students must meet the following requirements:

Students may select a major that correlates three or more fields of study to receive a broad appreciation of the cultural and dynamic factors of human conduct. The selection of courses must be made with an advisor from the primary department of interest and with the dean’s office approval. Although such a major cuts across departmental lines and is determined by the field of specific interest, the combination of courses must be acceptable to the college. Thirty-six (36) credit hours are required for the field major, with 18 credit hours in the major department and at least 9 credit hours in each of the two allied departments. Twelve (12) of the 36 credit hours must be upper-division, and the first two departments must be LAS. Students may work with an academic advisor in developing an appropriate field major or may use one of the predesigned field majors indicated below. Students must meet BA graduation requirements for all field majors except biochemistry and chemistry/business which lead to the BS degree.

For the purposes of the Field Major, LAS courses can include the academic majors and disciplines housed historically in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, including aging studies (AGE) (formerly gerontology), art history (ARTH), communication sciences and disorders (CSD), economics (ECON), music composition (MUSC), and theatre (THEA).

All 18 credit hours in the primary department of interest must be courses approved for the major or minor as defined for that department in the Undergraduate Catalog.

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Required major courses may also count towards General Education and/or LAS Competencies. Students will need to select additional electives to reach 120 credit hours required for graduation with assistance from an advisor.

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The selection of courses for the Field Major requirements must be made with an advisor from the primary department of interest and with the dean’s office approval.

Bachelor of General Studies Requirements

A minimum total of 120 credit hours is required for the Bachelor of General Studies (BGS). In addition to meeting the requirements of the WSU General Education Program and the requirements of Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, students must meet the following requirements:

The Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) degree allows students to design a major plan of study crossing departmental or even college lines. The BGS degree allows generalists, preprofessionals or nontraditional career students greater flexibility in planning their academic major plans.

For the purposes of the BGS major, LAS courses can include the academic majors and disciplines housed historically in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, including aging studies (AGE) (formerly gerontology), art history (ARTH), communication sciences and disorders (CSD), economics (ECON), music composition (MUSC), and theatre (THEA).

With the assistance of the advisor in the department of primary interest, each student develops a major plan of study consisting of a minimum of 33 credit hours, divided into three areas. The primary and secondary areas must be in LAS departments. The tertiary area may cross departmental or college lines or be thematically or occupationally related. The primary area will consist of 15 to 21 credit hours. The remaining 12 to 18 credit hours must be divided between two other departments. At least 6 credit hours must be in each of the secondary and tertiary areas. All courses used in the primary area must be courses approved for an academic major or minor as defined by that academic department in the Undergraduate Catalog. A minimum of 12 LAS upper-division credit hours must be included in the major plan.

Additional limits to the minimum credit hours required for the BGS degree include: no more than 30 credit hours from one department, no more than 60 credit hours in one division (humanities, social and behavioral sciences, natural sciences and mathematics), and no more than 26 out-of-college credit hours.

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Required major courses may also count towards General Education and/or LAS Competencies. Students will need to select additional electives to reach 120 credit hours required for graduation with assistance from an advisor.

Applied Learning

Students in the Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) degree or Field Major (FM) are required to complete an applied learning or research experience to graduate from the program. The requirement can be met through one of the three options.

1. Students can take a Cooperative Education class (any 481 course) in one of the areas of study for the BGS or FM; or
2. Students can take a LASI 481 class; or
3. Students can take a class in one of the areas of study in their BGS or FM with an applied learning component. For example classes with volunteer hours required; a class with specific experiential applied learning; classes with a field experience, internship or practicum; a class with a research requirement; or a capstone course in a degree program. See table below for the full list of accepted courses.