Program Overview
Undergraduate Studies
Contact: ISSDBA@unco.edu
Location: Carter 4008
Telephone: 970.351.2305
Website: www.unco.edu/programs/interdisciplinary-studies-ba/
Advising Information:
Students must consult with their assigned major advisor each semester prior to registering.
To find your advisor, log into ursa.unco.edu; go to 'Student' tab and click 'View Student Information' link. If no advisor is listed, contact the major program for advisor information.
The program consists of three parts:
- Liberal Arts Curriculum (LAC) Credits
- Required Major Credits
- University-Wide Credits
Program Description:
The Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies enables undergraduate students to pursue an interdisciplinary theme of study they design in substitution for the traditional major. Each student pursuing this major works with two faculty advisors who assist in constructing a program of study that will meet the student’s objectives. This program affords students the opportunity to pursue topics of study tailored to meet their individual interests and needs.
Graduates benefit by pursuing a major that develops awareness of the interrelatedness and wholeness of knowledge. This program enables students to integrate knowledge focusing on both contemporary and lasting human issues and problems. Students develop both theoretical and practical approaches to topics. This major provides the groundwork for students who aspire to careers or graduate programs that are enriched by study in two or more disciplines.
Program Admission Requirements:
Students desiring to enter the program must have their interdisciplinary studies student designed major proposal approved by faculty advisors in two different disciplines and the Undergraduate Council no later than the first semester of their junior year.
Program Requirements:
- At least 50 percent of the coursework taken to complete the major must be upper division courses, 300-400 level.
- Interdisciplinary studies proposals must include at least 12 credits each from a minimum of two disciplines to be considered acceptable proposals. The faculty advisors who approve the proposal must be from these two disciplines.
- At least 45 of the 60 credit hours required for the major must be completed after the student designed major proposal has been approved.
Degree Requirements — 120 Credits
1. Liberal Arts Curriculum — 31 credits
Written Communication — 6 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Written Communication courses
Mathematics — 3 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Mathematics courses
Arts & Humanities, History, Social & Behavioral Sciences, U.S. Multicultural Studies [MS], and International Studies [IS] — 15 credits
To complete the LAC in the minimum number of credits, be sure to choose at least one course with an IS designation and one course with an MS designation.
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Arts & Humanities, History, and Social & Behavioral Sciences courses
Natural & Physical Sciences — 7 credits
Select any courses to fulfill this requirement from the currently approved LAC course list.
See Natural & Physical Sciences courses
See Liberal Arts Curriculum
2. Required Major — 60 credits
Take all of the following:
- XXXX 422 Directed Studies (3) (Must be a Thesis or Final Project)
- Must have regular prefix of appropriate area of study with the departmental prefix of at least one of the primary advisor as supervising faculty.
- Complete an approved, coherent multi- or interdisciplinary program of courses to total 57 credits.
3. University-Wide Credits — 29 credits
Complete additional credits to achieve the minimum credits needed for this degree at UNC; for this degree, that will typically be 29 credits.