Optional Minors
Minors are optional both on the part of faculty and students; no department or group of faculty members is required to offer a minor and no student can be required to elect a minor.
Pursuit of a minor, whether departmental or interdisciplinary, may provide a student with more coherence and focus in choosing electives. This may well enhance the educational experience, particularly when the minor is chosen from a division other than that of the major or when the minor is interdisciplinary.
Optional minors are available to regular undergraduate students in each of the areas listed below. Details of the requirements for each minor are listed on the indicated pages.
- African-American Studies
- African Studies
- Africana Studies
- Anthropology
- Arabic Studies
- Art (Studio Art)
- Art (Art History)
- Arts Entrepreneurship
- Biology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Chemistry
- Chemistry (Biochemistry)
- Children’s Studies
- Chinese
- Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies
- Comparative Humanities
- Computer Science (Arts & Sciences)
- Computer Science (Engineering)
- Dance
- Digital Humanities
- East Asian Studies
- Economics
- Education
- English (Literary Studies)
- English (Creative Writing)
- Environmental Studies
- Film/Media Studies
- Food Systems
- French
- Geography
- Geology
- Geology (Engineering Geology)
- Geology (Environmental Geology)
- German Studies
- Greek
- History
- International Relations
- Italian Studies
- Japanese
- Jewish Studies
- Latin
- Latin American Studies
- Legal Studies
- Linguistics
- Mathematics
- Mathematics (Applied/Modeling)
- Mathematics (Statistics)
- Music
- Peace Studies
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Political Science
- Political Science (American Politics)
- Political Science (Comparative Politics)
- Political Science (International Politics)
- Political Science (Political Theory)
- Psychology (Cognitive & Perceptual Sciences)
- Psychology (Neuropsychology)
- Public Policy
- Race & Ethnicity Studies
- Religious Studies
- Russian Studies
- Social Justice
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Theatre
- Theatre (Acting & Directing)
- Theatre (Design & Technology)
- Translation Studies
- Women’s & Gender Studies
Regulations for Minors
A departmental minor consists of four, five, or six courses in a department. An interdepartmental minor consists of five courses, with none of the five being in the student’s major department and no more than three of the five being in a single department. By faculty action, all minors are available to all students in the University, with the following exceptions: chemical engineering majors are not eligible for the chemistry minor, and the biomedical engineering minor is open only to students in the College of Engineering.
The following stipulations pertain to a minor:
- Courses may not be double-counted in majors and minors; however, corequisite or major-related courses outside the student’s major department may be counted toward a minor.
- Courses that count toward a minor also may satisfy College Core Curriculum requirements, except for the major.
- Students in one degree program (e.g., bachelor of arts) may complete a minor in a department offering a different degree (e.g., bachelor of science).
- The minor in biomedical engineering is administered by the dean’s office of the College of Engineering. Questions regarding this minor should be addressed to that office.
Declaring a Minor
It is the student’s responsibility to know and monitor the minor requirements. To declare a minor, a student should complete the form and have it signed by the chair of the department offering the minor or by the coordinator of the particular interdepartmental minor. The completed and signed form should be returned to the registrar’s office only after the minor is completed, except that seniors must submit the form by the published deadline. Students planning on a summer graduation must also have the form filed by the deadline published for spring graduation.
It should be noted that it is not possible to substitute courses for those on the approved lists of requirements. Students who have not elected the specific minor requirements may not propose waivers or modifications unless approved by the department chair and the dean.