Majors, Concentrations and Minors
All Majors, Concentrations, and Minors and changes to them must be approved by the Curriculum and Regulations Committee of the University Senate. Only these designations are official, and only they may appear in the Undergraduate Catalog, on student transcripts, on the Admissions Application Form, and in publications describing Bradley programs. It is expected that all Majors, Concentrations, and Minors will adhere to the following standards. Deviations are strongly discouraged, but may be permitted when there are compelling academic reasons. Requests to the Curriculum and Regulations Committee and Provost for deviations must be accompanied by supporting evidence. New Majors, Concentrations, and Minors must be approved by the Curriculum and Regulations Committee.
Major
The purpose of the Major is to ensure that students master a subject area in depth and breadth.
A Major is a coherent, structured course of study, defined by departments, and selected by students as their principal subject area.
Generally, the Major is comprised of courses offered and required by the Department, but it may also include designated courses from other departments offering related subjects. All students must fulfill the requirements for at least one Major in order to graduate.
In addition to courses used to satisfy the basic skills and General Education requirements, students must successfully complete a minimum of 24 s.h. of courses designated by the Department as acceptable toward the Major.
The Major must include no fewer that 12 s.h. at the 300 (junior) level or above.
Students must achieve a minimum grade point average in courses in the Major of no less that 2.0 in order to graduate.
Multiple Majors must include at least 18 s.h. of courses not used in satisfaction of requirements for any other Major.
Concentration
The purpose of the Concentration is to encourage and recognize study in depth of special areas within the broadly defined discipline of the student’s Major. Generally, Concentrations are comprised of courses offered by the Major department and courses of other departments that are specifically acceptable for credit toward the Major. In special circumstances, other courses may be accepted for the Concentration if they serve to deepen and broaden the student’s special area of focus in the Major discipline.
The concentration must be a coherent, structured course of study. It is comprised of no fewer that 12 s.h. of the minimum 24 s.h. required for the Major. No fewer that 6 s.h. must be in courses at the 300 level or above. To qualify for more than one Concentration within on Major, no fewer that 9 s.h. must be in different courses in each Concentration.
Minor
The purpose of the Minor is to encourage and recognize study in depth of a subject for students Majoring in other subject areas. A student’s Minor, therefore, is generally comprised of courses other than those offered by or required by the student’s own Major. Due to the special nature of some disciplines, however, students may be permitted to include a limited number of courses offered by their Major department toward a Minor if this does not violate the purpose of the Minor.
The Minor must be a coherent, structured course of study. A Minor is comprised of no fewer that 15 s.h., a majority of which are at the 200 (sophomore) level or above with no fewer than 6 s.h. at the 300 (junior) level or above.
Students must achieve a minimum grade point average of 2.0 in courses in the Minor for official designation as a Minor.
