Curriculum Guide - Pathways to Graduation

128 credits are required for graduation. Most courses are four credits and students should take four courses each semester (4x4). Doing so will keep students on track to graduate in four years. January and Summer Terms are both good options for catching up or getting ahead toward graduation.

There are three different areas that make up a plan of study.

General Education Requirements (1/3 of your courses)

Basic Language Competency

English 105: The Art of Writing (4 credit hours)
requires a grade of C or better to satisfy graduation requirement

Foreign Language Proficiency (0-12 credit hours)
Exempt foreign language through satisfactory high school completion,
Or
Successfully complete work through the 213 course (up to 12 semester hours)

Wesleyan Seminars (12 credit hours)
WES 100 (4 credit hours)
WES 200 (4 credit hours)
WES 300 (4 credit hours)

Six Breadth Courses (24 credit hours)

The breadth requirement ensures a well-rounded education. Students will take six courses to ensure a breadth of knowledge that is fundamental to a university education. The requirements span arts and humanities, social sciences, professional studies, mathematics, and the natural sciences.

Susan S. Goode School of Arts and Humanities
- 1 course in the creative arts or the equivalent
- 1 humanities course at the 300-level or above

Joan P. Brock School of Mathematics and Natural Science
- 1 mathematical science course at the 100-level or above
- 1 science course with laboratory component

 Birdsong School of Social Sciences and D. Henry Watts School of Professional Studies
- 1 course from the Birdsong School
- 1 course from either the Birdsong School or the Watts School

The Major (1/3 of your courses)

Each student must successfully complete at least one major offered by the University. The student must declare a major and designate a major advisor no later than the semester in which the student completes 64 hours. Subsequent change to a different major is subject to the requirements of that particular major, such as restrictions on GPA and time of declaration. Forms for completing this process are available on the Registrar’s home page or in the Registrar’s Office. Students may change majors at any time by filing a new declaration.

Electives and/or Minor and/or Second Major (1/3 of your courses)

In addition to a major program, students have the option of completing one or more minors. This choice must be approved by a full-time faculty member of the department in which the minor will be completed, who will certify that the student has completed the requirements for the minor prior to graduation. No more than 8 semester hours taken to fulfill requirements for a student’s major (or majors) may also be used to fulfill requirements for a minor. A course used to fulfill requirements for a minor may be used to fulfill a General Education requirement. Students with Advanced Placement credit should consult the specific department to determine whether those semester hours can be included as part of the minor. Application for Minor forms are due in the Registrar’s Office by March 1 for May or August graduation and by October 1 for December graduation.

Wesleyan Seminars

The Wesleyan Seminars bring students from across the university together in three seminar-style courses in which the process of liberal education is begun (Seminar I) and developed (Seminars II and III), at 4 semester hours each. Seminars focus on topics chosen by the faculty and represent a wide variety of interests each semester. The Wesleyan Seminar sequence provides a common educational experience that fosters intellectual curiosity while also developing academic skills. WES courses have two interconnected goals: generating intellectual excitement and engagement in scholarly and academic work, and developing essential academic skills of reading, writing, and oral communication.

Seminar I (WES 100) - Introduction to Critical Inquiry in the Liberal Arts
Students will learn how to identify problems, consult sources, questions assumptions, consider disparate points of view, and explore different strategies for articulating their own perspectives and conclusions for an audience. Through readings related to the course topic, a variety of writing assignments, class discussion, and the use of library resources, students will begin their exploration of the liberal arts and develop their critical reading, writing, and thinking skills.

Seminar II (WES 200) - Introduction to Engagement in Intellectual Discourse
This course builds on the broad understanding of the liberal arts explored in Seminar I with a particular focus on how the backbone of the liberal arts is engagement with text defined in its very broadest sense. Seminar II engages ideas and texts with more nuance, more thoroughly, and in a broader context. Students will read texts for their articulation of the complexity of the topic and pursue scholarly research in the library to develop their understanding of the liberal arts as an engaged, critical endeavor.

Seminar III (WES 300) – Participation in Intellectual Discourse
Seminar III strives to position students as scholars and to ask them to participate thoughtfully and articulately as members of a discourse community. Students will be asked to consider, examine, and develop their own perspectives while also considering the validity of other viewpoints. The goal for the Seminar is for students to understand what it means to create knowledge as a scholar.

Susan S. Goode School of Arts and Humanities

Joan P. Brock School of Mathematics and Natural Science

Birdsong School of Social Science

Additional information can be found in the VWU Catalog.