One of the things that defines a university—that makes it a university rather than a trade school—is general education. General education not only makes you more competent in your chosen profession, but also makes you an educated person. It's about making a living, but also about living your life. I don't want to hear any complaints about general education. Students in Engineering and other professional fields complain about having to take courses in the Humanities, students in the Humanities complain about having to take math, and so on. This sort of complaining is a form of self-denigration; it is to say, "I can't handle a real university education." So get out there and get educated.
The university has a set of general education requirements that apply to all students. The College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, of which the Department of History is a part, also has a few additional requirements. This page is designed to guide you through both. You should use this page on general education for History majors in conjunction with the Registrar's page on General Education Requirements. That page gives you specifics about just which courses are approved to fill which university requirements.
General education is supposed to give you certain basic skills and teach you to think in different ways. That is why the general education program is mainly composed of distribution requirements, sending you into a variety of fields. The table below summarizes these.
|
Requirement |
Credits |
|
First-Year Experience course (UNIV 189)--take it your first semester |
1 |
|
Communication skills courses (ENGL 110 & 120, COMM 110)--finish these your first year (History Ed people must achieve a 2.5 average in the comp courses, as well as a B in Speech.) |
3+3+3 |
|
Quantitative Reasoning--complete a university-approved course early |
3 |
|
Science & Technology--complete three university-approved courses, including at least one lab |
3+3+3+1 |
|
Humanities & Fine Arts--your History major covers the university 6-hour requirement, as well as the college 3-hour Humanities requirement, but you need an additional course in Fine Arts to cover the college requirements. This course does not have to be a university-approved course; any course from the Division of Fine Arts, including performance courses, will do. |
3 |
|
Social and Behavioral Sciences--there is a 6-hour university requirement, plus a 3-hour additional college requirement. This sorts out as • two university-approved courses • one more course (not necessarily university-approved) in a Social Science department (Anthropology, Communication, Economics, Political Science, Sociology) (History Ed people, you can take courses for general education that also will compose your second social science teaching field.) |
3+3+3 |
|
Wellness--complete a university-approved course |
2 |
|
Wild Card! To complete college requirements, take a course
from the Division of Fine Arts, a Humanities department other than History, or
a Social Science department |
3 |
In addition to the distribution requirements outlined above, you need to be sure that you also meet the requirements for "Cultural Diversity" and "Global Perspectives" that are integrated into the courses you take. You need to make sure that at least one of the courses you take to meet distribution requirements also is approved to meet the integrated requirement in "Cultural Diversity" and that at least one is approved to meet the integrated requirement in "Global Perspectives." Keep this in mind as you select courses to meet your distribution requirements in "Humanities and Fine Arts" or "Social and Behavioral Sciences."
The general education program also has a "Computer Usage" requirement. This is supposed to be integrated into the major, so you don't have to worry about it. My advice, however, is to take additional action to make sure you become competent in computer use. Much of this you may learn on your own or with friends, but I recommend also that you enroll in Computer Science 146 or 147. Either of these counts toward the "Science & Technology" distribution requirement.
The summaries above make it seem like you're investing a big part of your college coursework just to meet general education requirements. General education is a substantial part of your education, to be sure, but the requirements are not so imposing as they seem at first glance. You'll find that you may meet some of them by double-counting courses you need to take anyway to complete your major, a minor, a language requirement, or teacher certification.