2008-2009 Catalog - Virginia Wesleyan College

PLAN OF STUDY 29The Departmental MajorThe departmental major consists of at least 24 semesterhours. No more than 42 semester hours shall be required ina department itself, although at least 18 semester hours shallbe in the major discipline. At least 18 semester hours of thetotal shall be at the 300 level or higher.The following departmental majors are offered atVirginia Wesleyan: Art, Biology, Chemistry, Communications,Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Earth andEnvironmental Sciences, English, French, German,History, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Latin,Mathematics, Music, Philosophy, Political Science,Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Spanish, Theatre,and Theatre and English.Specific requirements for each of the above listed majorprograms are found in the “Design Your Future—Programsand Courses” section in the catalog.The Divisional MajorThere are three divisional majors. The Divisional Majorconsists of 50 semester hours. Thirty of the hours must bein junior-senior courses, and 18 of the 50 must be inone department. Of these 18, 12 must be at the 300 or400 level.When formally declaring a major, the student must filea Declaration of Major form with the Office of theRegistrar. In addition, there must be an academic contractwhich consists of a statement by the student of objectivesfor choosing the divisional approach and a tentativeprogram of courses to be undertaken. Contracts may beeffected between students and their faculty advisers whoshall be members of the appropriate division, and thecontract will be subject to initial approval by the relevantdivision. The declaration must be filed initially at least threesemesters before graduation, summer not counting as asemester. The contract is renegotiable at any time at thestudent’s request, and will be reviewed by the division attimes of modifications.It should be carefully noted that the categorization ofdisciplines by divisional majors below is strictly for thispurpose and should not be extended to other applications.The following list indicates these areas of study andthe specific requirements for each of the three divisionalmajors:Humanities: Art/Art History, Classics, Communications,English, French, German, History, Journalism, Music,Philosophy, Religious Studies, Spanish, Theatre.A humanities divisional major includes at least 40 hoursof course work from departments within the humanitiesdivision (history is included), 30 hours of which must be atthe 300 or 400 level. The courses, selected in closeconsultation with a faculty adviser from the division,demonstrate an intellectual coherence and clear focus, suchas a specific historical period or particular intellectualmovement. Students wishing to graduate with a divisionalmajor in humanities will formulate a contract which clearlyarticulates this focus and lists the proposed 40 hours ofcourse work to support the plan of study. Of the coursesselected, one should be designated as satisfying the college’srequirement of “Oral Competency” and another designatedas satisfying the requirement for “Computer Proficiency.”The student will submit the contract for approval by thedivision at least three semesters before graduation, summernot counting as a semester. Students must have a gradepoint average no lower than 2.5 in order to submit acontract, and the grade point average based on gradesearned in the courses that are part of the humanities majorcontract must be no lower than 2.5 at the time ofgraduation.Natural Sciences and Mathematics: Biology,Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth and EnvironmentalSciences, Mathematics, Physics.A major in the Natural Sciences and MathematicsDivision will be designed by the student and a professor inthe division. The specifically designed program must beapproved by all members of the division.Social Sciences: Education, Geography, Health andHuman Services, History, Management/Business/Economics,Political Science, Psychology, Recreation andLeisure Studies, Sociology/Criminal Justice.In addition to the requirements for the area ofconcentration as set by the academic disciplines involved, asocial science divisional major shall include at least sixsemester hours in 300- or 400-level course work from eachof three other departments within the division. These 18hours of upper-level work must be in a department otherthan the one selected as the area of concentration. Due tothe limited availability of electives in Criminal Justice, thearea of concentration may not be in that department.Social science divisional majors must also indicate intheir academic contracts which courses (whether or notthey count toward the major) will be taken to fulfill thecollege’s requirements for “Oral Competency” and“Computer Proficiency,” and explain in writing specificallyhow the indicated courses will fulfill these requirements.A student planning to use Health and Human Servicesas the department of concentration must take HHS 201,HHS 302, POLS 343, PSY/HHS 337, HHS 338 andeither HHS 401 or HHS 450 (based on consultation withadviser.)A student planning to use Management, Business andEconomics as the department of concentration must haveMBE 301, MBE 316, MBE 322, MBE 400 and MBE 405.A minimum of 9 upper-level credits of MBE must be takenin residence at Virginia Wesleyan College.A student may take Education as the area ofconcentration but this course of study will not permitcertification by the State of Virginia to teach in the publicschools. Students seeking certification should confer with afaculty member of the Education Department whenselecting an appropriate major.The Individualized MajorA student whose needs are not met by other majorprograms may develop an individualized major. This type ofstudy requires considerable initiative and imagination. Astudent contemplating this alternative should work out aproposal in consultation with a faculty sponsor. Two