The core courses are designed to promote active engagement in learning, coherence within the curriculum, integration within and across disciplines, strong communication abilities, and development of university-level habits of mind.

Perspectives on Inquiry(UN1001) – 3 credits
Goals for Perspectives

This first-year seminar course is required during each student's first year at Michigan Tech.  Most sections are taught in fall semester, including special sections for Honors students.  The few sections during spring semester are open to transfer students, newly-arrived students, and a select number of other first-year students. 

World Cultures (UN1002) – 4 credits
Goals for World Cultures

This required course is taught primarily during spring semester in large lecture sections. 

Modern Language Option for World Cultures (UN1002)
Two semesters of a modern language taken at MTU along with UN 1003 World Cultures lab may be substituted for UN1002. UN1003 is only taken by students concurrently enrolled in modern language. Students may begin their two semesters of modern language in the Fall or Spring semesters of their first year. Students with transfer or AP language credit, or who plan to study abroad, should see the Humanities Department Modern Language Director for advice. The two semesters of language and UN1003 meet the requirement for UN1002 plus 3 credits of Distribution/HASS for a total of 7 credits.

Transfer credit for UN1001 and UN1002: Two core courses, UN1001  Perspectives on Inquiry and UN1002 World Cultures, may not be taken off-campus once a student is enrolled at MTU. There are acceptable transfer courses for incoming transfer students (not yet enrolled at MTU) for these courses.

Composition (formerly Revisions) (UN2001) – 3 credits
Goals for Composition

This writing-intensive course is to be taken in the student's second year at Michigan Tech.

Institutions (UN2002) – 3 credits
Goals for Institutions

The course is to be taken in the second year.

Transfer credit for UN2001 and UN2002: Students are permitted to transfer courses from other institutions to satisfy the Composition (formerly Revisions) and Institutions requirements. Students must check with the Michigan Tech Transfer Office to find out which courses qualify before a class is taken off-campus.

Distribution Courses for students entering BEFORE fall 2008 (15 credits)

Students must take six credits from each list (World Cultures and Institutions).  The final three credits can come from either list.  Note the following limitations:

If a course is labeled “activities,” a student may apply no more than three credits of approved activities courses to satisfy this requirement

9 credit hours must be at the 3000 or higher level.

Distribution Requirement (list for students entering before Fall 2008)

Students must take a 16 credits of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or computer science. Check with your department or advisor for major specific requirements. Some programs specify all 16 credits; others may not. For example, a computer science course may be a requirement for some departments but not others. Note the following limitations:

1. At least 12 credits must be outside the student's major field.
2. Students must complete 4 credits in mathematics from STEM list.
3. Students must complete one laboratory science course from STEM list..

STEM Requirement

Three Co-Curricular Activities units are required for graduation. A unit involves the same time commitment as an academic semester credit but is not included in calculation of the GPA, nor in the overall degree-credit requirement. Repeatable courses may not be repeated for co-curricular general education credit.

As a part of the co-curriculum, titles of activities successfully completed will appear on the student’s transcript with a pass/fail grade. These hours will be included as “earned hours” but will not be included in “GPA hours.”

Enrollment in a co-curricular activity will count toward satisfactory progress for financial aid purposes and toward status as a full-time student. Some co-curricular activities may have lab fees.

Most physical education activities will last for 7.5 weeks or a half semester. A student would need six of these 0.5 semester units to fulfill the 3 semester unit co-curricular requirement. Some ROTC courses are also approved for co-curricular activity and a few of these (and a few PE courses)are a full semester in length and count for 1 semester unit. These are identified in the course descriptions list, which is effective fall 2001.

Co-curricular Courses