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General Education requirements are not normally waived, substituted or modified. Advisors may submit such requests if students have received incorrect advice. Requests are reviewed on an individual basis by Helene Hiner or Dr. Brad Baltensperger for the General Education Executive Committee.

Core Courses (13 credits) 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.  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.  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.

Revisions (UN2001) – 3 credtis.  This writing-intensive course is to be taken in the student's second year at Michigan Tech.

Institutions (UN2002) – 3 credits.  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 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.

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Distribution Requirements/HASS for students enrolled Fall 2008 and later (15 credits)

Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences (HAAS) 2008 Fall

HASS Distribution List (for students entering Fall 2008 or later)This links to a PDF File

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

Distribution List (for students entering before Fall 2008)This links to a PDF File

Students must take six credits from each list World Cultures and Institutions (see Distribution Courses).  The final three credits can come from either list.  A number of 2000-level distribution courses, marked with an asterisk, are designated as courses that can be taken during the first year in the same term as Perspectives on Inquiry and/or World Cultures.

Note the following restrictions:

  • 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.

    Transfer Distribution/HASS

    Distribution/HASS courses may be transferred in for credit. It is important that a student check with the Transfer Office in the Office of Student Records and Registration to inquire what course(s) may be transferred from a specific institution before a class is taken off-campusAll

    International study abroad for Distribution Courses

    General Education International transfer credit for study abroad students (students with transfer credit from institutions outside of the U.S. ) will be assigned by the International Programs and Services (IPS) without regard to specific distribution list requirements. It is understood that the IPS will apply non-MTU courses to distribution based on their being equivalent or congruent with existing general education distribution courses. MTU courses taken as study-abroad will be applied to distribution list requirements based upon the distribution list the course is on.

  • Science/Mathematics/(STEM) (16 credits)

    All MTU baccalaureate graduates must take a minimum of 16 credits of science, engineering, mathematics, or computer science. Check with your department or advisor for major specific requirements.

    Note the following restrictions:

    1. At least 12 of those credits must be outside the student's major field.
    2. Students must complete 4 credits or more in mathematics. Students must complete one laboratory science course. Requiring computer science or engineering is at the discretion of the department.
    3. The distribution of the required 16 credits varies by curriculum. 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.
    4. For curricula that do not specify mathematics and lab science requirements, students can meet these requirements by taking

      a. four credits of MA or more at the 1000 level or above

      b. any BL (biology), CH (chemistry), FW (forestry), GE (geology), or PH (physics) course that is 3 credits or more and that also includes a lab component as a separate course. A student must successfully complete both the lab and recitation portions of these courses in order to meet the requirement.
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    Co-Curricular Activities (3 units)

    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.

    Please note that 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 CoursesThis links to a PDF File

    General Education Curriculum Links

  • also see MTU Undergraduate Catalog, General Education link http://www.admin.mtu.edu/catalog/gened/
  • General Education Goals   www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/prov/GeneralEducation2008/gened.htm
  • Simplified General Education Transfer Credit Rules
    In 2001 transfer credit for General Education was simplified, particularly in the Distribution List area.  This first document lists the rules currently in place for transfer credit and the other document lists a changes before fall 2007:

  • General Education Transfer Credit Fall 2008
  • General Education Transfer Credit  (10/9/2001 memo General Education Executive Committee)
  • General Education Transfer Credit CHANGE for Fall 2007 from Dr. Durfee dtd 8/2/2006
  • Transfer credit -  General Education
  • Transfer credit - General Education 2005 update
  • http://www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/prov/index.htm
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    Address questions about this page to Helene T. Hiner.