College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

  • Ofer Harel, Ph.D., Interim Dean
  • Evelyn Tribble, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Humanities and Undergraduate Affairs
  • Mansour Ndiaye, Ph.D., Assistant Dean and Executive Director of CLAS Academic Services

Admission Requirements

The college requires 16 high school units including:

  • 4 years of English
  • 3 years of mathematics, with 4 preferred
  • 2 years of a single foreign language, with 3 preferred
  • 2 years of a laboratory science
  • 2 years of social science

The Transfer Admissions Office reviews credits from other institutions. Unless exempted by the Dean or the Assistant Vice Provost, students shall take all of their course work at the University during the last two semesters.

Degree Requirements

To graduate a student must:

  1. earn a minimum of 120 credits.
  2. earn at least 45 credits numbered 2000 or above.
  3. meet the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (from the list that follows) General Education and concentration requirements.
  4. have an overall grade point average of at least 2.0 and a grade point average of at least 2.0 in the courses presented in satisfaction of major requirements.

Field of Concentration

Only courses taken at the University of Connecticut meet the requirement. Students may not use Pass/Fail courses to meet these requirements. Exceptions are made by the dean of the college.

Major and related groups

The field of concentration includes both the major and related groups; it must total at least 36 credits, all numbered 2000 or above. At least 24 credits in one department, or with the permission of the head of the student’s major department, in two related departments, make up the major group. At least 12 credits in courses closely related to the student’s major, but outside the major department, make up the related group. Students must earn an overall grade point average of at least 2.0 and a grade point average of at least 2.0 in the courses presented in satisfaction of major requirements.

Double Major Program

Students may earn a double major by selecting two majors within the College. A minimum of 48 credits without overlap is required to earn both majors. Therefore, students may not be able to double major if the two majors they choose require the same courses and prevent them from earning 48 credits without overlap. Acceptance into the Double Major program requires the Dean’s approval. Students shall choose one of the two majors as their primary major and shall receive one degree appropriate to that major. (Note: students cannot choose one major from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a second from another school or college. This combination is only possible through the Additional Degree program, explained in the “Academic Regulations” section of this Catalog).

Plan of Study

Students shall file with the department of their major, after approval by their major academic advisor, a tentative plan of study on a form provided by the advisor. Students must file the tentative plan of study by the beginning of advance registration in their fifth semester. Students shall file a final plan of study with the Registrar by the end of the fourth week of the semester in which they expect to graduate. The advisor and the department head shall approve the final plan of study. Students completing a double major must file a plan of study for each major.

Bachelor’s Degree Requirements

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

As well as satisfying all University General Education requirements, students must also satisfy the following requirements for a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree. To determine whether a given major can lead to the B.A., the B.S., or both, consult the descriptions of majors.

Foreign Languages

All students must have either:
(1) passed a third-year high school-level course in a single foreign language; (2) high school work and an added year of intermediate level college courses; or (3) two years of a single foreign language through the intermediate level in college.*

* A B+ or better in CAMS 1172: Intensive Intermediate Ancient Greek will fulfill the intermediate second language requirement of the student’s degree program.

Expository Writing

All students must take ENGL 1007, 1010, or 1011, and two W courses with at least one such course approved for use in the major field of study at the 2000-level or above. No student who has not passed the writing component of W courses may pass the course.

Quantitative Reasoning

Three Q courses, at least one of which must be in Mathematics or Statistics. Students should contact the Q-advising contours, accessible on-line, and their advisers to determine the adequacy of their preparedness for specific Q-courses. Q courses may be used to satisfy other degree requirements.

General Education areas

The courses in the University General Education content areas one, two, and three and the areas indicated below must be taken in at least eight different academic units.

Degree Requirements
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Five courses, including one from each of the areas A-D and a fifth course from any area A-E (courses must be from at least four different academic units).
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Four courses, including one course from each of the areas A-D (courses must be from at least four different academic units); and the additional required courses below.

List of CLAS Area A-E Courses

New CLAS Area A-E courses are added to the Student Administration System on an ongoing basis. For the most current list of active CLAS Area A-E courses, please see our List of All CLAS Area A-E Courses. This report refreshes automatically every night.

Additional requirements for Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

B.S. students must take all of the following:

One of the Chemistry sequences: CHEM 1124Q, 1125Q, 1126Q; CHEM 1127Q, 1128Q; CHEM 1137Q, 1138Q; or CHEM 1147Q, 1148Q

One of the Mathematics sequences: MATH 1125Q, 1126Q, 1132Q; MATH 1131Q (or 1151Q), 1132Q (or 1152Q); or MATH 2141Q, 2142Q

One of the following Biology courses: BIOL 1107, BIOL 1108, or BIOL 1110

One of the Physics sequences: PHYS 1201Q, 1202Q; PHYS 1401Q, 1402Q; PHYS 1501Q, 1502Q; or PHYS 1601Q, 1602Q

Internships

Many departments and programs in the College offer experiential learning in the form of internships, also called “field study” or “practicum.” The College recognizes the important role that internships play in our curriculum but also requires that standards for internships be met so that student interns receive the intended educational benefits. Thus the following restrictions apply:

  • No credit may be given retroactively for internship work undertaken without being properly enrolled in the internship course in advance.
  • A student may count no more than fifteen internship credits towards a bachelor’s degree in CLAS and each credit for internship work must entail at least forty-two hours of work per semester or term.
  • The required number of hours of work must be stated clearly in the learning contract or work plan for the internship signed by both the instructor of record and the internship supervisor.

Additional departmental restrictions may also apply.

Undergraduate Majors

See Academic Degree Programs for a list of CLAS majors, sortable alphabetically and by school.

Alternative Areas of Study

Asian and Asian American Studies Institute

The Asian and Asian American Studies Institute is a multidisciplinary research and teaching program. Comprised of the humanities, social sciences, and the arts, the Institute’s research output and course offerings engage Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas as sets of shifting historical, geographic, and geopolitical zone of interaction, struggle, and cooperation.

The institute fosters intellectual endeavors that concern the broad historical and contemporary experiences of people of Asian descent in Asia and in different parts of the world, inclusive of North and South Americas, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Australia.

The Institute offers courses and the description of a minor in Asian American Studies is listed in the “Minors” section of this Catalog.

For further information, contact the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute, Beach Hall, Room 416, (860) 486-4751.

Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies

The Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (CLCS) Program is for students who like literature but do not wish to major in English or in a single language offered by the Department of Literatures, Cultures and Languages. It is an individualized major in Literature itself. The program draws on all departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and works in conjunction with European Studies, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Medieval Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Contemporary African Studies, the Center for Asian Studies and the School of Fine Arts, Film Studies, Mideast Studies and Judaic Studies.

For further information, contact the Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies Program, Oak Hall, Room 252, or AUST, Room 135; clcs.uconn@gmail.com.

El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o Caribbean and Latin American Studies

El Instituto is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary program that advances the research and undergraduate and graduate teaching of Latina/o, Caribbean, Puerto Rican, and Latin American Studies. El Instituto faculty are engaged in regional, national, and international academic exchanges and scholarship that enhance the understanding of global diasporic issues, social justice, critical thinking, and historical inequalities affecting the Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American experience.

Offering degrees grounded in both traditional disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies, El Instituto is at the forefront of new ways of thinking about hemispheric Latina/o disaporas, U.S. Latina/os, Latin American and Caribbean societies and U.S./Latin American relations related to coloniality, race, migration, education, media, economics, health, cultural studies and human rights. The institute, located on the second floor of the Ryan Building provides a central place for research, scholarship, and academic programs uniting over 60 scholars at the University of Connecticut. It also offers linkages to local, regional, national and hemispheric academic communities and areas of investigation with a historical research focus on the life of Latino and Puerto Rican communities in New England.

Courses are offered under Latino and Latin American Studies (LLAS) and the descriptions of minors in Latin American Studies and Latino Studies are listed in the “Minors” section of this Catalog.

For further information contact, 860-486-5508, elinstituto@uconn.edu.

Judaic Studies

The Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut in Storrs is housed in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. The threefold purpose of the Center is to foster academic study and research in Judaic Studies, offer undergraduate and graduate courses for academic concentration and enrichment as well as training for service in the community by providing a Judaic Studies component, and provide resources for continuing education in Judaic Studies and related areas of scholarly inquiry.

Courses in Hebrew and Judaic Studies are listed under Hebrew and Judaic Studies (HEJS) as well as History (HIST) and Sociology (SOCI). Students may major in Judaic Studies through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The description of a minor in Judaic Studies is listed in the “Minors” section of this Catalog.

For further information, contact the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, Unit 1205, Dodd Center, (860) 486-2271.

Law

Please refer to the Student Resources section of this Catalog for information about pre-law advising.

Medicine and Dentistry

Students planning for a career in medicine or dentistry need a rigorous and broad education in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as a strong record of academic achievement. Guidance in the structuring of academic programs, including selection of a major, should be done in consultation with advisors from the Pre-Medical and Pre-Dental Office.

For further information about admission to schools of medicine, dentistry, and other health-related disciplines, contact the advisors.

Medieval Studies Program

Faculty in the Departments of Art and Art History; English; History; Literatures, Cultures and Languages; and Music offer courses with an interdisciplinary approach to provide education to students of the Middle Ages.

In addition to graduate degrees, the program offers a minor for undergraduate students. The description of a minor in Medieval Studies is listed in the “Minors” section of this Catalog.

For additional information, contact the Medieval Studies Program, 215 Glenbrook Road, Unit 4025; uconn.medieval.studies@gmail.com

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