Baccalaureate Degree Requirements

The Core Curriculum

For a summary of the baccalaureate degree requirements see the chart of baccalaureate degree programs in brief . Undergraduate baccalaureate study at UAF is characterized by a common set of learning experiences known as the Core Curriculum. The core provides students with a shared foundation of skills and knowledge that, when combined with specialized study in the major and other specific degree requirements, prepares students to better meet the demands of life in the 21st century. Through the baccalaureate core experience, every UAF student is expected to achieve:

• multidimensional competency in written and oral English--including comprehension of complex materials and creation of clearly organized presentations of soundly reasoned thought in both oral and written form;
• a solid grasp of quantitative reasoning and mathematical application;
• an intellectual comfort with the sciences--including the scientific method, frameworks that have nurtured scientific thought, traditions of human inquiry and the impact of technology on the world's ecosystems;
• an appreciation of cultural diversity and its implications for individual and group values, aesthetics and social and political institutions;
• an understanding of global economic interdependence, sense of historical consciousness and a more critical comprehension of literature and the arts;
• a better understanding of one's own values, other value systems and relationships between value systems and life choices.

If you completed your bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution, you will be considered to have completed the equivalent of the baccalaureate core when you have been officially accepted to an undergraduate degree program at UAF.

Course Classifications for the Baccalaureate Core

Courses that may be used to satisfy general baccalaureate core requirements have course numbers ending with "X." For example, English 111X, Communication 141X and other "X" courses meet specific core requirements. See the requirements for the baccalaureate core for a listing of other specific core courses. Courses meeting the upper-division writing intensive and oral communication intensive requirements for the baccalaureate core are identified in the course description of the catalog with the following designators:
O--oral communication intensive course
W--writing intensive course
Two courses designated "O/2" are required to complete the oral communication intensive requirement.

Baccalaureate Core

Courses used to meet a science or mathematics core requirement may also be used to satisfy the major and/or minor degree requirements. Other core courses may not be used to meet any other requirements for a degree.

Requirements

Communication (9 credits)

• ENGL 111X--Introduction to Academic Writing (3)
  ENGL 190H may be substituted.
• Complete one of the following:
  ENGL 211X--Academic Writing about Literature (3)
  ENGL 213X--Academic Writing about the Social and Natural Sciences (3)
• Complete one of the following:
  COMM 131X--Fundamentals of Oral Communication: Group Context (3)
  COMM 141X--Fundamentals of Oral Communication: Public Context (3)

Perspectives on the Human Condition (Humanities and social sciences) (18 credits)

• Complete all of the following four courses (12 credits):
  ANTH 100X/SOC 100X--Individual, Society and Culture (3)
  ECON 100X or PS 100X--Political Economy (3)
  HIST 100X--Modern World History (3)
  ENGL/FL 200X--World Literature (3)
• Complete one of the following three courses (3 credits):
  ART/MUS/THR 200X--Aesthetic Appreciation: Interrelationship of Art, Drama and Music (3)
  HUM 201X--Unity in the Arts (3)
  ANS 202X--Aesthetic Appreciation of Alaskan Native Performance (3)
• Complete one of the following six courses (3 credits):
  BA 323X--Business Ethics (3)
  COMM 300X--Communicating Ethics (3)
  JUST 300X--Ethics and Justice (3)
  NRM 303X--Environmental Ethics and Actions (3)
  PS 300X--Ethics and Society (3)
  PHIL 322X--Ethics (3)
• Or complete 12 credits from the above courses plus one of the following (6-9 credits):
  Two semester-length courses in a single Alaska Native language or other non-English language
  Three semester-length courses (9 credits) in American Sign Language taken at the university level.  

Mathematics (3 credits)

• Complete one of the following:
  MATH 107X--Functions for Calculus* (4)
  MATH 161X--Algebra for Business and Economics (3)
  MATH 103X--Concepts and Contemporary Applications of Mathematics (3)
  * No credit may be earned for more than one of MATH 107X or 161X.
• Or complete one of the following:*
  MATH 200X--Calculus (4)
  MATH 201X--Calculus (4)
  MATH 202X--Calculus (4)
  MATH 262X--Calculus for Business and Economics (4)
  MATH 272X--Calculus for Life Sciences (4)
• *Or any math course having one of these as a prerequisite (3-4 credits)

Natural Sciences (8 credits)

Complete any two (4-credit) courses (8 credits).

• ATM 101X--Weather and Climate of Alaska (4)
• BIOL 100X--Human Biology (4)
• BIOL 103X--Biology and Society (4)
• BIOL 104X--Natural History (4)
• BIOL 105X--Fundamentals of Biology I (4)
• BIOL 106X--Fundamentals of Biology II (4)
• BIOL 111X--Human Anatomy and Physiology I (4)
• BIOL 112X--Human Anatomy and Physiology II (4)
• CHEM 100X--Chemistry in Complex Systems (4)
• CHEM 103X--Basic General Chemistry (4)
• CHEM 104X--Beginnings in Biochemistry (4)
• CHEM 105X--General Chemistry (4)
• CHEM 106X--General Chemistry (4)
• GEOG 205X--Physical Geography (4)
• GEOS 100X--Introduction to Earth Science (4)
• GEOS 101X--The Dynamic Earth (4)
• GEOS 112X--History of Earth and Life (4)
• GEOS 120X--Glaciers, Earthquakes and Volcanoes (4)
• GEOS 125X--Humans, Earth and Environment (4)
• MSL 111X--The Oceans (4)
• PHYS 102X--Energy and Society (4)
• PHYS 103X--College Physics (4)
• PHYS 104X--College Physics (4)
• PHYS 115X--Physical Science I (4)
• PHYS 116X--Physical Science II (4)
• PHYS 175X--Astronomy (4)
• PHYS 211X--General Physics (4)
• PHYS 212X--General Physics (4)
• PHYS 213X--Elementary Modern Physics (4)

Library and Information Research (0-1 credits)

• Successful completion of library skills competency test or LS 100X or 101X prior to junior standing

Upper-Division Writing and Oral Communication

• Complete the following:
  Two writing intensive courses designated (W) and one oral communication intensive course designated (O), or two oral communication intensive courses designated (O/2), at the upper-division level (see degree and/or major requirements)

Total Credits Required: 38-39