ECE General Education Program

Catalog Term: prior to Fall 2013

Go to Approved GEE List

Humanities and social sciences courses encompass the breadth of human experience and culture, both past and present, including individual behavior, social and political structures, aesthetic values, modes and dynamics of communication, philosophical and ethical thought, and cognitive processes. Such courses are an integral part of all engineering curricula which complements technical and professional content by enabling engineering students to appreciate the world in which they live and work, and to contribute as both educated members of society and aware, ethical professionals. Humanities and social sciences courses also provide a framework for rational inquiry, critical evaluation, judgment and decisions when dealing with issues that are non-quantifiable, ambiguous, or controversial. Of equal importance, they offer opportunities for engineering students to develop interests and insights that guide, enrich and expand their perceptions of the world they live in.

To these ends, all B.S. students in the Schools of Engineering are required to complete a general education program of at least 18 credit hours in approved humanities and social sciences electives. Students are strongly encouraged to develop a coherent general education plan, and distribute their general education credits throughout their academic program. The collection of courses used to fulfill this requirement must meet all of the following conditions.

1. Courses must be drawn from those offered by the departments of Agricultural Economics, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Child Development and Family Studies, Communication, Economics, English, Foreign Languages and Literatures, History, Interdisciplinary Studies, Philosophy, Political Sciences, Psychological Sciences, Sociology and Anthropology, Visual and Performing Arts. Any course offered by these departments is allowable, provided that it is open to students in the offering department and is not focused primarily on professional training, natural science or mathematics.
2. In order to ensure sufficient exposure to topics dealing with global, societal and contemporary issues, at least 9 credit hours must be drawn from courses offered by the departments of Agricultural Economics, Economics, Communication, Foreign Languages and Literatures, History, Interdisciplinary Studies, Philosophy, Political Sciences, Psychological Sciences, or Sociology and Anthropology.
3. At least 6 of the credit hours must be taken in a single department. [Note: all foreign languages, FLL and CLCS are in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature; A&D, DANC, MUS, and THTR are in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts; ASL and SLHS are in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences; and ANTH and SOC are in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.]
4. At least 6 of the credit hours must be from departments other than the one used for Condition 3, above.
5. At least 6 of the credit hours must come from courses at the 300-level or above, or from courses with a required prerequisite in the same department. [These course are listed in bold face type in the table below.]
6. If a foreign language course is used to satisfy part of the requirements, the student must take at least 6 credit hours of the same language. Credit is not allowed for language courses in the student's native tongue(s), although literature, culture, drama and related courses are allowed.
7. Credit by examination or granted credit (e.g., advanced placement credit), conditioned solely at the discretion of the awarding department, can be used to satisfy any part of the requirement.
8. No course may be counted more than once toward the requirement, even if the offering department allows it to be repeated for credit.

Below is a list of courses that are approved as General Education Electives in ECE. ECE students may petition the ECE Undergraduate Coordinator for permission to use courses not appearing on this list. Permission must be obtained before taking the course. If you are in Freshman Engineering or considering a CODO to ECE, you are advised to take only the courses that appear on this list. Course numbers in bold can be used to satisfy the requirement listed in Condition 5, above.

May not receive credit in both CDFS and HDFS courses. Courses with an asterisk (*) are selected topic courses. In order to determine if they can count as part of the general education elective requirement, a course description must be submitted to the ECE Undergraduate Office.

Approved GEE Course List