College Breadth Requirements

Each college has established additional requirements for a degree. The requirements of the colleges at Riverside are designed to stimulate an interest in areas of knowledge not necessarily related to a student’s major field. Students should note that they consist of a certain number of units and courses covering a variety of fields. Although these requirements determine a large and important part of the four-year curriculum, there are opportunities for students in all departments to do special, independent work.

The main objective of the colleges on the Riverside campus is to provide a setting within which students may develop those qualities of mind and character necessary to intellectual advancement and to useful membership in society. The major areas of human knowledge form the substance of the colleges on the Riverside campus: the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences; The Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering; and The School of Business Administration. The breadth requirements for the colleges are similar; however, refer to each college’s section for a detailed discussion of its requirements.

An alternative system of General Education Concentrations is available to most UCR undergraduates. Should a student choose to follow a concentra- tion, he or she will follow a series of courses, at both the lower and upper division, chosen by faculty to represent an interdisciplinary approach to a specific topic. The concentrations are structured to give students, in addition to basic reasoning, writing, and computation skills, working knowledge of a field, analogous to an academic minor, which will complement their work in their major field. Pilot concentrations include “California” and “Climate Change/Sustainability.” Details about these concentrations can be found under the College Breadth Requirements for the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and The School of Business Administration.

Courses taken in a student’s major discipline (including courses cross-listed with the major discipline) may not be applied toward satisfaction of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Ethnicity, or the Natural Sciences and Mathematics requirements except for Biology majors in connection with the Biological Sciences requirement, English majors in connection with the English Composition requirement, History majors in connection with the World History requirement, Ethnic Studies majors in connection with the Ethnicity requirement, Foreign Language majors in connection with language requirements, and students permitted by their college to take a Senate-approved alternative to English 1C in order to satisfy the third- quarter writing requirement. However, courses outside the major discipline, but required for the major, may be applied toward satisfaction of these requirements. Students are urged to make sure that they understand which courses are permitted to satisfy more than one requirement. Information on specific degree requirements and courses is available in the academic advising office in each college.

Placement exams may be required before a student takes courses in certain subjects, such as mathematics and foreign languages. The placement exam may be taken only once in each subject during a student’s UCR career. For foreign languages, a sufficiently high score on the UCR placement exam can fulfill the Foreign Language requirement.

For details about the UC policy on intercampus reciprocity of breadth requirements and the UC policy on the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, see below.

Students who transfer from one UC campus to another and who have completed the Breadth/General Education (B/GE) requirements of the campus from which they have transferred (except for upper-division B/GE requirements) will be considered to have met the B/GE requirements of the campus to which they transfer.

Courses taken for B/GE requirements at the campus from which they transfer will be accepted toward the appropriate B/GE requirements of the campus to which they transfer. Undergraduate Studies / 51

The Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is a series of courses offered in the California community colleges that transfer students may complete as a way to satisfy the lower-division breadth/general education requirements at the UC or the California State University. The IGETC program is administered through the California community college system. Completion of the IGETC must be certified by a community college counselor and submitted to UCR with the student’s final transcript before the first term of enrollment.

The IGETC is accepted for students pursuing majors in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and The School of Business Administration, as extensive major preparation is not required at the lower-division level. All students should ensure that the CHASS Student Academic Affairs office or the Undergraduate Business Programs Office have received the certified IGETC during their first quarter of UCR attendance.

The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences does not accept IGETC, although courses taken to satisfy IGETC may be applied toward the college’s breadth pattern. Although the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) accepts completion of IGETC as satisfying the majority of the college's breadth requirements for transfer students, some additional breadth coursework may be required after enrollment at Bourns. For more information on BCOE breadth requirements, go to student.engr.ucr.edu/policies/requirements/breadth.html. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to focus on preparatory course work for their desired major, such as mathematics, science, and other technical preparatory course work, rather than on IGETC completion. (Strong technical preparation is essential for success in the admissions process, and subsequently, in all coursework at Bourns.) For moreinformation, go to www.engr.ucr.edu/undergrads/transferring.

A major is a coordinated group of upper-division courses giving depth to a student’s work in a chosen area. A list of degrees offered and possibilities for establishing individual majors are described in each college section below. Degrees are also listed in the front of the catalog. A student should choose a major not later than the beginning of the junior year. However, a choice of major before that time facilitates program planning in most academic fields.

The departmental major represents advanced and relatively specialized work in one of the academic disciplines in the college. The interdepart- mental or nondepartmental major is broader in scope and usually based upon two or more disciplines. The individual major is designed for the student who has an unusual but definite academic interest for which no suitable major is offered.

Major requirements are described in detail in the Programs and Courses section of this catalog under the department or program offering the major.

The responsibility for fulfillment of all degree requirements — general university, college, and major — rests with the student. Students are urged, however, to seek program counseling with appropriate advisors.

Assignment to a major or to the undeclared category (open to freshman and sophomore students) is based on the student’s choice indicated on the Application for Admission. The student should enroll in accordance with this choice; changes may be made following course enrollment.

Students may transfer from one major to another, elect a double major within their college, or add a second major in another college by filing a declaration with the dean of the colleges concerned. 52

Graduate students at UCR are an essential part of the university’s distinguished research teams and full partners in the undergraduate teaching mission of the faculty. Founded as a research institution in 1907, Riverside is the oldest of the UC’s southern campuses. UCR combines the intellectual and material resources of the UC system with a uniquely intimate research environment, fostering a type of frequent and high-powered faculty-student contact unavailable at other universities.

Graduate degrees at UCR are research degrees, certifying that students are trained in the techniques of independent inquiry and have demonstrated the capacity to make unique contributions to their fields. Occupying a distinctive niche in disciplines ranging from chemistry to dance history, nematology to economics, UCR offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of doctor of philosophy, master of arts, master of education, master of fine arts, master of science, and master of business administration.

Campus policies concerning graduate education are set by the Graduate Council, a committee of the Academic Senate, and carried out by the Graduate Division staff under the direction of the Graduate Dean.

In addition, each program has a graduate advisor appointed by the Graduate Dean. Advisors assist students in program planning and completing degree requirements and write a yearly evaluation of each student’s progress toward the degree. Students should make an effort to confer regularly with their graduate advisor.

All graduate students are members of the Graduate Student Association (GSA), which seeks to represent their views and promote their interests with the faculty and administration, both at the campus level and universitywide. For a more detailed description of GSA activities and services, call

• (951) 827-3740. Further information can also be found under Graduate

Student Association in the Services for Students section of this catalog, or e-mail gsaucr@ucr.edu.