The undergraduate curriculum of the College of Arts and Sciences is divided into three parts:

• preparation in general education
• a major field of study
• and electives to complement the breadth and depth of a liberal education.

General education is an important part of each student's work at CAS. The College's general education curriculum comprises three elements: the distribution requirement, the core curriculum requirement, and the writing requirements.

Please note: The distribution requirement and the core curriculum as described below replace the two sets of "core curriculum requirements" that were in effect from fall, 1979 to spring, 1988. With certain exceptions they apply to all students currently enrolled in the College. The present requirements, however, have been designed so that currently enrolled students can partially fulfill them with courses they have already taken. Please see "Adapting Previous Requirements," below, for details.

Please note: the distribution requirement for students majoring in engineering physics differs from what is described here. Please see the engineering physics section of this catalog for complete information.

CAS students must complete the requirements for one of the majors offered by the College, as described in the departmental listings in this catalog; or they may choose an individual major. Information on the College's individual majors curriculum appears later in this section.

The ability to use the English language for the effective presentation of ideas in expository prose is essential to success in university-level study. Therefore, the College asks students to satisfy two writing requirements: the freshman writing requirement and the writing proficiency requirement.

The Freshman Writing Requirement: All CAS students must complete one year of Freshman Composition (English 101 and 102, or the equivalent), unless they are granted a waiver. Together, these two courses focus on the fundamentals of expository writing and the presentation of research. The results of the English Placement Test require some students to take English 010 before 101.

The Writing Proficiency Requirement: All CAS students must demonstrate writing proficiency, before accumulating 68 credits. Each student either takes a Writing Proficiency Examination or submits a satisfactory portfolio of papers written for UMass Boston courses. Transfer students entering the University with 68 or more credits must complete this requirement before their second semester of residence. Students who accumulate more than 68 credits without having completed this requirement may have limits placed on the number of credits they can take until it is completed. Students with 90 or more credits who have attempted but not yet satisfied the writing proficiency requirement must negotiate a learning contract with a writing specialist and their major department; the contract will include a reduced course load and intensive work in writing to assist students in their effort to satisfy the requirement. Students who accumulate 90 credits without having attempted the Writing Proficiency Examination are subject to academic suspension.

A single course may appear in the catalog in the course listings of two different departments. Such cross-listed courses may be taken for credit toward the requirements of either or both departments, unless otherwise indicated. Cross-listed courses are designated by the prefix "L," and both departments are also designated. For example: Hist L160 (EASt L160) East Asian Civilizations I. This is an introductory-level course (160) and a cross-listed course (as indicated by the "L"), in history and East Asian studies. A single cross-listed course may not be taken more than once; i.e., a student who takes Hist L160 may not subsequently take EASt L160.

Students may normally enroll for no more than five courses per semester. After a student's first semester, the student may take one additional course per semester under the following conditions:

1. the student's overall grade point average must be 3.0 (or above) or the student's grade point average for the previous semester must be 3.5 (or above); and

2. written permission must be secured from those the dean of the College has designated (associate or assistant dean for academic studies).

Some courses, though taught by faculty of specific departments, have a broader focus. Others are taught by faculty from more than one department. All these courses are listed either under Humanities or under Interdisciplinary Studies, which are separate sections of this catalog. The departments involved are listed in parentheses as a prefix to the course title. For example, Human C271 (MdnLng) The Literature of the Holocaust, is a course taught by faculty of the Department of Modern Languages.

CAS students majoring in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, geography, mathematics, physics, or psychology, have the option of earning a bachelor of science degree. Specific departmental requirements for this degree are listed in each department's section of this catalog; all of them require students to take six semester courses in science outside their major discipline, in addition to completing all of the graduation requirements listed above for the bachelor of arts degree.

This office is responsible for administering the core curriculum, the Freshman Studies Program, and the policies and procedures that govern the writing proficiency requirement, including the Writing Proficiency Examination. Faculty and staff in the Office provide assistance to students seeking information about these requirements.

The distribution requirement of twelve courses normally includes five "core courses," which are offered in four of the distribution areas: the arts, historical and cultural studies, philosophical and humanistic studies, and social and behavioral sciences.

Core courses are identified by a "C" prefix in the course number (for example, Philosophy C108). Of the five required core courses, three must be at the 100 level, and the other two must be at the 200 level. Please note: No student may take more than five core courses. A core course emphasizes the nature of knowledge and the methods of investigation that characterize the disciplines within its distribution area. Core courses provide instruction and practice in such intellectual skills and habits of thought as analytical writing, critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, and research techniques. Students should ordinarily complete their core courses during their first two years of study, before they take the Writing Proficiency Examination.

Transfer Students and the Distribution Requirement: For all transfer students, courses taken at other institutions will be given equivalency credit whenever possible, and will be assigned to the appropriate subject area, so that they can be counted toward the distribution requirement.
Transfer students who entered during the period from fall, 1985 through spring, 1988 are required to meet the core curriculum requirement as outlined above. Some of their transfer courses may count toward this requirement.

CAS students (and others subject to the CAS distribution requirement) who entered the University in fall, 1988, or thereafter, with fewer than 30 transfer credits, must satisfy the distribution requirement and the core curriculum requirement. Their five core courses must be taken at UMass Boston.

Those entering in fall, 1988, or thereafter, with 30 or more transfer credits must satisfy the distribution requirement, but not the core curriculum requirement. They are free to take up to three C100 and two C200 courses either as part of the distribution requirement, as electives, or as preparation for the Writing Proficiency Exam; however they are not required to take core courses.

The distribution requirement asks students to distribute a total of 12 courses among six or seven broadly defined subject areas, each of which spans several different disciplines. The requirement is designed to insure that each CAS student develops a broad familiarity with the range of human knowledge. One subject area, for example, social sciences, includes courses from such disciplines as anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology. The seven distribution areas, and the common elements linking the disciplines within each, are described below.

I. Courses in the arts focus on the creative process in such diverse expressive areas as architecture, literature, music, painting, sculpture, and theater, in order to promote an understanding of how artists perceive their universe and their place within it.

II. Courses in historical and cultural studies examine, reconstruct, and interpret the human past, both historic and prehistoric, literate and non-literate, and explore a wide range of cultures and civilizations around the world.

III. Courses in philosophical and humanistic studies examine methods of reasoning, and analyze social, ethical, religious, and political values and concepts, in order to apply such knowledge to human experience.

IV. Courses in the social and behavioral sciences study the behavior of human individuals and groups, often applying the methods of science to the social environment, analyzing the world in terms of individual behavior, social interactions, and human institutions.

V. Courses in the natural sciences seek an understanding, through experiment and application, of the laws that explain natural phenomena; they approach the human world through study of its natural elements, structures, and processes.

VI. Courses in mathematics and computer languages study these self-enclosed symbolic systems whose analytic pleasures and practical uses extend our awareness of the nature and processes of human thought, and the manageability of the real world.

VII. Courses in foreign languages encourage an understanding of human thought, feeling, and culture through study of the structures, meanings, functions, and development of speech. Studying another language can improve students' command of their own, and contribute to an understanding of another culture.

With a few exceptions (indicated by a "Z" prefix; for example "Art Z175"), almost all 100- and 200-level CAS courses of 3 or more credits are assigned to one of these seven areas, and thus count toward fulfilling the distribution requirement. Of the 12 courses taken to meet the distribution requirement, a maximum of three may be counted in one subject area; a maximum of two may be counted in each of the other areas. Students have the option of eliminating one of the subject areas; in this case they would spread their 12 courses over six subject areas rather than seven. Students wishing to count foreign language courses as part of their distribution requirement must complete at least one semester beyond the 101 level.

Adapting Previous Requirements: CAS students who have taken any 100- or 200-level course presently assigned to a distribution area may apply that course‹regardless of whether it previously carried a "C", "D", or "E" prefix, or no prefix‹to the current distribution requirement. For example, a student who took Economics 208 in 1983 may count this course toward meeting the requirement, even though it did not qualify under previous core curriculum requirements, and was not assigned to a distribution area (in this case, social and behavioral sciences) until 1988.

The Distribution Requirement: Students who present evidence, through placement scores or transcripts, of intermediate proficiency (equivalent to the fourth semester of college work) in a foreign language* will receive a waiver for two distribution courses in the foreign languages subject area. Native speakers of a language other than English are encouraged to apply for this waiver. Students granted a foreign language distribution waiver need to take only ten courses toward the distribution requirement.

Students who present evidence, through placement scores or transcripts, of work in mathematics equivalent to college calculus (Math 141) will receive a waiver for two distribution courses in the mathematics subject area. Students granted a mathematics distribution waiver need to take only ten courses toward the distribution requirement. Students granted waivers in both a foreign language and mathematics need to take only eight courses toward the distribution requirement.

The Writing Requirements: The freshman writing requirement may be waived through examination. Complete information is available at the Department of English. The writing proficiency requirement may not be waived.

* Students working toward the BS degree may be granted the same waiver for foreign language proficiency at the elementary level (equivalent to the second semester of college work).

CAS students must acquire a total of 120 credits to graduate, of which at least 30 must be earned at UMass Boston. No credits earned in ESL courses, with the exception of ESL 100D, may count toward graduation. A maximum of 4 credits earned in Academic Skills courses, of which only 2 credits may be in math skills courses, may count toward graduation.

Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 in order to graduate. Individual departments may also have a GPA requirement for courses in the major.