Adult Liberal Studies
Students age 25 or over may earn a Bachelor of Arts degree by completing a broad and liberal arts based curriculum. Courses in this program are scheduled to facilitate attendance by those having other full-time responsibilities. Students follow the program as specified below with the guidance of an Individualized and Special Programs academic adviser.
Students begin by enrolling in the Adult Liberal Studies Introductory Seminar. In conjunction with individual advising, students are introduced to liberal studies by emphasizing processes that build effective critical thinking and writing as foundations. Students progress to topical seminars that utilize skills developed earlier in the program.
CLEP Scores for the Adult Liberal Studies Program
Inaddition to the English Essay Exam, students may have the potential to take the CLEP (College Level Examination Program). These examinations are given to establish competency in the general education discipline areas of mathematics, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. These four discipline areas are required for graduation. The required general education credit hours and the regulations for the CLEP exams for this program are as follows:
1.Students earning a CLEP exam score of below 400 or those choosing not to take the CLEP exam must earn a minimum of 3 semester hours of credit in a math general education course and a minimum of 9 semester hours of credit in general education courses in humanities, social science and natural science. Independent studies may not be substituted for any general education course.
2.Students who take any course in these four discipline areas after entry into the Adult Liberal Studies Program forfeit their right to apply CLEP credit in that discipline toward their ALS degree. In addition, passing scores on the general education courses are required as prerequisites to enroll in the Adult Liberal Studies topical seminars. Therefore, students are encouraged to take the CLEP exams early in their academic endeavors.
3.Students who have taken course work in any of these discipline areas prior to entry into the Adult Liberal Studies Program and subsequently earn CLEP credit cannot have both count toward meeting general education requirements.
4.Students earning a CLEP exam score of 440 will have 10 semester hours of credit posted to their transcript.
5.Students earning a CLEP exam score of 400-439 may retake the exam after a period of six months.
Program Requirements
Topical Seminars: These seminars are upper division courses in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences that change each semester (syllabi posted in the ISP office). Students are required to take three seminars in each discipline area in order to graduate and may take a tenth seminar as an elective. Students are responsible for abiding with the program's prerequisites and should seek an academic adviser's guidance before enrolling in courses. An administrative drop may be processed for those students who enroll in a topical seminar without the required prerequisites.
Prerequisites: for the Adult Liberal Studies Topical Seminars:
1.Completion of both a freshman orientation course and the ALS Introductory Seminar.
2.Earned credits in College Composition I and II by passing the English Essay Exam or taking and passing the courses.
3.Completion of a minimum of 9 semester credit hours in the discipline area of the topical seminar or passing with a 440 or above score the CLEP examination in the discipline of the seminar.
Electives: Students are to establish an emphasis area that ties together their educational interests and/or career aspirations. The objective of these courses should be one of both academic investigation and focus on sound educational goals. Students should seek the advice of an academic adviser in the drafting of their elective course components.
Area of Concentration: Students are required to complete a minimum of 3 classes of upper division courses (3000/4000) that are associated with an area of academic investigation or to a knowledge base that is related in theoretical content.
The Senior Thesis: The Senior Thesis is the final requirement of the Adult Liberal Studies program. It is a 4 semester credit hour project undertaken with a faculty member as the thesis adviser. Students should seek the advice of an academic adviser and must turn in the appropriate paperwork before enrolling in this final requirement. Students are expected to integrate their thesis theme with their concentration courses.