The Natural Sciences Program offers an interdepartmental major that leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree. It is intended to serve students who wish to acquire a broad background in the natural sciences while pursuing a separate major in the humanities, the social sciences, or the arts.

Undergraduate Programs

Major

Natural Sciences is available as a second major for the BA; the first major must be in a department or program within the arts, humanities, or social sciences, excluding the programs in Environmental Studies, Gerontological Studies, and Pre-Architecture. For a student who completes a BS degree in management or accounting, Natural Sciences may serve as the sole major for the BA degree.

The program requires a minimum of 50 semester hours of work in natural sciences and mathematics. The natural science departments included in the major are Astronomy; Biology; Chemistry; Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences; and Physics. The student must complete a minimum of 20 hours in one of these departments, a minimum of 8 hours each in two of the other departments, and 3 hours each in the remaining two departments. In addition, all Natural Sciences majors must complete:

The courses used to satisfy the Natural Sciences major should be courses that would satisfy requirements of an existing science major. However, any 200-level or higher astronomy course is acceptable for the Natural Sciences major.

Minor

A minor is achieved through completion of the requirements listed below in any four of the six participating departments.

Astronomy

Biology

Chemistry

Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics

Physics