University Bulletin (2023-2024)

Courses of Instruction

Courses meet for three hours a week unless otherwise specified.

Most courses are available to all students qualified to take them. Access to some courses is governed by the signature of the instructor. Other courses impose a numerical limit to preserve environmental conditions suitable to the pedagogy the instructor employs; students increase their chances of gaining enrollment in such courses by participating in the early registration periods.

Each semester the university endeavors to ensure that numerous alternatives exist by which to make progress toward university requirements; however, it cannot guarantee access on demand to a particular course or to a particular section of a multisectioned course.

Generally, a course is offered with the frequency indicated at the end of its description. The frequency may be designated as every semester, every year, every second year, every third year or every fourth year.

The university reserves the right to make any changes in the course offerings without prior notice.

Courses numbered 1 to 99 are primarily for undergraduate students; courses numbered 100 to 199 are for undergraduate and graduate students; and courses numbered 200 and above are primarily for graduate students. Undergraduates may not enroll in courses numbered 200 or higher without the permission of the instructor.

A semester course carries one semester course credit (four semester-hour credits) while a year course carries two semester course credits (eight semester-hour credits). Exceptions are noted under the individual course descriptions. Certain courses do not count for rate of work and do not carry course credit toward graduation. Occasionally, courses are awarded additional semester-hour credits, yet count as only one semester course toward graduation. All such courses are specifically identified in the course listing. Certain courses require a laboratory course taken concurrently.

A student may take half of a full-year course with a D suffix for credit with the approval and consent of the course instructor on the appropriate form designated by the Office of the University Registrar. Students who enrolled in full-year courses in the fall term are continued in the spring term automatically.

Course Number Suffixes

Credit Hours and Work Load Expectations

Each course credit carries an expectation that in order to be successful a student needs to engage in approximately 45 hours of combined in-class and out-of-class work and preparation. (Out-of-class work comprises readings, papers, discussion sections, problem sets, etc.) For example, a standard 4-credit course would have a total work load expectation of 180 hours and a 2-credit course would have 90 hours.