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Nov 23, 2024
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2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
Interdisciplinary Studies (BA.INT)
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Program Description
Vermont State University’s Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program offers students the opportunity and challenge to create a self-designed interdisciplinary program. Students explore connections and patterns within and among disciplines to create a degree that supports their personal, academic, and career goals. Students may also declare an overarching theme or focus for their Plan of Study. Examples of themes include, but are not limited to, Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Global Studies, Human Studies, The Arts, and STEM.
The student and their advisor will initially explore the student’s interests and identify relationships between different disciplines or clusters of disciplines from which the student can build their unique Plan of Study. With the advisor’s assistance and support, the student will create a Plan of Study and write a narrative proposal that describes in detail the relationships between their three areas of study. Members of the Interdisciplinary Studies Committee, who may recommend clarifications or changes, will review the narrative and Plan of Study. Once the program proposal has been approved, the student is officially an Interdisciplinary Studies major.
The program concludes with a capstone seminar, in which each student develops a unique senior project that applies what they have learned within their self-designed program. This project is meaningful and applicable to the student’s personal, academic, and career goals.
Program Outcomes
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Connect their academic plan to their personal history and long-term goals.
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Articulate a rationale for their three areas of study and justify the selection of courses in each of those areas.
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Understand the nature and value of interdisciplinary study.
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Demonstrate meaningful connections between their chosen areas of study.
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Demonstrate depth of knowledge in the primary and secondary areas of study
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Experience and articulate meaningful connections between learning in the major and life outside the classroom.
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Program Core (42 credits)
Students must successfully complete a total of 42 credits, at least 21 of which are upper-level (3000-4000 level), as follows:
- Primary Area of study (18 cr);
- Secondary Area of study (12 cr);
- Tertiary Area of study (9 cr);
- ECE: an extended classroom experience, which may be credit or non-credit bearing, of at least 20 hours. This requirement is flexible. It can be an internship or other applied learning experience (service within the VSCE, action projects, etc.).
Additional Stipulations
- At least 12 of the 42 credits required within the Interdisciplinary Studies major must be taken in the semester(s) after the Plan of Study has been approved
- A grade of C- or higher must be earned in all courses counted toward the 42 credits for the major.
- In general, courses such as Student Teaching in Education, which focus on career preparation, are not appropriate for inclusion in the 42 required credits but do fit the ECE requirement.
Credits Required for Major: 42
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