Academic Programs:  Introduction & Curriculum Overview

At the heart of the Albion Experience is an intellectually stimulating commitment to the liberal arts. Albion's core curriculum is a program of learning that is initiated with the First-Year Seminar and culminates with the conferring of the bachelor's degree. Students begin their academic careers in a First-Year Seminar designed to familiarize them with the liberal arts tradition in an intimate classroom environment that fosters open communication, nurtures critical thinking, and promotes improvement in writing and speaking. Albion is committed to having students complete their undergraduate education with an experience that brings continuity, coherence and focus to their academic course work and that involves the students themselves, soon-to-be graduates, as teachers, facilitators and presenters.

Between the First-Year Seminar and graduation, students complete other core courses: five Modes of Inquiry courses and four category requirements. These courses provide analytic tools for understanding the world, offer rich and complex accounts of social life, encourage examination of these accounts, and contribute to a profound understanding of the interconnectedness of learning and living in a global community. The liberal arts core serves as the impetus and context for lifelong learning, preparing students for the phase after college when they must themselves provide education and expertise as well as continue to learn, and when they must
collaborate and facilitate at home, at work, and in a local and the global community.

In addition to the core curriculum, all students are required to complete a major, which provides a depth of intellectual study that prepares students for graduate and professional school, as well as for a rich diversity of careers and life experiences. These majors may be a conventional departmental major, a not-so-conventional interdepartmental major or the unconventional individually designed major. A commitment to academic excellence within all academic departments ensures every student that fulfilling the requirements of the major will be a comprehensive and challenging scholarly experience. Other opportunities for in-depth exploration and clustering of courses include minors and concentrations.

Choice characterizes the general education requirements as well as the major. Each Albion student is an adult, capable of making sensible decisions about his or her personal future. But inherent in the right to make decisions is the potential to make mistakes. So Albion College provides assistance to students in planning their education. Each student must choose a faculty adviser with whom he or she develops a program of study based on the student's goals.

Curriculum Overview

The primary responsibility for meeting the College's academic requirements rests with each student. This chart serves as a guide to the required and elective courses that fulfill the units needed for graduation. They are explained in greater detail on the following pages. The complete requirements for graduation are outlined in the Academic Regulations section of this catalog.

Core Requirement

I. Liberal Arts 101 (First-Year Seminar; 1 unit)

II. Modes of Inquiry (1 unit in each)

Artistic Creation and Analysis
Historical and Cultural Analysis
Modeling and Analysis
Scientific Analysis
Textual Analysis

III. Category Requirements (1 unit in each)

Environmental Studies
Ethnicity Studies
Gender Studies
Global Studies
The Brown Honors Institute core requirement is found in the Departments and Courses section.

Units for Core: 10

Among the 32 units required for graduation, the following distribution of courses must be fulfilled. These courses can also apply to modes, categories, majors, minors and/or concentrations.

• Two units in humanities (can be from same department) English, Foreign Languages, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Honors
• Two units in mathematics or natural sciences (can be from same department) Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geological Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Honors
• Two units in social science (can be from same department) Anthropology and Sociology, Economics and Management, History, Political Science, Psychology, Speech Communication, Honors
• One unit in fine arts
• Art and Art History, Music, Theatre, Honors

Major Requirement

Departmental Majors

Interdepartmental Majors

Individually Designed Majors

Units for Major: 8-10

Electives

Departmental and Interdepartmental Minors

Institutes

Brown Honors Institute
Institute for the Study of the Environment
Ford Institute for Public Policy and Service
Gerstacker Institute for Professional Management
Liberal Arts Institute for Pre-Medical and Health Care Studies
Shurmur Education Institute

Interdisciplinary Minors

Asian Studies
Gender Studies
Women's Studies

Concentrations

Environmental Science
Environmental Studies
Ethnic Studies
Human Services
Law, Justice, and Society
Mass Communication
Neuroscience
Professional Management
Public Policy and Service
Women's Studies

General Electives

Units for Electives: 12-14
Total Units for Graduation: 32

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