GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

 

(1) A minimum of 124 credits; at least 64 of which must be taken at Bard.

(2) A minimum of 40 credits outside the division of major.

(3) Every student must take two semesters of First-Year Seminar. Transfer students may be exempt.

(4) Every student must be promoted to the Upper College by passing moderation.

(5) Every student must complete an acceptable senior project.

(6) Distribution requirement: one course from each of the appropriate distribution areas.

 

 

DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDENTS ENTERING SINCE FALL 2004.

 

A.    Each student will be required to take one course in each of the nine categories listed below.  No more than two requirements may be fulfilled within a single disciplinary program.  Non-native speakers of English are exempted from the Foreign Language, Literature, and Culture requirement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.    In addition, all students must fulfill a “Rethinking Difference” requirement.  The requirement may be satisfied by any course that is primarily focused on the study of difference in the context of larger social dynamics.  The course may address,  but is not limited to addressing, differences of race, religion, ethnicity, class, gender, and/or sexuality.  It may consider, but is not limited to considering, the contexts of globalization, nationalism, and social justice.  A single course may simultaneously fulfill both the “Rethinking Difference” requirement and one of the distribution requirements above.

 

 

 DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS FOR STUDENTS ENTERING PRIOR TO FALL 2004.

 

Courses are assigned to distributional areas by intellectual focus and methodology, not by divisional location or program. The faculty designates the area into which a course falls on the basis of its content. There are seven areas plus the Q requirement. A course may be designated as being in two areas (but not more than two), and it may at the same time be a Q course.

 

Students are required to take one course from each of the distribution areas listed below and a Q course, making a total of eight courses over the four years. If a course is designated as being in two areas students must select one requirement to be fulfilled. However, a course from any area that is also designated as a Q course may satisfy two requirements - one area requirement, and the Q requirement. In order to graduate, a student must accumulate 124 semester hours of academic credit, at least 40 of which  must be OUTSIDE THEIR DIVISION OF MAJOR.

 

·         Area A: Philosophical, Aesthetic and Interpretive Discourses - courses in philosophy, aesthetics, art history and theory, literary theory and hermeneutics, religion courses with a philosophical emphasis, political thought, economic theory, history and philosophy of science.

 

·         Area B: Literary Texts and Linguistics - courses in literature, theory of language and linguistics, psychology or anthropology courses on language.

 

·         Area C: Social and Historical Disciplines - courses in history, sociology, anthropology, politics, social psychology, religion courses with a socio-historical emphasis, literature courses with historical focus, art or music courses with a specifically historical focus.

 

·         Area D: Foreign Language and Culture - all courses in foreign languages, but also courses in the social, literary or artistic disciplines that focus on specific (non-English speaking) culture areas could be included.

 

·         Area E: Natural Sciences, Empirical Social Sciences, or Mathematics - many science division courses; social science courses with a quantitative or empirical research focus; courses in computer science.

 

·         Area F: Practicing Arts - courses in studio art, dance, theater, filmmaking, musical performance, photography studios, creative writing.

 

·         Area G: Laboratory Science or Computationally Based Courses.

 

·         Area Q: the quantitative requirement.