Of Historical Interest

Previous General Education Requirements

This section includes details of early Arts and Sciences general education requirements and who is eligible for each one. It is of mainly academic and historical interest. Most Arts and Sciences advisers will never need to apply any of the requirements described below except the green list pre-1985 proficiency requirement, which is described in detail in a separate AIF, Pre-1985 General Education and Basic Skills Requirements.

The single date advisers need commit to memory is 1985. Virtually all A&S students who entered college before autumn 1985 use the current Areas of Knowledge requirement and the pre-1985 proficiency requirement. Virtually all A&S students who entered college in autumn 1985 or later use the current general education and skills requirements.

A summary of previous Arts and Sciences requirements, and what students are eligible for each set of requirements, is the the chart below. This is followed by a detailed description of each set of requirements and some information about how each evolved. The last section of this AIF is devoted to a discussion of how to determine the student's date of college entry when this may not be clear.

Other colleges

In some UW schools and colleges, students who started college before 1994 (and students who transferred to the UW before 1996) are eligible for the pre-1994 general education requirements of that school or college. In many instances, however, the previous requirements of colleges meet or exceed the current requirements, and there is no advantage to claiming eligibility for earlier requirements. Most schools and colleges expect students to meet their current general education requirements. A student requesting an exception should petition the college. The Undergraduate Advising Office has UW bulletins dating back to the early 1930s and can assist advisers from other colleges who wish to research previous requirements.

University general education requirements

Before autumn 1985 there was no University-wide general education requirement; each school and college set its own requirements. For University requirements from 1985 on, see the AIFs on current requirements.

Summary

It is not uncommon for a student to start at the UW when one set of general education requirements is in effect and finish under a different set of requirements. The governing principle is that students are allowed to use the most liberal set of requirements available between the time the student entered college and the time the student graduates. Students are not allowed to elect a set of requirements that were retired before the student started college.

Basic skills

The current basic skills requirement (writing, math, and foreign language) was adopted in 1985 and is more rigorous than the previous requirement. Students who entered college before autumn 1985 are allowed to use the green-list, pre-1985 requirement, called "old proficiency," and to combine it with the current Areas of Knowledge requirement (or, if eligible, with the white list). Detailed information about the old proficiency requirement is in the AIF Pre-1985 General Education and Basic Skills Requirements.

General education

Because the current general education requirement (Areas of Knowledge) is more liberal than most earlier requirements, almost all students benefit from using the current requirement. This is certainly true for all students who started college in autumn 1980 or later. Students who are eligible for the pre-1980 white list and the even earlier 10-20-30 distribution plan may be better off following old requirements.

Electing old requirements

Students MAY choose to follow the requirement that was in effect when they started college, but those who choose to do so must follow the earlier requirement in its entirety, including the basic skills as well as the general education requirement.

The chart is followed by detailed descriptions of previous Arts and Sciences requirements. More information is available in a set of UW Bulletins ranging back to the 1930s, at the Undergraduate Advising Office.

* Actually, it's a little more complicated. Students eligible for the white list are those who entered the UW as freshmen through summer 1980, or as transfer students through summer 1982. The date the student entered the UW, not the date the student started college, is the determining factor.

Pre-1962

Pre-1936

Before 1936, the College of Liberal Arts had the following Specific Requirements:

• Composition 1 and 2 (10 credits)
• Psychology 1 (5 credits)
• Philosophy 1, 2, 3, or 5 (5 credits)
• Foreign language - two high school years of Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, Scandinavian, or Italian, OR 20 college credits in one of these seven languages plus a passing score on a reading test

10-20-30

In 1936, the following Required Courses and Group Requirements were adopted. A few majors had "prescribed departmental curricula" which replaced the Group Requirements. These general education requirements remained in effect until autumn 1962.

• Required Courses
  • English 101, 102, 103 (9 credits)
  • Physical Education 110 (women) or 175 (men) (2 credits), plus six quarters of physical education activity
  • All male students entering directly from high school must complete six quarters of military training.
• Group Requirements
• 60 credits from Group I (Humanities), II (Social Sciences), and III (Natural Sciences)
• At least 10 credits from one group, 20 credits from a second group, and 30 credits from the third group
• Individual courses were not listed; each Group consisted of departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. Thus, virtually all A&S courses counted toward Group Requirements.
• Courses used to satisfy the Required Courses could not be used.
• Courses in the student's major could be used.

1962-1969

In 1962 both the basic skills and breadth requirements were revised. This period was the only time in the College of Arts and Sciences when two college years of foreign language were required of all students.

• Basic Proficiencies
  • English 101, 102, 103, or exemption by WPCT or AP score
  • Math 101 or Philosophy 120, or placement into trigonometry or college algebra
  • Completion of the sixth college quarter of a foreign language, or placement into the seventh quarter
• Distribution Requirement
• 20 credits each of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences, plus an additional 20 credits. No more than 30 credits could count toward each group.
• The lists included almost all courses in the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Up to 15 credits in the major department could count.
• Courses satisfying the Basic Proficiencies could not also count toward Distribution.

White list

In autumn 1969 both the basic skills and general education requirements were changed. The distribution requirement was dropped from 80 credits to 60. The most substantial changes, however, were in the basic skills requirement. This 1969 proficiency requirement is what we now refer to as "old proficiency," and it is the basic skills requirement now followed by any student who started college before autumn 1985. Because we now see many more students eligible for the next general education plan, the green list, than students eligible for the white list, we have come to associate this basic skills plan (old proficiency) with the green list, but it actually originated with the white list.

The white list is more liberal than even the current Areas of Knowledge list in that it include English composition courses and all foreign language courses, including first-year courses and conversation courses. Students who are eligible for the white list AND who took these courses before autumn 1994 are allowed to count the courses toward VLPA. The College no longer maintains the white list, but many courses that counted toward the white list but do not count toward Areas of Knowledge are listed in the General Education Course Archives.

• Proficiency requirement
  • 15 credits from a list including English composition, foreign language, and math.
  • Exemptions for students with a specified high school background or at least 85 transfer credits or an academic transfer associate degree from a Washinton community college.
  • For details see Pre-1985 General Education and Basic Skills Requirements.
• Distribution requirement
• 20 credits each Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences
• Almost all courses in the College of Arts and Sciences are on the "college lists." Also provided were "special lists" of introductory and fundamental courses. Special-list courses were not required; they were recommendations to help students with program planning.
• No courses from the student's major department counted.
• No courses used to satisfy the proficiency requirement counted.

Green list

A major revision of the distribution requirement was started in 1978. For a few years parts of the requirement were changed each year, resulting in a bewildering array of eligibility tables and flow charts to help advisers determine each student's requirements. Since the distribution lists became progressively more limited, each student wished to follow the earliest set of requirements for which he was eligible.

Although it was a challenge to follow the requirements at the time, when the revision of the basic skills and general education requirements was completed all the intermediate plans were discarded and all students were transferred to what we now refer to as the "pre-85" distribution requirement, or the "green list," which was the distribution plan finally achieved at the end of all the revisions that occurred during this period.

Throughout this period the 15-credit proficiency requirement described immediately above was maintained. Only the distribution requirement changed.

Distribution list revisions

The revisions actually started in 1978, although the changes made in 1978 and 1979 were eventually rolled back so that they applied only to students who started college in 1980 or later.

In 1978 a faculty committee was charged with the task of reducing the distribution lists. Ever since the institution of a breadth requirement in 1936, the lists of approved courses had included almost all courses taught in the College of Arts and Sciences. The committee was to limit the lists to courses with a strong general education component. For example, the revised social science list included, among other courses, six anthropology, four economics, five geography, and seven political science courses.

In autumn 1978 the revised social science list was instituted. Freshmen entering in autumn 1978 or later, and transfer students entering in autumn 1980 or later, were required to use the short social science list, but used the long humanities and natural science lists.

In autumn 1979 the revised natural science list was instituted. This list was not as restrictive as the social science list. It included, for example, 9 biology, 11 math, 23 chemistry, and 26 physics courses. Freshmen entering in autumn 1979 or later, and transfer students entering in autumn 1981 or later, were required to use the short social science and natural science lists, but continued to use the long humanities list.

In autumn 1980 the revised humanities list was instituted. By this time the standards had relaxed even more; this list included 23 art history, 21 music, and 66 English courses.

In autumn 1981 the intermediate lists were removed, the lists that were combinations of long and revised lists. Freshmen who entered in autumn 1980 or later, and transfer students entering in autumn 1982 or later, were required to use the shortened lists, which by now was referred to as the "green list," from the color of the 1980 Bachelor's Degree Planbook. Students who entered before those dates were eligible for the long list, now referred to as the "white list." This meant that quite a few students (those freshmen who entered in 1978 and 1979) were moved from the short lists back to the long lists.

In summary ...

All students who started college before autumn 1985 are eligible for the 1969 "old proficiency" list. Students who entered the UW as freshmen before 1980, and as transfer students before 1982, are eligible for the long "white" distribution lists. Students who entered the UW as freshmen after 1980, and as transfer students after 1982, were required to use the short "green" distribution list. Any of these students who graduate after 1994 are eligible to use instead the much more liberal Areas of Knowledge list.

The Humanities Grid

From 1978 through 1981 there was a faculty initiative called the Humanities Grid. This grouped humanities distribution courses by chronological period, geographical region, and type of expression, allowing interested students to structure the selection of their humanities distribution courses rather than choosing a random collection of subjects. A number of new Humanities course offerings were designed specifically to occupy cells of the grid.

Below is a sample humanities grid from the 1978 Bachelor's Degree Planbook.

Blue list

There were many changes in the period 1985-1994. During this time the basic skills requirement was revised into the current requirement of English composition, W courses, Q/SR, and foreign language. The distribution requirement during this period was significantly different than the requirements that came before and after. The lists were yet again revised to include many more courses than the green list, and requirements of subcategories and linked sets were added.

Basic skills

The revision of the basic skills requirement actually began in 1983 with the addition of a 10-credit W course requirement. This implementation was eventually rolled back and students who entered before autumn 1985 were not required to complete the W-course requirement.

The revised basic skills requirement took effect in autumn 1985. This requirement, with minor revisions, has remained in effect since autumn 1985.

• English composition, 5 credits
• W courses, 10 credits
• Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning (Q/SR), 5 credits
• Foreign language, proficiency through the third college quarter

A minimum grade of 2.0 was required in English composition, the Q/SR course, and the third quarter of foreign language. The minimum 2.0 requirement was removed from the Q/SR in 1994, and the change was retroactive.

Distribution

The distribution requirement was extensively revised in 1983. The 1983 plan was referred to as the "yellow list:" old proficiency, W courses, and the new distribution plan. In 1985 the new proficiency described above was added and this 1985 collection of requirements was referred to as the "blue list:" new proficiency and new distribution. In 1994, when the requirements were revised yet again, the yellow list was eliminated and those students were rolled back to the green list: old proficiency and old distribution. It was at this point that 1985 became the major point of division that still remains: pre-1985 students do old proficiency (foreign language not required) and post-1985 students do new proficiency (foreign language required).

The 1985 distribution requirement, the blue list, was the most complex yet.

• Group I - Humanities: 20 credits, including 5 credits in Language and Literature and 5 credits in Fine Arts
• Group II - Social Sciences: 20 credits, including 5 credits in Social Sciences and 5 credits in History, Philosophy, and Civilization
• Group III - Natural Sciences: 20 credits
• Two linked sets required, one in natural sciences and the other in humanities, social sciences, or humanities/social sciences combined (crossover)

The distribution lists were somewhat expanded and included more courses than the previous "green list." The lists were still more restrictive, however, than the lists that preceded the green list and more restrictive than the current Areas of Knowledge list.

Blue-list students were allowed to complete as few as 15 credits in the Group in which the student's major fell, as long as the student presented additional credits in one or both of the other Groups so that the student still completed at least 60 total distribution credits. In departments that had courses in more than one Group, the student was allowed to choose the Group in which s/he would complete fewer credits, as long as the student completed at least one course in the major in that Group.

The yellow list required only one linked set, in natural sciences. The humanities/social science/crossover linked set was added in 1985, with the blue list. The linked sets were determined by the faculty and approved lists were provided along with the distribution lists. Linked sets were two or three courses. Examples: OCEAN 101 and FISH 101 (natural sciences), ART H 201 and 202 (humanities), ECON 200 and 201 (social sciences), ART H 202 and HST 112 (crossover).

The College Studies Alternative

College Studies was an alternative general education plan first offered in 1988 and available through 1997. Instead of 20 credits in each distribution area, students could complete a coordinated 15-credit sequence. For information, see The College Studies Program.

Current requirements

The current basic skills requirements (English composition, additional writing, Q/SR, and foreign language) were adopted in 1985, as described above. All Arts and Sciences students who started college in autumn 1985 or later must follow the current basic skills requirements described in the AIF. See General Education Requirements.

The current general education requirement (Areas of Knowledge) was adopted in 1994. All Arts and Sciences students who started college in autumn 1994 or later must follow the current Areas of Knowledge requirement described in the AIF. See General Education Requirements.

Determining the quarter of entry

Eligibility for distribution plans is determined by either the quarter the student first entered college or, for the white list, the quarter the student first entered the UW.

Quarter of UW entry

The quarter of entry can be determined easily from the student number. The first two digits of the student number are the year the student entered the UW, and the third digit refers to the quarter of entry: summer quarter is 1, autumn is 2 or 3, winter is 4, and spring is 5. A student number of 9133265, therefore, indicates UW entry in autumn quarter of 1991. Student numbers are assigned to nonmatriculated and credit-extension students, and are used to determine the date of UW enrollment for these students as well. An Arts and Sciences student who enrolls at the UW, then attends another college, and then returns to the UW, is assigned eligibility for requirements by the date of his/her first enrollment at the UW.

Quarter of college entry

This is the quarter in which the student first enrolled in a course at a college-level institution -- even if the course was not transferable to the UW, or even if the course was never completed.

THE FOLLOWING CONSTITUTE COLLEGE ENTRY.
Note: "Any course" means any credit or non-credit course.

1. Enrolling in any course, including courses evaluated by the UW as vocational/technical, at an accredited college
2. Enrolling in any course at a non-accredited college (e.g., a Bible college)
3. Enrolling in any course as a nonmatriculated student
4. Enrolling in a college-level course while still attending high school (even if the course was taught at the high school, as long as it appears on a college transcript)
5. Enrolling in any college-level extension or correspondence courses, including MATH 098
6. Completing a high-school course for which the student receives college credit, if that course was taught at the high school rather than at the college

ENROLLING IN OR EVEN COMPLETING THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF COURSES DOES NOT CONSTITUTE COLLEGE ENTRY:

1. High school Advanced Placement courses, even if college credit is granted by the UW. (The credit is actually earned at the time of admission to UW, not before.)
2. A course taken at a community college for high-school credit rather than college credit, even if others received college credit for the same course
3. Non-credit UW Extension courses, except MATH 098
4. UW Experimental College courses, or any similar general-interest courses offered to the community at large
5. Non-credit vocational programs offered by proprietary schools, such as "beauty college," computer training, or real-estate classes.

In most cases, students transfer in credits and it is clear from the transfer evaluation when the student started college. When students have only non-credit courses, a good general rule is that they started college whenever they thought they did. For example, UW nonmatriculated students think of themselves as being in college, while a person taking a tour of the Arboretum from UW Extension does not. Since a student applying to the UW must submit transcripts from all other institutions attended, the adviser can in case of doubt verify enrollment from the transfer evaluation or by calling an admissions specialist in the Admissions Office. The adviser may need to have the student provide a transcript verifying enrollment in non-credit courses, although if the adviser feels the student is trustworthy this is not necessary. If the date of college entry is still unclear, contact one of the counselors at Undergraduate Advising.

General Education Course Archives

The administration of general education requirements at the UW follows the basic principle that no student should be disadvantaged by a change in requirements. Thus, a student is allowed to use a course toward general education requirements that was applicable to when s/he took it, even if it no longer counts that way if taken currently. In addition, there are many courses on students' records that no longer exist, or that are no longer recognizable because they have changed numbers or department prefixes. This section is a guide for advisers concerning courses that no longer count the way they once did.

From autumn 1962 to autumn 1994, UW students chose their general-education courses from various "distribution lists." The graduation requirements were substantially revised effective autumn quarters of 1969, 1980, 1983, and 1985; meanwhile, adjustments to the several lists were made on an ongoing basis. Because successive versions of the lists were increasingly restrictive, students were allowed to continue to use the requirements they had been following, and new requirements were applied only to new students.

Because the current "Area of Knowledge" requirement adopted in 1994 is very generous, it has been possible to eliminate the confusion of maintaining several distribution lists. All students, regardless of when they entered college or the UW, choose their general-education coursework from the same set of courses, namely the current Areas of Knowledge lists.

Students eligible for the green or white distribution lists, which preceded the current Areas of Knowledge requirement, are eligible to count some additional courses, and/or to count some courses in different ways than are currently allowed. These exceptions are noted in the course list.

Variable-topic courses

Starting in the academic year 2000-2001, individual sections of variable-topic courses, in a specific quarter, can be identified as VLPA, I&S, and/or NW. Any course so tagged will be assigned properly in a DARS report.

Variable-topic courses offered earlier (and many offered since this change, since departments often don't bother to request an AoK designation for temporary courses) can count toward AoK if it seems appropriate. Any academic adviser, after discussing the content of such a course with the student, can assign the course to an Area and either enter a DARS exception or send a message to dars@u.washington.edu, requesting that the variable-topic course be tagged for the student.

Advisers not certain how to evaluate a variable-topic course may refer the student to Undergraduate Advising.

This table lists some sections of variable-topics courses that were approved for AofK value by request of the department, or that automatically count for an Area because of a temporary joint listing. Any course can be counted in the same way as a jointly offered course, even if not listed below.

Independent-study courses

These courses, often numbered 498 or 499, do not routinely count toward Areas of Knowledge. An Arts and Sciences student who wishes to count such a course toward AoK must submit a description of the course content to Scott Winter at the Undergraduate Advising; an email is usually sufficient. If the content of the independent-study project is similar to courses already on the AoK lists, the request should be approved.

A "white-list" student, a student who entered the UW as a freshman before autumn 1980, or entered the College of Arts and Sciences as a transfer student (even if from another college of the University) before autumn 1982, may count independent-study courses toward AoK without petition, if the courses were taken before autumn 1994. A DARS exception will be necessary and can be made by any adviser.

Joint listings

A course counts toward Areas of Knowledge in the same way as any joint-listed course. Permanent joint listings are already appropriately identified in the Course Catalog and the Time Schedule. Each quarter, however, there are temporary joint listings, usually in variable-topic courses, that may not be properly identified. In all such cases, the joint-listed courses share AoK designations. For example, if course A is VLPA and it is temporarily joint-listed with course B which is I&S, the student who takes course A or B in that quarter may count either course toward VLPA or I&S.

In most cases, since these are usually upper-division courses, the student has already completed the Areas of Knowledge requirement and doesn't need the course to count toward AoK. If the student does need to have such a course properly tagged VLPA, I&S, or NW, the adviser can enter a DARS exception or send the request to dars@u.washington.edu

Time schedule errors

Courses with an incorrect AoK designation in the Time Schedule may be counted as indicated by students who were not aware of the error. It is the student's responsibility to call the adviser's attention to the situation. The adviser should first check the Student Database for the course and quarter in question; quarterly course information is available in the SDB back through spring 1984. It is possible, however, that the AoK designation was corrected in the SDB when the error was discovered. Undergraduate Advising maintains an archive of old print Time Schedules and should be able to verify errors that occurred through summer 2002, which was the last quarter the Time Schedule was printed.

GIS and A&S courses

A variety of interdisciplinary courses are taught on a temporary basis under the designation GIS (and, before that, A&S). These are listed, with their assigned general education designation, in AoK for A&S, GIS, and GEN ST Courses. From 1971-1975 some GIS courses were offered through the Residential Program.

Transfer courses

Students who enter the UW with a transfer associate degree from a Washington community college may count transfer courses toward AoK in the same way that the courses counted at the community college. See the Transfer Associate Degree Agreement.

A transfer course assigned a UW course number can normally be counted only the way the UW equivalent counts at the time of transfer and thereafter. If the course was taken at a Washington community college it can, however, be counted as listed in the equivalencies tablesat the time it was taken, even if no longer counted that way at the UW. That is to say, if the student was following the tables and acting in good faith, the student will not be penalized for an incorrect listing.

If a course is listed below as having been dropped from the UW curriculum, or as not currently offered, then transfer credit for the course can be used toward the Area of Knowledge indicated in the transfer equivalencies. The presumption is that if the course were still offered at the UW, it would still count as it did in the past.

DARS reports

Many of the courses listed below will not be properly identified on a DARS report. To have any course properly tagged with an AoK or other general education designation, as listed below, send a request to dars@u.washington.edu

Adviser responsibilities

Obviously, no adviser is expected to commit any part of the list below to memory. Neither is it the responsiblity of advisers to check every course taken by a student in an exhaustive search for courses that will count toward requirements. This list is provided as a resource for the adviser to check whenever a student recalls that a course should count toward a particular requirement, even though it doesn't appear on the current Areas of Knowledge list.

Types of courses listed

"Green-list" courses taken before autumn 1994 

These courses may be used by students who were formerly eligible for the green distribution list-i.e., students whose first enrollment in college (anywhere) was before autumn 1985. The courses may be used only if they were taken before autumn 1994.

"White-list" courses taken before autumn 1994 

These courses may be used by students who were formerly eligible for the white distribution list-i.e., students who entered UW as freshmen before autumn of 1980 or who entered the College of Arts and Sciences as transfer students (even if only from another college of the University) before autumn 1982. These courses also may be used only if they were taken before autumn 1994.

Courses whose AoK designation has changed 

A few courses have been moved from one Area to another, either because the course was re-evaluated or because the content of the course was changed. There are also a few instances in which the blue distribution list (1985-94) allowed courses that the current Areas of Knowledge requirement does not.

Courses (or course numbers) not in the current curriculum 

These courses no longer appear in the curriculum with the prefix and number listed, but may be counted as indicated by all students who completed the courses.

Changes in prefixes 

This information should help advisers identify courses on the UW transcript that carry prefixes no longer in use.

White list:  Student entered the UW as a freshman before autumn 1980, or entered the College of Arts and Sciences as a transfer student (even if from another college of the University) before autumn 1982, and took the course before autumn 1994.

A&S, GIS, and GEN ST Courses

Starting below is a list of Arts and Sciences (A&S), General and Interdisciplinary Studies (GIS), and General Studies (GEN ST, formerly G ST) courses for past quarters, to be used in determining how these courses may be applied toward the pre-1985 15-credit proficiency requirement and the current Areas of Knowledge requirement.

A&S

"Arts and Sciences" courses were initiated in winter 1969, covering topics outside the province of any single department. On student transcripts, the course title for A&S courses is always "Perspectives and Issues." Note that in some cases different A&S courses in succeeding quarters carried the same numbers; applicability to requirements, therefore, depends on the quarter in which the course was taken.

GIS

Beginning in autumn 1970, the A&S designation was replaced by GIS. Again, different GIS courses in succeeding quarters may carry the same number, so the adviser must determine the quarter in which the course was taken before assigning the course to requirements.

GEN ST

General Studies (GEN ST, previously G ST) courses are frequently confused with General and Interdisciplinary Studies (GIS) courses. Although some writing-link courses were offered under the G ST heading from 1982 to 1984 (shown as GEN ST on current transcripts), the General Studies prefix is not used for general-education courses. None of the current GEN ST courses count toward general education requirements.

Writing links

GIS (and GEN ST) writing labs, first offered in autumn 1977, became ENGL 197, 198, and 199 in autumn 1984. All writing labs, now called writing links, count toward the pre-1985 A&S 15-credit proficiency requirement, and/or the English composition requirement of any UW college or major. All writing labs/links may also count toward VLPA for students who were formerly on the white distribution list (see Previous General Education Requirements). These are marked "Prof/VLPA" below if before autumn 1980, when entering students were no longer eligible for the white distribution list. From then onward, they are marked "Prof/None."

Course list 1969 to present

NOTE: Beginning Winter 1982, most GIS writing labs were transferred to GEN ST.

* May be counted for VLPA by students formerly on the white distribution list.

The Residential Program

During the three school years from autumn 1971 through spring 1974, certain students participated in what was called the Residential Program. These students lived in Lander Hall and took some of their classes there. Participants in the program were allowed special dispensations regarding the proficiency and distribution requirements that were in effect at the time, as explained below.

All Residential Program students were eligible to use the "white-list" requirements. As former white-list students, they may continue to use the 15-credit pre-1985 proficiency requirement; they must now complete the current Areas of Knowledge requirement, but may use any white-list courses that they had completed before autumn 1994, counting humanities courses for Visual, Literary, and Performing Arts, social science courses for Individuals and Societies, and natural science courses for The Natural World. (Look for unfamiliar courses in the General Education Course Archives.)

Pre-1985 proficiency requirement

The original plan was that anyone who had been in the Residential Program at all would have the fifteen-credit proficiency requirement waived, so anyone who was in the program during 1971-72, even if for only one quarter, is exempt from the old proficiency requirement. Students who joined the program in 1972-73 or 1973-74, however, have only 5 credits of the proficiency requirement waived for each quarter they were in the program. The actual course numbers used in the program (e.g., GIS 112) are not assigned to proficiency. The waiver can simply be indicated on the student's graduation application by a notation such as: "Waived, Res. Prog., Aut 19725 cr."

Areas of Knowledge

The original plan was that students in the Residential Program would take 10 of their credits each quarter in the program, and that 5 of these would go toward humanities and 5 toward social science distribution (i.e., VLPA and I&S Areas of Knowledge). But there are complications, as shown in the chart below.

Distribution (Areas of Knowledge) designations of Residential Program courses

College Studies

The College Studies Program was an alternative to the general education requirement which was at that time called the distribution requirement and is now called Areas of Knowledge. The program was available to undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences from autumn quarter 1988 through summer quarter 1997.

College Studies sequences were 15-credit sequences of related general education courses. These sequences provided opportunities for non-majors to explore disciplines that are an essential part of a coIlege education, in courses designed to show how the disciplines and fields of study are organized, how they develop and change, and how they are related to other disciplines and the culture at large.

Fulfilling general education with College Studies sequences

A student could use a College Studies sequence to replace the regular 20-credit distribution (Areas of Knowledge) requirement in one, two, or all three of the distribution categories (Areas). The student was required to complete all other general education requirements, including the basic skills requirements (currently, English composition, additional writing, quantitative and symbolic reasoning, and foreign language.)

Under the old distribution requirement, students were not allowed to count courses in their major department toward distribution. Students who satisfied all three distribution areas (Areas of Knowledge) with College Studies sequences were allowed to count College Studies sequences that included courses in the student's major department, with no credit restriction. In other words, such students were allowed to overlap College Studies sequences with their major.

Under the current Areas of Knowledge policies, an eligible student who satisfies one or two Areas with College Studies sequences is allowed a total of 15 credits of overlap with his/her major. As in the past, an eligible student who satisfies all three Areas with College Studies sequences is allowed any amount of overlap with the major.

Eligibility for College Studies

Students who began a College Studies sequence when the program was in effect are still allowed to use College Studies sequences to meet either the old distribution requirement or the current Areas of Knowledge requirement, under the following conditions:

• The student must have been matriculated in UW's College of Arts and Sciences at some time during the period from autumn quarter 1988 through summer quarter 1997.
• The student must have completed with a passing grade at least one of the courses from the College Studies sequence during this period.
• A College Studies sequence completed after summer 1997 can still be counted, as long as it was started when the program was active. If the courses needed to complete the sequence are no longer offered, the student can propose one or more substitutions in a petition to the Arts and Sciences Graduation Committee.
• During the period when the College Studies program was available, sequences were both added to and removed from the program.
• If a sequence was added to the program after the student enrolled in one or more of the courses, the student may count the sequence.
• If a sequence was removed from the program before the student enrolled in any course in the sequence, the student may not count the sequence.

Humanities/Fine Arts (Visual, Literary, and Performing Arts)

Interpretation, Community, and Culture

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1992

This sequence focuses on the interpretive nature of all activity and inquiry, not only at the university, but in an increasingly complicated world where cultures and interpretations clash in dramatic ways. The courses are structured to direct attention to written texts, to visual messags, and to books, artistic works, and social, political, and cultural events, as well as scientific experiment. The sequence also studies the situation of interpretive acts in interpretive communities distinguishable by their cultural, disciplinary, and institutional contingencies, interests, demands, and constraints.

Required courses:

• C LIT 260   Interpretation as a Human Activity (5)
• C LIT 360   Interpretation in Culture and Community (5)
• C LIT 460   Interpretation in Humanistic Disciplines in the University (5)

Literature, Imagination, and Culture

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

This is a set of courses devoted to ways of thinking about literature and its relation to culture. Each course explores literature from a different point of view and provides exercise in critical and reflective thought.

Required, three of the following courses:

• ENGL 205   Method, Imagination, and Inquiry (5)
• ENGL 302   Critical Practice (5) (formerly 346)
• ENGL 307   Cultural Studies: Literature and the Age (5)
  The following topics were offered in different quarters:
  • Renaissance Culture
  • Men and Women in Eighteenth-Century Culture
  • Romanticism
  • Modernism
• ENGL 363   Literature and the Other Arts and Disciplines (5) (formerly 408)
• ENGL 470   Literature, Literary Study, and Society (5) (formerly 306)

The Arts and Aesthetics

Offered autumn 1989 - summer 1997

An exploration of historically changing concepts of the visual arts, music, and aesthetic history through an examination of art and music from various periods, as well as philosophical writing on the arts. Emphasis is on the flux in which artistic and aesthetic endeavors operate, so that it may be seen that current views of the function or purpose of the arts do not necessarily represent the views held in earlier periods.

Required, two of the following courses:

• ART H 300   Ideas in Art (5) (formerly ART H 200)
• ART H 382   Theory and Practice of Art Criticism (3)-Concurrently with 2 credits of ART H 499
• MUSIC 384   Ideas in Music (5)

Plus one of the following courses.

• PHIL 445   Philosophy of Art (5)
• PHIL 446   Development of Aesthetic Theory (5)

How to Think about Moral Problems

Offered autumn 1989 - summer 1997

This sequence is intended to improve the understanding of moral decision making, in the belief that a basic knowledge of what others have advised can make a real difference to us when we come to make our own decisions. The courses consider specific contemporary moral problems and the kinds of reasoning available for dealing with them.

Required, one course from:

• PHIL 102   Contemporary Moral Problems (5)
• PHIL 240   Introduction to Ethics (5)

Plus two courses from:

• PHIL 241   Topics in Ethics (5)
• PHIL 340   History of Ancient Ethics (5)
• PHIL 342   History of Modern Ethics (5)
• PHIL 344   History of Recent Ethics (5)
• PHIL 345   Moral Issues of Life and Death (5)
• MHE 474/PHIL 411   Justice in Health Care (5)

The Classics in Literature and Life

Offered autumn 1989 - summer 1997

Classics as a scholarly discipline, treating the classical world from a number of vantage points: political and social, intellectual, literary, and artistic.

Required, three of the following:

• CLAS 210   Greek and Roman Classics in English (5) (added 1991)
• CLAS 320   Greek and Roman Private and Public Life (5)
• CLAS 322   Intellectual History of Classical Greece (5)
• CLAS 410   The Classical Tradition (5) (through 1992 only)
• CLAS 427   Greek and Roman Tragedy in English (5)

The Spectrum of Literature

Offered autumn 1998 - summer 1997

An introduction to the nature of literary and critical studies and an explanation of the discipline of literature in a comparative framework, these courses ask a number of fundamental questions. What is literature? What forms does it take in different social and historical contexts? What functions does it serve? What are its relationships with other arts and disciplines? What approaches are required to analyze and enjoy it? What does it mean to study literature as one studies philosophy, the other arts, the social sciences, and the natural sciences?

Required, three of the following:

• C LIT 200   Introduction to Comparative Literature (5)
• C LIT 300   The Scope of Literary History (5) (formerly 370)
• C LIT 371   Literature and the Visual Arts (5) (added 1995)
• C LIT 400   Introduction to the Theory of Literature (5)

Argumentation in Society

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

An exploration of the forms of argument used by speakers and writers when they seek to persuade audiences to accept actions and beliefs. A study in the essentials of argument, types of arguments, ways of making arguments, strategies for criticizing and responding to arguments, argument as it is practiced in society, and theoretical approaches to the study of argument.

Required:

• SP CMU 334   Essentials of Argument (5)

Plus two courses from:

• SP CMU 424   Rhetorical Perspective in Revolutionary Documents (5)
• SP CMU 426   American Public Address (5)
• SP CMU 428   British Public Address (5)
• SP CMU 434   Argumentation Theory (5)

Art in Public Places

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

This sequence looks at art in the public domain in a variety of ways: with respect to history, with respect to aesthetic and conceptual issues, and with respect to the processes and roles of artists, art administrators, communities, public officials, tradesmen, and industries. It also involves actual experience in the challenge of making art in a public place.

Required courses:

• ART 275   A World History of Art in Public Places (5)
• ART 276   Contemporary Directions, Art in Public Places (5)
• ART 332   Intermediate Sculpture Composition (5, max 15)

Social Sciences (Individuals and Societies)

Science in Civilization

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

This sequence studies the role of the natural sciences in the development of Western culture from the time of ancient Greece to the present. It investigates how scientists have organized knowledge of the natural world and how they have organized themselves in order to pursue that knowledge. Examines how the categories of modern science do not match those of earlier times and how the evolution of Western scientific thought has developed.

Required:

• HIST 311/MHE 419   Science in Civilization: Antiquity to 1600 (5)
• HIST 312   Science in Civilization: Science in Modern Society (5)

Plus one from:

• HIST/ASTR 313   Science in Civilization: Physics and Astrophysics Since 1850 (5)
• MHE 424   Modern Biology in Historical Perspective (5)

Western Civilization

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1990

This sequence studies the history of Western civilization with special attention given to problems faced by the historian, especially those problems of evidence and causation, and the relationship of the discipline of history to other disciplines. There will be special discussion sections for students in the College Studies Program.

Required courses:

• HIST 121   The Ancient World: Special Problems (5)
• HIST 122   The Medieval World: Special Problems (5)
• HIST 123   The Modern World: Special Problems (5)

Students were allowed to substitute HIST 111 for 121, HIST 112 for 122, and HIST 113 for 123.

American Ethnic Studies

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1992

This sequence is a study of sociological, political, and humanistic approaches to the study of ethnicity in America, with emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach and an examination of American race and ethnic relations.

Required courses:

• AES/SOC 362   American Race and Ethnic Relations (5)
• AES 363   Foundations of Ethnic Studies (5)
• AES 364   American Ethnicity in the Twenty-first Century (5)

Political Economy

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1992

The sequence explores the perspectives of political science as a discipline and emphasizes the theories, methods, and concerns that it shares with other social sciences. Thus, students taking this sequence are exposed to economics, psychology, and anthropology as well as political science; and, thereby, they should emerge with a greater capacity to understand and evaluate our political process.

Required courses:

• POL S 270   Introduction to Political Economy (5)
• POL S 474   Government and the Economy (5) (formerly 370)
• POL S 475   Public Choice (5)

The Evolution of Political Power

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

The aim of this sequence is to bring together the insights of several disciplines into the problems of institutional development and change, particularly the development of the state.

Required courses:

• POL S 273   The Concept of Political Power (5)
• ANTH 373   Stateless Societies: An Ethnographic Approach (5)
• POL S 411   Theories of the State (5)

People as Scientists of Themselves

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

This sequence endeavors to study metacognition, wherein people act as scientists of the self. It is especially targeted for students with a strong interest in science who would like to know about a body of research in behavioral science.

Required:

• PHIL 460   Philosophy of Science (5)
• PSYCH 464   Metacognition (5)

Plus one course from:

• PSYCH 462   Human Memory (5)
• PSYCH 466   Psychological Aspects of Judgment and Decision (5)

American Political Culture

Offered autumn 1989 - summer 1997

This sequence examines the political content and character of both elite and popular cultural forms in America. By "political culture" is meant the language, symbols, icons, ideas, and ideals that have governed American public life.

Required:

• ENGL 251/POL S 281   Introduction to American Political Culture (5) (formerly ENGL 281/POL S 281)

Plus two of the following courses:

• ENGL 360   American Literature and Political Culture: Origins to 1865 (5)(formerly ENGL 282)
• ENGL 361   American Literature and Political Culture: After1865 (5) (formerly ENGL 283)
• POL S 318   American Political Thought (5)
• HSTAA 410   American Social History: The Modern Era (5)

Language and Society

Offered autumn 1990 - summer 1997

This sequence examines the underlying relationships between language and society from a multidisciplinary perspective. It considers the historical processes by which language and language policies shape social relationships, principally through education; the impact of language policy on migration and the education of the labor force; and the use of language to control access to resources and institutions. It focuses in particular on the role of English as a world language and upon the impact of geography, class, gender, and ethnicity on language variation in North America.

Required courses:

• ANTH 203   Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology (5)
• ENGL 478   Language and Social Policy (5) (formerly ENGL 465)
• ENGL 479   Language Variation and Language Policy in North America (5) (formerly ENGL 466)

Peace and War

Offered autumn 1994 - summer 1997

The sequence approaches the study of society through a broad examination of issues of peace and war.

Required, three of the following courses, including at least one of the * courses:

• *HIST 345   War and society (5)
• HIST 346   Images of War (5)
• *PSYCH 207   Psychology.of Peace (5)
• SIS 421   National Security and International Affairs (5)
• WOMEN 250   Gender, War, and Peace (5)

Medicine, Self, and Society

Offered autumn 1990 - summer 1997

A multidisciplinary inquiry into the relation of medical theory and practice to society through the disciplines of literary interpretation, anthropology, philosophy, and medical history and ethics.

Required:

• ENGL 364   Literature and Medicine (5) (formerly ENGL 409 or 408)

Plus one course from:

• ANTH 475   Comparative Systems of Healing (5) (1990-91 only)
• ANTH 476   Culture, Medicine and the Body (5)
• MHE 401   Disease and Medicine in History (5)

Plus one course from:

• MHE 440/PHIL 459   Philosophy of Medicine (5)
• MHE 481   The Pursuit of Health in American Society (5)

Creativity, Technology, and Innovation

Offered autumn 1991 - summer 1997

Provides a framework for the critical understanding of relations between creativity and technology, for individuals and in the broader historical context of society. Considers "technology" very broadly; technology is itself a human product, deriving from creative activity and social, material organization, which then becomes a factor in further inquiry, production, and social change.

Required, three of the following courses:

• ART H 232   Photography: Theory and Criticism (3)/ART H 499   Individual Projects (2)
• ENGL 305   Theories of the Imagination (5) (formerly ENGL 350)
• HIST 315   Introduction to the History of Technology (5)
• T C 420   Introduction to Technology as a Social and Political Phenomenon (5)

Natural Sciences (The Natural World)

The Universe

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

This sequence is designed to provide an understanding and appreciation of the way by which physicists and astronomers explore the scale of the universe. It seeks to make familiar the nature of quantitative reasoning and to develop an appreciation of the successes of this mode of thought in revealing and manipulating order in the physical universe.

Required courses:

• ASTR 210   Distance and Time: Size and Age in the Universe (5)
• ASTR 211   The Universe and Change (5)
• ASTR 212   Life in the Universe (5)

The Physical World

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

This is a comprehensive sequence designed to guide the nonscience student's thinking about the physical world. By studying familiar structures that appear in nature, including their motions and transformations, students are introduced to many of the successful ideas of classical and modem physics. The emphasis is on the approaches found most useful (e.g., symmetry, quantification, and scaling) and the history of the major ideas. High school mathematics, especially geometry, is a prerequisite.

Required courses:

• PHYS 214   Light and Color (5)
• PHYS 215   Order and Disorder (5)
• PHYS 216   Time and Change (5)

Natural Science and the Environment

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

Global environmental change resulting from human industrial activity is an increasingly important issue facing everyone. This sequence gives nonscience majors an understanding of the basic concepts of natural sciences as they apply to the study of the effects of industrial and agricultural practices on the atmosphere, ocean, lithosphere, and biosphere.

Required courses:

• ENV S 203/GEOG 205   Introduction to Physical Sciences and the Environment (5)
• ENV S 204   Introduction to the Biological Sciences and the Environment (5)
• ENV S 307   Introduction to Global Environmental Issues (5) (formerly 207)

Biological Perspectives

Offered autumn 1989 - summer 1997

Three major points of view from which to examine a host of questions addressed by the biological sciences: the individual, the cell, and the environment. The biologist's approach to living systems, and how we know, why we know, and what we know. Laboratory experience including living material and computer simulation exercises that develop and test hypotheses.

Required courses:

• BIOL 100   Biology: The Organism (5) autumn quarter (formerly BIOL 150)
• BIOL 100   Biology: The Cell (5) winter quarter (formerly BIOL 151)
• BIOL 100   Biology: Ecology and Evolution of Organisms (5) spring quarter (formerly BIOL 152)

Cognitive Science

Offered autumn 1989 - summer 1994

Philosophers think about what thought means, psychologists study how "people in general" think, anthropologists examine the interaction between culture and individual cognition, and linguists study that most unique of all human cognitive abilities, language. In addition, there is a mechanistic aspect to thought. The creation of artificial intelligence systems using modern computers has been a goal of research in computer science. Finally, neuroscientists are interested in the relationship between the organization of the brain and the capabilities of the mind. This sequence examines thinking from these different points of view.

Required:

• PSYCH 354   Introduction to Cognitive Science (5)

Plus two courses from:

• ANTH 358   Culture and Cognition (5)
• CSE 415   Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (5)
• LING 442   Introduction to Semantics (4) and LING 499   Undergraduate Research (1)
• PHIL 464   Philosophical issues in the Cognitive Sciences (5)

Human Biology and Behavior

Offered autumn 1988 - summer 1997

Explorations of human behavior at the species level. Historical summary of views of the human species as they have developed over time and modem views of the species. Throughout the sequence, the organizing paradigm is human evolution.

Required, three of the following:

• ANTH 220   Biological and Cultural Bases of Human Behavior (5)
• PHY A 372   Uses and Abuses of Evolutionary Views of Human Behavior (5) and PHY A 499   Undergraduate Research (1)
• WOMEN 453/ANTH 483   Women in Evolutionary Perspective (5)
• ZOOL 409   Sociobiology (4)

Listed as a social science sequence in 1988-89 brochure; changed to natural science in July 1988.

Our Chemical World

Offered autumn 1990 - summer 1995

The purpose of this sequence is to give nonscience majors an understanding of the chemical basis of our world and to help prepare them to be educated citizens of an increasingly technological society.

Required, one course from:

• CHEM 120   Chemical Science (5) (formerly CHEM 100)
• CHEM 140/141   General Chemistry and Laboratory (4, 1)

Plus sequence 1, 2, or 3:

1. CHEM 203   Chemistry and the Environment (5) (formerly CHEM 303)
   CHEM 205   Chemistry of Life (5) (formerly CHEM 305)
2. CHEM 203   Chemistry and the Environment (5) (formerly CHEM 305)
   CHEM 220   General and Organic Chemistry (5) (formerly CHEM 102)
3. CHEM 205   Chemistry of Life (5) (formerly CHEM 305)
   CHEM 150/151   General Chemistry and Laboratory (4, 1)

Credit/No Credit Grading Option

A Credit/No Credit (CR/NC) option for undergraduate students was in effect from autumn 1972 through spring 1980. Students who chose the CR/NC program took all their classes on a Credit/No Credit basis for as long as they remained in the program.

For information about current CR/NC courses see Credit/No Credit.