Liberal Arts (Code 610-401)

A Topical Minor is an interdisciplinary minor composed of 24 semester credits selected by a student to meet the student's own interests and scholarly objectives. Students should choose courses for the minor based on a coherent theme.  Most students who propose a topical minor do so after earning 30 credits but before earning 90 credits.  Students must meet all prerequisite coursework requirements and other prior eligibility benchmarks, such as achieving an appropriate grade point average.  In the case of courses offered in one of the professional colleges, students must meet college admission requirements or students must obtain permission from the College before enrollment is possible.  A Topical Minor is not intended to duplicate any major or minor offered as a regular program within the University of Wisconsin System.

The student who wishes to develop a Topical Minor must adhere to the following requirements.

• Minimum credits:  24 semester credits.
• Interdisciplinary Breadth Requirement:  Of the 24 credits, there must be at least two course prefixes present among these credits and no more than 15 credits from any single prefix.
• Unique Credit Requirement 1:  A student may not apply a course that counts toward credits in their major to the Topical Minor.
• Unique Credit Requirement 2:  No more than six credits from a student's major prefix may be used in the Topical Minor.
• Depth Requirement:  At least 12 of the 24 credits must be from courses numbered 300 or above.
• College Home:  For a Topical Minor to reside in the College of Arts and Sciences, prefixes from at least 15 of the 24 credits must be from the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Submission Requirement:  To propose a Topical Minor, a student should work with a faculty advisor and then launch a proposal to be routed through the advisor, and then to the College of Arts and Sciences for approval.