Topical Minor, Minor

​Education (Code 610-453) 

A Topical Minor is an interdisciplinary minor composed of 24 semester credits selected by the student to meet the student’s own interests and scholarly objectives. Courses for the minor may be chosen on the basis of a coherent theme, an historical period, a definable professional need, or a complementary relationship to the student’s major. Most students who propose a topical minor do so after earning 30 credits but before earning 90 credits. Students must meet all prerequisite course work 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 written permission from the College before enrollment is possible. The Topical Minor is not intended to be used to duplicate any major or minor offered as a regular program within the UW System. 

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

  • Interdisciplinary Breadth Requirement: ​A Topical Minor consists of 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 his/her 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 Education and Human Sciences, prefixes from at least 12 of the 24 credits must be earned in the College of Education and Human Sciences.
  • Submission Requirement: ​To propose a Topical minor, a student should work with an advisor or an associate dean and complete an e-form located on the College of Education and Human Sciences website and route that form to the College for approval.