The college offers three undergraduate degree programs: the Bachelor of Arts, the Bachelor of Science and the Bachelor of General Studies. In addition, the college offers five graduate degree programs: Master of Arts, Master of Public Administration, Master of Science, Master of Liberal Studies and Doctor of Philosophy. Information on these programs can be found in the Kent State University Graduate Schools Catalog.

Bachelor of Arts
The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) is the traditional liberal arts degree. It emphasizes a broad background in the liberal arts, with a focus in a major field of study. The college currently offers 32 departmental and interdisciplinary majors within the B.A. degree.

The B.A. is designed to impart intellectual breadth and educational diversity. Students who graduate with the B.A. have achieved competence in a major field of specialization within the traditional liberal arts. Such students also have become acquainted with a broad range of human ideas, cultures and institutions.

Departmental Majors
Most students pursuing the Bachelor of Arts degree select one of the traditional departmental majors as their field of specialization. These traditional majors focus on one particular discipline within the humanities, social sciences or natural and mathematical sciences. Most of the coursework required for a departmental major will be taken within the department that houses the major discipline.

Most B.A. departmental majors allow for a fairly large number of elective hours within the undergraduate program. These elective hours may be effectively used to pursue intellectual interests outside the major or for personal enrichment; study abroad can work well in such programs. Students often find it rewarding to apply their elective hours to a second major or a minor. Such combinations of programs can generally be accommodated within the 121 hours required for graduation. Students may also choose to combine a departmental major within the B.A. degree with another degree program, either the Bachelor of Science in the College of Arts and Sciences or another degree in another college.

Whether students pursue a single field of specialization or a combination of such fields, the liberal arts degree with a departmental major can provide the analytical and communications skills needed for success in a wide range of careers. Students with departmental majors enter the professions, business and industry, government and civil service, and secondary and higher education.

Departmental majors in the Bachelor of Arts program in the College of Arts and Sciences are:

The college offers an interdisciplinary B.S. in Biotechnology.

Three-Plus-One Programs
Students who choose to pursue Three-Plus-One programs take three years of preprofessional study at Kent State University, followed by a year or more of intensive professional training at an accredited professional school or clinical facility. Upon the satisfactory completion of this professional training, the B.S. degree from the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University is awarded.

Three-Plus-One programs are designed for students with a well-defined, specific, professional career goal. Currently, the College of Arts and Sciences offers a Three-Plus-One program in Medical Technology. Because of the intensive, professional focus of these programs, students pursuing them should work closely with their faculty advisors. Students who are interested in this program should consult the Department of Biological Sciences, 256 Cunningham Hall, for further information.

Please see the program requirements for the Three-Plus-One programs offered under the B.S. program in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Pre-medical Programs
The College of Arts and Sciences offers programs for students who wish to pursue professional careers in medicine. These pre-medical programs are designed to provide a sound basis in biology and chemistry, along with coursework in physics and mathematics. The pre-medicine/pre-osteopathy, pre-veterinary medicine, pre-dentistry and pre-pharmacy programs are intended to prepare students for advanced, professional study in the medical sciences.

These programs meet the coursework requirements for admission to most medical schools. Students who wish to pursue a pre-medical program would be well advised, however, to check carefully the admissions requirements of the professional schools they wish to enter. Students also should seek advice regularly from their faculty advisors.

Students may pursue pre-medical programs under the Bachelor of Arts degree, the Bachelor of Science degree or a carefully designed Bachelor of General Studies degree. The pre-medical programs serve as advising programs for students in the B.A., B.S. and B.G.S. programs.

See the program requirements for the pre-medical programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Integrated Life Sciences (B.S./M.D.)
Kent State University participates in a combined program with the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). This is an intensive six-year program that requires study during the summer as well as during the academic year. Admission to the program is highly selective.

Students admitted to the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine through Kent State University are awarded a Bachelor of  Science in Integrated Life Sciences by the College of Arts and Sciences and the M.D. by NEOUCOM at the completion of their six-year program.

Further details concerning the B.S./M.D. program can be found in this catalog.

Bachelor of General Studies
The Bachelor of General Studies (B.G.S.) degree is intended for students whose educational needs are not met by traditional fields of specialization. The B.G.S. is a nonmajor degree program that provides students with a maximum of freedom and flexibility in developing individualized programs that serve their specific, unique educational goals. The nontraditional nature, purposes and requirements of this degree require students pursuing the B.G.S. to work closely with the college office in planning their academic programs.

The B.G.S. degree has special admission procedures and requirements. This degree may be used to satisfy an interest in a wide range of areas appropriate to a well-rounded general education, to pursue a broad concentration (such as the humanities, within related academic clusters or fields, entertainment and leisure arts, the natural and mathematical sciences, communication arts, social sciences and human services, managerial and leadership studies, etc.), or to prepare for further study in a professional area such as law, medicine or public administration.

Students who have earned the B.G.S. degree have gone on to pursue careers in many fields, ranging from business to law and medicine. Some graduates have pursued further study in a traditional academic discipline. Students often choose the B.G.S. program because it allows them to select an individually tailored set of courses that fulfills needs of a career they are already pursuing.

The B.G.S. may not be combined with a regular major or field of concentration. However, the pre-medical programs may be taken as part of a B.G.S. In addition, any of the minors listed as available in the College of Arts and Sciences students may be taken as minors with the B.G.S.

Please see the requirements for the B.G.S. program in the College of Arts and Sciences. Students interested in the B.G.S. program should contact the college office for further information.

Minor Programs
Students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science in the College of Arts and Sciences may undertake, in addition to the primary major or field of concentration, a secondary area of specialization or minor program. In addition, students pursuing the Bachelor of General Studies may incorporate minors within their self-designed programs. Minors provide one way of balancing and integrating an undergraduate course of study. Other routes to the same goal include double majors, dual degrees and single majors with carefully selected electives. Because there are many ways of planning an effective undergraduate program, minors are entirely voluntary. If they wish to do so, students may elect a minor, or more than one minor.

A minor is intended to provide an area of specialization that is less detailed and less extensive than a major program. For this reason, minors require less to complete than majors. They usually provide a general introduction to the discipline or field of study, along with a few more specialized upper-division courses. Students should be aware that a minor generally will not prepare them for advanced study or research in the field without further undergraduate coursework.

Minors may be chosen to complement the major field of study; that is, they may be in a field closely related to the major. However, minors that too closely relate to a major may be prohibited for that major. Students may also choose minors that are in no way related to the major program. In such a case, the minor usually is chosen because of serious personal interest in the field. Minors allow students to pursue their own interests within a structured context.

Two types of minor programs are offered within the College of Arts and Sciences. Students may pursue minors within individual departments, or they may elect interdisciplinary minor programs that include coursework from several departments. Certificates of achievement are awarded to students who successfully complete the interdisciplinary minors; these certificates are described more fully below.

All of the minor programs offered by the College of Arts and Sciences are available to any student pursuing a baccalaureate degree at Kent State University. Students who are pursuing a major degree program outside the College of Arts and Sciences should contact their school or college for further details and to declare these minors.

Departmental Minors
In a departmental minor, coursework is taken entirely or almost entirely within a single department. Students pursuing such a minor will take many of the same courses that majors in the discipline take, but the courses will be fewer in number and may be different in their distribution. Departmental minors provide a detailed introduction to a traditional discipline, but they do not provide the depth supplied by a major program. A departmental minor may be combined with any major or field of concentration within the college except for the major and/or field of concentration that bears the same title.

Departmental minors in the College of Arts and Sciences are:

Minors in Other Colleges
In addition to the minors available within the college, arts and sciences students may also select from a large number of minor programs offered by the other colleges and independent schools at Kent State University. Please see the information concerning the minors available to arts and sciences students in the College of the Arts, the College of Business Administration, the College of Communication and Information and the College of Education, Health, and Human Services in this catalog. It is essential that students interested in these programs seek advice from both the office of the College of Arts and Sciences and the office of the college responsible for the minor. To successfully complete a minor in another college, arts and sciences students must meet the cumulative GPA requirement for that minor or that college.

Associate’s Degree Programs
The college cooperates with the Division of Regional Campuses in making available associate’s degrees in general studies to students enrolled at the university’s seven Regional Campuses. These two-year degree programs may be either technical or general in nature. The technical associate’s degrees provide technical skills that focus on specialized areas of employment, while the general Associate of Arts and Associate of Science provide a basis for the future study of a bachelor’s degree. They are available only at the Regional Campuses. Specific information concerning these degrees is contained in the Regional Campuses section of this Catalog.

Nondegree Programs
Those who wish to take coursework for personal enrichment or to enhance professional skills but do not seek a degree may be admitted to the university as a special “nondegree student.” Nondegree students may enroll for one year or 32 hours. If nondegree students wish to become candidates for a degree in the College of Arts and Sciences, they must formally declare their intended major and promptly begin to complete requirements omitted from the previous coursework.