Special academic and cultural programs whose scope extends beyond the disciplinary field of any specific college, school, or department are offered at the University. The University recognizes the importance to students of in-depth study of an area to supplement their major field. Most colleges within the University require either a cognate or a minor in addition to the major as part of degree requirements.
Some programs require neither.
The cognate is a minimum of 12 hours in advanced-level courses related to, but outside, the major. It is intended to support the course work in the major. Cognate courses may be drawn from one or more departments, depending on the individual interests and requirements of the student as determined by the student's departmental major advisor. A cognate differs from a minor in that the courses must be above prerequisite level and may be distributed over more than one subject area. The minor is normally a minimum of 18 hours of prescribed courses in one subject area.