Distribution/Graduation Requirements

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Distribution Requirements

Exposure to a broad range of topics and fields of inquiry as well as depth and competence in particular areas of study distinguish the liberally educated person.

To help you achieve the breadth of a liberal education, you must meet a number of curriculum or “distribution” requirements. You can begin to meet these requirements as early as your first semester.

Courses that meet these requirements have the appropriate three-letter abbreviation in parentheses wherever they appear. As you look through the Academic Department and Program Information for courses to take for the fall, you should note whether or not they meet particular distribution requirements:

  • AEX: Arts/Expression. A course that provides active learning through creative expression.
  • HUM: Humanities. A course that involves the critical interpretation of traditional and contemporary works of literature, history, political thought, philosophy, religious studies, and the arts, both visual and performing.
  • SSC: Social Science. A course that provides an awareness of how economic, political and social institutions can be organized, evidence about them analyzed and social science knowledge generated.
  • MFL: Mathematics or Foreign Language. A course that either develops quantitative reasoning and analytical thought or provides knowledge of a foreign language and understanding of a foreign culture.
  • NSC/NSC-L/SST: Natural Science/Natural Science Lab/Science Studies. Two courses that provide a foundation in the natural sciences and the interplay between science and society. At least one of the two courses must include a laboratory (NSC-L).

In order to meet the above distribution requirements, you must take the courses from six different departments or programs. A particular course can be used to meet only one of the distribution requirements.

Graduation Requirements

Your First-Year Program and First-Year Seminar courses are graduation requirements at St. Lawrence. Every student must pass both courses to graduate; hence you cannot drop or withdraw from your FYP or FYS courses. See the First-Year Program Information page for more information about this requirement.

In addition to the FYP and FYS, you must complete the Diversity requirement. To fulfill this requirement, you must take two courses from two different departments or programs approved as engaging participants in the critical study of sameness and difference, including diverse social and cultural practices and beliefs, either within or outside the United States. Courses meeting the diversity requirement are designated by “DIV”. These courses may also be counted toward other major and minor or distribution requirements, but not toward the FYP requirement. Experience on a full-semester off-campus program approved for diversity credit by the Academic Affairs Committee will satisfy one DIV requirement.

Please note: If a course listed in the Department and Program Information pages of the New Student Guide does not have a three-letter abbreviation, it does not fulfill one of these requirements.

Questions about courses and requirements?

  • You will find detailed descriptions of each course offered at SLU in the University’s 2012–2013 Catalog.
  • Should you wish to call or e-mail one of the departments or programs for more information, you can use the phone number or email form found in the listing for that department/program on the New Student Guide.
  • If you have any general questions regarding the requirements at SLU, you should contact the summer advising team at fypadvising@stlawu.edu or (315) 229-7397.