Prior to implementing the General Education Requirements, UW-Madison had no common undergraduate requirements with the single exception of an Ethnic Studies requirement. Widespread opinion on campus was that students, particularly at the freshman and sophomore levels, were not being offered the amount or level of focused writing/communication/information literacy skills experience that one would expect of an undergraduate experience at UW-Madison. A lack of General Education requirements in the Quantitative Reasoning area meant that some students never took college level courses that helped to hone skills in this area. There was also wide support among the faculty for general education requirements in breadth areas of natural science, humanities/literature/art, and social studies since previous requirements varied widely across the campus.

Any undergraduate student whose first college matriculation date is after May 20, 1996 must complete these requirements. 

Matriculation date is either:

• if UW-Madison is the first post-secondary institution the student has attended, the day the student entered UW-Madison is the matriculation date.
• if the student has attended another post-secondary institution, the evaluation of transfer credits will help determine the matriculation date.  For students who entered between May 20, 1996 and Summer 1999, their first college matriculation date is given on the credit evaluation.  For students entering Summer 1999 or later, the exemption action for General Education is indicated if their first matriculation was prior to the implementation of the General Education Requirements; however, the matriculation date may not appear on the credit evaluation report.

As noted above, any undergraduate student whose first college matriculation date is after May 20, 1996, must complete these requirements. Students who completed the UW-Madison General Education requirements as part of their first undergraduate degree need not complete them again; students whose first undergraduate degree is from another institution and whose matriculation date is after May 20, 1996, will have their previous course work examined to determine what requirements have been fulfilled by comparable courses taken elsewhere.

If they need to take these tests at a time other than SOAR or the spring regional testing, contact the Office of Testing and Evaluation, 262-5863 to obtain information or schedule a testing appointment.  The testing itself is coordinated by the UW Center for Placement Testing, which provides explanations of the exams on its website.

The University General Education Committee oversees the ongoing assessment of the General Education Requirements.  Please refer to our page on assessment for an overview of these efforts, and the General Education Assessment Plan.

More information about UW-Madison's assessment efforts may be found online on the Outcomes Assessment website, hosted by the Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.  This site offers links to all of UW-Madison's documents on assessment, including the continuously updated UW-Madison Assessment Manual.

The University General Education Committee (UGEC) is a campus-wide committee that considers policy and procedural questions about the General Education Requirements; the UGEC also oversees ongoing assessment of student learning in these areas. When necessary, proposals for revising the requirements or aspects of their administration are submitted to the University Academic Planning Council, to which the Faculty Senate has delegated responsibility in this area. For a discussion of course approval contacts, please refer to the New General Education Courses page.

While the College of Letters and Science serves as the campus trustee for general education matters, UGEC members are drawn from across all UW-Madison schools and colleges that serve undergraduate students. Approximately nine faculty/academic staff serve rotating three year appointments; they are joined by other faculty and staff who serve as ex officio members due to their particular responsibilities vis-a-vis the General Education requirements. The Committee generally holds two to three meetings per semester, at meeting times established based on members' schedules.

Anyone interested in serving on the UGEC can contact the committee chair, Elaine Klein (Director of General Education and L&S Assistant Dean for Academic Planning: emklein@ls.wisc.edu), or their dean, who can nominate members by contacting Dean Gary Sandefur (gsandefur@ls.wisc.edu).

All incoming freshmen and all transfer students without an equivalent Communications course are required to take the UW System English placement exam administered by the Center for Placement Testing, which is part of the Office of Testing and Evaluation Services. In any given year, about 75% of incoming freshmen test at a level that indicates they must complete a Communication A course.  (The Center provides a sample of the English Placement Exam online.)

The two largest Communication A courses are English 100 and Communication Arts 100. Engineering Professional Development offers several sections of EPD 155, Professional Development, each semester. The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the School of Human Ecology jointly offer Life Sciences Communication/Family Communication 100 each semester. Students for whom English is not the native language can take English 118 to fulfill the Communication A requirement. The full list of courses that fulfill the Communication A requirement is available online through the Schedule of Classes, the link to which can be found on our Course Lists page.

In May 2006, the University Academic Planning Council adjusted campus policy, which had previously restricted students to receiving credit for only one Communication A course.  The revised policy states that students may only receive credit for one Communication A course taken in residence. 

This change in policy acknowledges that students who receive course credit by AP exam or transfer might still wish to take and benefit from taking a Communication A course while they are at UW-Madison.

Both Communication A and Communication B courses address the four modes of literacy: writing, speaking, reading, and listening.  The courses also include instruction in information literacy. Communication A is an introduction to the writing and speaking students will encounter in their subsequent college courses, as well as to the kind of critical writing that will serve them well beyond the university.  Communication B courses are designed to give students more in-depth practice with college writing, particularly as found in their chosen discipline or disciplines in which they have a particular interest. Consult the Schedule of Classes or Course Guide for examples of courses that meet these requirements. 

Communication A courses emphasize written and oral communication.  They also contain a library instruction component to help students find and use research tools they need.  Transfer students and students who satisfy Comm-A with AP credit or by placement test exemption may miss this important feature.  While transfer students usually have some experience using a college or university library, they may not know as much about the large and complex UW-Madison General Library System, which has over forty libraries.  Students can get a useful introduction to the campus library system by doing CLUE (Computerized Library User Education), an interactive, multimedia tutorial, located at http://clue.library.wisc.edu/.  Students should also be encouraged to ask reference librarians in any campus library for help.  Instructors who would like to schedule a library instruction session or to discuss the design of a library assignment with an instruction librarian should consult the "Teaching Services for Faculty and Instructors" area of the Library Instruction website (http://www.library.wisc.edu/inst-services/#schedule).  Specialists in library instruction are happy to consult with you to design effective library classes and exercises to meet your course goals and assignments.  For more information, see the CLUE Website's informational handout for students who are exempted from Comm-A.  It's posted online at http://staff.library.wisc.edu/instruction/materials/coursespecific/comma/CLUE_2011b.pdf.

A wide range of courses have been certified as meeting the Communication B requirement. 

Communication B courses are intended to give students a in-depth exposure to writing, communication, and information literacy within an academic content area. The first level Communication course (Communication A) is concerned with developing college-level proficiencies in writing, speaking, reading, and listening. As the second level communication course, Communication B is concerned with further development of these skills as directly applied to a particular discipline or subject matter.

The criteria for Communication B courses have been set forth by the Communication Implementation Committee.  Instructors interested in creating a new Communication B course or revising a current course to meet the criteria should contact Professor David Zimmerman (dazimmerman@wisc.edu), the Communication Liaison to the General Education Committee, to discuss any questions they may have about the criteria. They should contact Assistant Dean Elaine Klein (emklein@ls.wisc.edu), Assistant Dean for L&S Academic Planning and Chair of the Undergraduate General Education Committee if they have questions about possible support for such courses.

As a result of the assessment of the Communication B requirement, the criteria for Comm-B courses were revised (as approved by UAPC action on June 24, 2003). The revisions grant instructors greater flexibility in balancing written and oral components of the Communication B curriculum. It is believed that this change will allow students access to classes that will help them develop greater proficiency in oral communication without creating an excessive burden on instructors. A list of suggestions and resources for increasing opportunities for oral instruction has been provided by the Verbal Assessment Project. No changes to existing courses are required; however, instructors who wish to revise existing courses - or propose development of new courses - may do so to meet the revised criteria.

At the time the General Education Requirements were first implemented departments were given the opportunity to propose "Bascom" courses. Many of the original Bascom courses have the course number 236 since that number was set aside by the divisional committees specifically for this purpose. They are generally are small (20 students or fewer) faculty or academic staff taught courses designed specifically to meet Comm B criteria. Many other courses, both large and small, have now been approved as Comm B courses, but the term "Bascom" course is still often used to denote a small, faculty or academic staff taught Communication B course.

There are many different models of Communication B courses. A whole course may be offered as a Communication B course each time it is offered. Many courses routinely offer a mix of discussion sections, some of which are Communication B sections and some of which are not. Departments may also decide to offer an approved course as a Communication B course in one semester and as a non-Communication B course in another. It is important that departments mark courses appropriately in the Timetable each semester and coordinate any changes with the Timetable and Course Scheduling Office.

There are no standard or published enrollment guidelines for Comm-B courses since each course is structured differently and is seen in the context of various academic fields. Comm-B courses may be small faculty taught courses or large courses with sections taught by teaching assistants. They may have a grader/reader or Writing Fellow attached to them or they may not. That being said, it is true that stand alone faculty Comm-B courses will tend to be small --perhaps around 20 students -- and that teaching assistant sections in Comm-B courses will either be smaller than in otherwise comparable courses and/or the teaching assistant's appointment level will be larger than in otherwise comparable courses to recognize the special demands in these courses.

The Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum program offer eight hours of training for teaching assistants of Communication B courses during Welcome Week of each semester; all Communication B teaching assistant work duties provide for this time. Faculty members and lecturers new to teaching Communication B courses are also encouraged to attend the training. Brad Hughes (Director of the Writing Center and of the Writing Across the Curriculum program)  and his staff are also available for consultation with any instructor about teaching Communication B and Writing Intensive courses.  (Dr. Hughes may be reached by email, bthughes@wisc.edu, or by telephone at 263-3823.)

No, a department that has offered a "Bascom" course or other "Topics" course that satisfies the criteria for Communication B courses may offer the same course again on another topic as a Communication B course without coming back to the Communication Implementation Committee for separate approval of each topic.

Although they are not part of the General Education requirements, Writing Intensive courses serve as the single most important way in which the University provides additional writing instruction and experience beyond the Communication A and Communication B requirements. Individual instructors can elect to offer any course or section as Writing Intensive in any given semester. Such courses are footnoted in the Timetable as "Writing Intensive." Instructors interested in learning more about teaching Writing Intensive courses should contact Brad Hughes, Director of the Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum, by email (bthughes@wisc.edu) or by telephone at 3-3823.

Incoming freshmen and transfer students who have not already completed the equivalent of a Quantitative Reasoning A course must take the UW System Math Placement exam. Students who achieve a score high enough for placement in Math 114 or above are exempt from the requirement. Some students may need to complete prerequisite course work before being able to register in a QR-A course.

Credit granted on the basis of AP scores or college level credit earned while the student is in high school may also be presented to fulfill or be exempted from QR-A.

While most QR-A courses are offered through the Math Department, students may also choose to complete Philosophy 210 (Reason in Communication) to fulfill the QR-A requirement. Additionally, one of the Math courses that fulfills the QR-A requirement, Math 141, is intended for students who do not plan to complete any further college level mathematics courses.

QR-B courses are offered by a wide range of departments, a full list of which can be found in the Course Guide. Criteria and guidelines for both QR-A and QR-B courses are outlined in the QR course criteria.

The criteria for Quantitative Reasoning courses was originally set forth by the Quantitative Reasoning Implementation Committee. Instructors interested in creating a new QR-B course or revising a current course to meet the criteria should contact Professor Shirin Malekpour (malekpou@math.wisc.edu) of the Mathematics Department who serves as the liaison for Quantitative Reasoning to discuss any questions they may have about the criteria.

At its meeting of December 18, 1997, the UAPC approved several recommendations made by Richard Brualdi, Chair of the QR Implementation Committee.  These included the explanation of the QR transfer policy summarized below: 

1. A student who is given transfer credit (or AP credit, or credit based on a departmental exam) for a course that equates to a QR-A course has satisfied QR-A.  In the case of Math 141, this would mean a non-remedial QR course at another institution.  This does NOT mean that transfer credit for a QR-B course implies that a student has satisfied QR-A, except as described below.
2. A student who is given transfer credit (or AP credit or credit based on a departmental exam) for a MATH course that equates to a UW-Madison QR-B Math course is presumed to have also satisfied the QR-A requirement. Completing or receiving transfer credit for any other QR-B course does NOT mean that the student has completed or been exempted from the QR-A requirement.
3. If a student transfers from within the UW System, then she or he as (presumably) taken the UWS placement exam.  This can be used to determine QR-A exemption by evaluating whether the scores are high enough to place into MATH 114 or beyond.
4. If neither (a), (b) or (c) holds, transfer students should take the placement exam and their QR placement will be determined on the basis of their placement scores (or they can forgo the placement exam and take the QR-A course).  It is our recommendation that transfer students who have not already taken the UWS placement exam and who have not transferred a Math course that exempts them from QR-A should be required to take the placement exam.

Special note:  Because there was some confusion about QR-A and -B policy for transfer students, those who were admitted between Summer 1996 and Semester II, 1997-98 were informed that they were exempt from QR-A based on completion of a non-math QR-B course.  These exemptions were honored.  After that time, transfer students who are given credit for a QR-B certified non-Math course but not a QR-B certified Math course no longer receive QR-A exemption.

A student who is given transfer credit (or AP credit or credit based on a departmental exam) for a MATH course that equates to a UW-Madison QR-B Math course is presumed to have also satisfied the QR-A requirement. Receiving transfer credit for any other QR-B course does NOT mean that the student has completed or been exempted from the QR-A requirement.  Finally, students must satisfy QR-A in order to enroll in QR-B courses.

The history of the Ethnic Studies Requirement (ESR) is documented in the Report of the Ethnic Studies Review Committee (July 18, 2002), which noted that the establishment of the ESR "grew out of concerns symbolized by an incident in May 1987, in which the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity (known as the "Fijis") put up a large caricature of an "island native" as part of their "Fiji Island" theme party." This caricature drew criticism from a number of student groups: the Black Student Union denounced it as racist, and demanded that the University take action to prevent such behavior from recurring. The BSO, the Pacific and Asian Women's Alliance, the Chicano Graduate Student Organization, and the Union Puertorriquena formed the Minority Coalition in June 1987. The Vice Chancellor for Human Resources convened a Steering Committee on Minority Affairs (consisting of representatives from the faculty, staff and students, and including representatives of the Minority Coalition). One recommendation arising from this committee's inquiries was that there be a mandatory six-credit ethnic studies course requirement, and that a variety of Ethnic Studies Programs be developed. This recommendation, although it was later reduced to three-credits, was eventually endorsed as part of "The Madison Plan". It was first implemented in the College of Letters and Science in 1989 and in time, was adopted by all UW-Madison undergraduate colleges. It became a campus-wide requirement in 1994, when a three-credit ethnic studies requirement was adopted by the Faculty Senate as part of the university's General Education Requirements.

As with other General Education Requirements, the ESR is implemented via a list of courses that have been reviewed by a committee of faculty who determine whether the courses proposed meet a specific set of criteria. Courses that meet the criteria are designated in the Catalog and Timetable with an "e".

The ESR review was prompted by the university’s Plan 2008. That review addressed the efficacy with which the ethnic studies course array (as it stood ca. 2000-02) met the stated goals of the requirement. The Ethnic Studies Review Committee determined that substantial changes were required to achieve those goals, and its report included several recommendations addressing implementation of the requirement.

The requirement states:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is committed to fostering an understanding and appreciation of diversity, in the belief that doing so will:

• Better prepare students for life and careers in an increasingly multicultural US environment,
• Add breadth and depth to the University curriculum, and
• Improve the campus climate.

One of the University's overarching goals is to infuse the curriculum in all disciplines with diversity, including those where traditionally it has been absent. The Ethnic Studies Requirement (ESR) is one of several key elements in reaching this goal. This is a requirement that all students take a 3-credit course that considers ethnic/racial minorities that have been marginalized or discriminated against in the U.S. Because issues of ethnic diversity and religion are often intertwined and cannot easily be separated, courses that focus on religion may, where appropriate, fulfill the ESR.

All courses that the implementation committee approves as satisfying the requirement must provide evidence that the course material illuminates the circumstances, conditions, and experiences of racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. (Adopted by the UAPC January 23, 2003)

The ethnic studies requirement is intended to increase understanding of the culture and contributions of persistently marginalized racial or ethnic groups in the United States, and to equip students to respond constructively to issues connected with our pluralistic society and global community.

The review committee's recommendations were approved (with one amendment) by the University Academic Planning Council (UAPC), which is empowered in FPP 6.52 with the responsibility for addressing academic issues crossing school and college lines. Since the College of Letters and Science houses most of the courses and faculty responsible for fielding the requirement, the UAPC also charged the Dean of L&S to implement the recommendations on its behalf. Dean Certain convened the Ethnic Studies Implementation Committee (ESIC), which undertook the review of the ethnic studies course array.

The Final Report of the Ethnic Studies Implementation Committee was submitted to the University Academic Planning Council for consideration in Spring 2005. In that report, the committee presented the results of its review of the courses that, as of September 2003, carried the ESR or "e" designation. Many of these courses continue to carry that course attribute; several courses had the attribute removed (either because the course no longer met the criteria, or at department or faculty request). In addition, many new courses are now designated as ESR courses. In the course of conducting its work, the ESIC found it useful to articulate a set of descriptive guidelines that are founded on the ESR criteria discussed above. These guidelines were developed to help reviewers evaluate those few courses that may fall on the borderlines between being acceptable as ESR courses, and those that are not. The UAPC accepted the committee's conclusions, and endorsed the use of these descriptive guidelines.

Per the ESIC's recommendation, the administration and review of ESR courses has now been delegated formally to the University General Education Committee, which oversees all of the other university wide requirements undergraduate students must complete.

As with all courses and curricula at UW-Madison, the faculty bear responsibility for the Ethnic Studies course array, so a faculty committee must review all courses proposed to carry ESR or "e" designation. All reviews currently are conducted by the Ethnic Studies Subcommittee of the University General Education Committee.

Instructions for seeking review of potential ethnic studies courses are available on this website at the New General Education Courses webpage. The process adds one additional layer of review to the usual process for creating new or changing existing courses: once a course addition/change is approved by the department, the next step is to submit the appropriate New Course or Course Change form (accompanied by a syllabus) to their school/college curriculum committee. Proposals will be sent directly to the General Education Committee for consideration by the L&S Curriculum Committee (for courses proposed in L&S) or by the Divisional Executive Committee Office (for courses proposed by schools or colleges other than L&S). The committee will communicate its determination to Dr. Nancy Westphal-Johnson (Chair, General Education Committee), as well as to the department, Divisional Executive Committee, and Registrar's Office.

If you have questions about the process, please feel free to contact Dr. Elaine M. Klein at emklein@ls.wisc.edu.

Yes. Please follow your department and college procedure for requesting a course change (forms are available online through the Divisional Committee office - http://www.secfac.wisc.edu/divcomm/courses/CourseProposals.htm). Please include a syllabus that clearly delineates the content appropriate to Ethnic Studies courses; we recommend that individuals seeking ESR designation for their courses refer to the descriptive guidelines as they prepare the materials for the course change proposal. If you need assistance in interpreting the criteria or the guidelines, please feel free to contact Dr. Elaine M. Klein at emklein@ls.wisc.edu.

Yes.

The revisions to the ESR that went into effect in Fall 2005 hold that:

• Students who matriculated (entered) the university before Fall 2005 need 3 credits of coursework in Ethnic Studies designated courses.
• Students who matriculate in Fall 2005 need to take one 3-credit course designated as Ethnic Studies.

In most cases, no.

The "topics" course mechanism allows departments and programs to offer a variety of courses under a standard number, usually with the title, "Topics in [Subject]"; often, these course listings are used to test and refine new courses as they're being developed, or to provide members of the faculty a chance to teach in an area of specialty not usually found among the regular course listings. Since the content of topics courses varies from offering to offering, it is usually inappropriate for such courses to carry the Ethnic Studies designation, since there is no way for the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) to discriminate between when the designation is appropriate and when it is not. A few departments and programs that focus much of their attention on issues related to ethnic studies and often develop new courses in those areas have been granted permission to create "Ethnic Studies Topics" courses, with the understanding that only topics that meet the criteria for ethnic studies courses will be allowed to be taught under those numbers.