COURSE CURRICULUM

The Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) Field Major at Wichita State University is a highly flexible interdisciplinary degree that requires a minimum of 120 credit hours and allows students to design a customized academic program that combines three or more areas of study. Working closely with an academic advisor in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, students create a field major that reflects their educational interests, career goals, or plans for graduate study. The program is intended to provide a broad understanding of the cultural, social, scientific, and professional factors that influence human behavior and society while encouraging students to integrate knowledge from multiple disciplines. The field major requires at least 36 credit hours distributed across three academic areas. Students must complete a minimum of 18 credit hours in a primary area of concentration and at least 9 credit hours in each of two allied areas. At least 12 of the 36 major credit hours must be upper-division coursework, ensuring advanced study within the selected disciplines. The primary and secondary areas must be within Liberal Arts and Sciences or historically associated disciplines, while the third area may come from another department, college, occupational field, or thematic area that complements the student’s academic objectives. Examples of eligible disciplines include aging studies, art history, communication sciences and disorders, economics, music composition, theatre, and many other fields. Students may either design their own interdisciplinary major with advisor approval or choose from several pre-designed field majors offered by the college. In addition to the field major requirements, students must complete 34–35 credit hours of general education coursework, approximately 36 credit hours that satisfy LAS competency requirements, and enough electives to reach the 120-credit-hour graduation requirement. All 18 credit hours in the primary field must be courses approved for a major or minor within that discipline. Most field majors lead to a Bachelor of Arts degree, although specialized options such as biochemistry and chemistry/business result in a Bachelor of Science degree. Overall, the program offers exceptional flexibility, allowing students to create a personalized degree that combines multiple academic interests while developing broad knowledge, critical thinking abilities, and career-ready skills.