General Education

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• Nevada System of Higher Education Core Requirements
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas General Education Core Requirements

All associate and baccalaureate candidates are required to complete the Nevada System of Higher Education core. Completion of the legislative requirement of United States and Nevada Constitutions is required of all students. Courses used to satisfy the Nevada System of Higher Education Core requirements can simultaneously satisfy the University of Nevada, Las Vegas General Education Core requirements. These Nevada System of Higher Education Core Requirements are included in the UNLV General Education Core Requirements. Specific courses meeting each requirement are listed in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas General Education Core Requirements following this section.

1. English Requirement. 6 credits. To satisfy the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Freshman English Composition requirement, all students must complete six semester credits of English, normally consisting of English (ENG) 101 and 102. Please see the University of Nevada, Las Vegas General Education Core Requirements for English Composition placement information.
2. Constitutions Requirement. 4-6 credits. The state law of Nevada provides that no student shall receive a diploma or a teacher’s certificate without previously having passed a satisfactory examination upon the constitutions of both the United States and the State of Nevada in a course of study. Evidence of completion of U.S. and Nevada Constitutions is required of all second baccalaureate degree students whose first degree is not from an NSHE institution. Transfer students who have already successfully completed a satisfactory three semester-credit U.S. Constitutions course from a regionally-accredited institution must successfully complete a satisfactory Nevada constitutions course. For courses offered prior to 2000, please refer to the appropriate catalog course descriptions to determine which ones satisfied the Constitutions requirement.
3. Mathematics Requirement. 3 credits. Three credits of a lower-division (100 or 200 level) mathematics course.
4. Natural Science Requirement. 3 credits. Three credits of an introductory level lower-division (100 or 200 level) course. Please see Life and Physical Sciences and Analytical Thinking Distribution requirement in the following University of Nevada, Las Vegas General Education Core Requirements section for a complete description of this requirement.
5. Social Science or Humanities Requirement. 3 credits. Three credits of an introductory level lower-division (100 or 200 level) course in either the social sciences or humanities. Please see the Social Sciences and Humanities and Fine Arts Distribution Requirements in the following University of Nevada, Las Vegas General Education Core Requirements section for complete descriptions.

The UNLV General Education Program is designed to help every student develop a broad intellectual background, gain familiarity with a variety of fields of knowledge, and acquire practical skills necessary for analyzing world cultures. Upon completion of the General Education core curriculum, students will be able to think critically and independently and so possess a foundation for life-long learning, professional success, and personal development.

Learning Outcomes of the General Education Core Curriculum

1. English Composition: Students will demonstrate effective written communication.
2. World Literature: Students will interpret and compare world literatures.
3. Constitutions: Students will interpret the U.S. and Nevada Constitutions in broad contexts.
4. Mathematics: Students will demonstrate quantitative reasoning skill.
5. Multicultural: Students will analyze contemporary cultures within the United States.
6. International: Students will demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language or explain how international cultures, societies, or political economies relate to complex, modern world systems.
7. Distribution Requirements:
   • Humanities and Fine Arts: Students will critically analyze the relationships of aesthetics, ideas, cultural practices and values to historical and contemporary cultures. Students will critically analyze the aesthetics, ideas, cultural practices, and values that shape individuals and their lives.
   • Life and Physical Sciences and Analytical Thinking: Students will use the methods and models of the natural sciences to define, solve, and evaluate problems. Students will apply logic to solve problems.
   • Social Sciences: Students will use the methods and models of the social sciences to analyze individual and group behaviors. Students will evaluate how policies affect individual and group behaviors.

To the end of fostering a liberal education, the UNLV Core Curriculum stipulates that students will undertake a number of specifically required courses in composition, in literature, in math, and in the study of U. S. and Nevada Constitutions. In addition, students will choose from a broader array of courses to fulfill UNLV’s distribution requirement. As seen in more detail in the section that follows, students must take three courses, typically totaling nine to ten credit hours, in each of two content areas that are OUTSIDE the major area of study. The content areas are Humanities and the Fine Arts, Life and Physical Sciences and Analytical Thinking, and the Social Sciences. These two content area distribution requirements of our core allow major departments or colleges to determine what course work will be required in their own specialized area of study while still ensuring that students will be exposed to a broadly liberal education. The major department or college will also decide what training in computer literacy is needed, or incorporate such training in other course work for the major. Please see the listing “Majors and their Distribution Area Assignments” later in this section to see the Major Distribution content areas that are within the major area of study.

Courses that satisfy the Nevada System of Higher Education Core requirements may simultaneously satisfy UNLV’s General Education Core requirements. The UNLV General Education Core requirements must be completed by all baccalaureate degree candidates.

Transfer Students
Admitted transfer students should confer with the Registrar’s Office or their college advising center about applicable General Education transfer credit and course substitutions where appropriate.

All students attending UNLV in order to earn a second baccalaureate degree must fulfill the U.S. and Nevada Constitutions requirements. The following students are exempt from all additional requirements of the UNLV General Education Core:

1. Students awarded a bachelor’s degree from any Nevada System of Higher Education institution.
2. Students who received an Associate of Arts, Associate of Business, or Associate of Science degree from any Nevada System of Higher Education community college.
3. Students awarded a bachelor’s degree from any regionally-accredited institution, provided their previous core consisted of a minimum of 30 semester credit-hours of for-credit non-developmental core courses.

Lower division courses taken at a regionally accredited U.S. institution that may possibly count towards the UNLV general education core will be considered no matter what year the courses were completed.  Upper division courses and/or courses designed for the major may not be applicable if they are over 10 years, depending on the field of study.

If a student transfers from a regionally accredited U.S. institution where the credits coming in do not match the credits required, UNLV will first identify (if it exists) the matching general education requirement and/or the equivalent UNLV course, and the number of transfer credits earned compared to the number of credits required.  Then, whether the course is equivalent to a UNLV course or simply meets a general education requirement, the following exceptions will be made:  if 66% or more of required credits have been earned then the requirement has been met; if less than 66% of required credits have been earned then the student must make up the credit shortage within that general education requirement.  Students still must satisfy the minimum credits to graduate.

Honors College
Students who successfully complete the Core Curriculum of the Honors College automatically satisfy all of the General Education Core requirements.

Petitions and Waivers
Students seeking a waiver of Core Requirements should petition the Faculty Senate General Education Committee at least two semesters before the proposed date of graduation.

General Education Curriculum Requirements

With the exception of the Multicultural/International course requirement, UNLV general education core courses cannot be duplicated across general education core curriculum requirements.

1. English Composition Requirement………..6 credits
   English 101 and 102. These courses should be taken during the student’s first year at UNLV, but no later than the end of the second. Please see the catalog Admissions Section, the UNLV English Composition Program website or the UNLV Class Schedule web-site for current ACT/SAT placement test scores that will guide placement in the appropriate English Composition class. Students with ACT English scores of 30 or higher, or SAT Writing or Critical Reading scores of 680 or higher place out of ENG 101 and need only take ENG 102. Minimum CLEP scores and Advanced Placement scores that satisfy the ENG 101 requirement are listed in the Admissions section of the catalog under the heading Nontraditional Credit. Students interested in alternate placement testing should contact the English Composition Program. Students whose first language is not English may take ENG 113 as an alternative to ENG 101 and ENG 114 as an alternative to ENG 102. All students must take ENG 102 or ENG 114; there is no exemption at UNLV.
2. Literature Requirement……………………..3 credits
   English 231 or 232 (World Literature I or II)
3. Constitutions Requirement……………….4-6 credits
   Satisfactory completion of courses examining the constitutions of both the United States and the State of Nevada. Transfer students who have already successfully completed a satisfactory 3 semester-credit U.S. Constitutions course from a regionally-accredited institution must successfully complete a satisfactory Nevada Constitutions course. Current UNLV courses that satisfy these requirements are:
   United States Constitution—HIST 101, HIST 106, HIST 401, HIST 412, PSC 304, PSC 330, PSC 409C, and PUA 241.
   Nevada Constitution—HIST 102, HIST 217, HIST 402, HIST 417A, PSC 100, and PSC 401D.
   Both United States and Nevada Constitutions—HIST 100, HON 111H, HON 112H, and PSC 101.
4. Mathematics Requirement………………….3 credits
   Any 100 or 200-level MATH course except 115, or 122.  This course should be taken during the student’s first year at UNLV, but no later than the end of the second. Please see the catalog Admissions Section for current ACT/SAT placement test scores that will guide placement in the appropriate MATH class.  Students interested in alternate placement testing should contact the Department of Mathematical Sciences.
5. Distribution Requirement……………..18-19 credits
   Eighteen credits to be composed of a maximum of nine credits in each of the two content areas outside of the student’s major distribution area. Please see below for a listing of the correlation of departments to majors and content areas. See the Faculty Senate General Education web page for a continuously updated listing of the courses satisfying the content areas designated below.
   The content areas are:
   • Humanities and Fine Arts
     Two courses (three credits each) from two different humanities areas and one introductory or appreciation course (three credits) from a fine arts area. Courses used to satisfy the English Literature or Constitution requirements may not be used to satisfy Humanities distribution requirements.
     • Humanities courses will be selected from any literature course offered by the English Department, any foreign language, history (Afro-American studies if cross-listed with history), philosophy (except PHIL 102, 105, or 114), architectural design (only AAD 201/201D), communication studies (only COM 101, 211, 216), women’s studies (only those cross listed with Humanities and Fine Arts).
     • Fine Arts courses will be selected from AAE 100, AAI 100, AAL 100, ART 101, 107, 111, 112, 135, 160, 216, 260, 261, DAN 100, 101, 103, 104, 165, 166/AAS 166, FIS 100, 110, MUS 101, 121, 125, 127, 129, 134, 176, or THTR 100, 105, 124, 175.
   • Life and Physical Sciences and Analytical Thinking
     Two courses from the life and physical sciences (at least one of which must be a laboratory course), typically for a total of seven credits, and one three-credit course in analytical thinking.
     • Life and Physical Science courses will be selected from astronomy, ANTH 102, 110L, NUTR 121, biology, chemistry (except CHEM 103, CHEM 108), EGG 100, 150, ENV 101, 220, physical geography, geology, or physics.
     • Analytical Thinking course: PHIL 102.
   • Social Sciences
     One course each from three different fields for a total of nine credits. Courses used to satisfy the Constitutions requirement may not be used to meet Social Sciences distribution requirements. Note: AAS and ANTH constitute one field.
     • Social Science Courses will be selected from AAS or ANTH (except ANTH 102 or AAS courses cross-listed with dance, English or history), CED 117, MFT 150, 360, CRJ 104, 270, 435, 436, 438, 469, ECON, EGG 307, HED 165, 429, 435, LAS 101, PSC, PSY or EPY 303, SWK 101, SOC, WMST (excluding those cross listed with Humanities and Fine Arts). All statistics courses are excluded.
6. Multicultural and International Requirements
   A minimum of six credits to be composed of a three-credit multicultural requirement and a three-credit international requirement that may simultaneously fulfill other general education core requirements. A single course may not meet the multicultural and international requirements simultaneously. To determine courses satisfying these requirements, consult the Faculty Senate General Education Committee web site (http://www.unlv.edu/committees/gec).

Majors and Their Distribution Area Assignments
Students are required to fulfill the distribution requirements in the TWO areas OUTSIDE their major’s distribution area.

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