Bachelor’s Degrees
Bachelor’s degrees are awarded in 21 majors. Most majors include a variety of emphases from which to choose as well as licensure programs that qualify students for a career in education. Please see the departmental curricula later in this catalog for complete descriptions of the emphases and licensure tracks available within each major.
Major Requirements
A major consists of no fewer than 32 and no more than 62 semester hours, including all required courses for the major, regardless of prefix. Hybrid or interdisciplinary majors are exempt from the 62-hour cap. A hybrid major is defined as a major that requires at least 20 hours from each of two different departments. Departmental or program requirements for specific courses, field experiences, or comprehensive tests must be met. Those requirements are specified along with the departmental curricula.
Minors
A minor typically consists of a minimum of 18 credit hours of study within a particular academic discipline. Minors are available in biology, business administration, chemistry, communication, information technology, English, graphic design, history, international business, mathematics, Spanish, Performing arts, philosophy and religion, psychology, sociology, technology, and transformative entrepreneurship. Requirements for the minors in each of these areas are specified in the departmental sections of this catalog.
Bachelor of Arts Degrees
One hundred twenty-four (124) academic credit hours are required for the B.A. degree. A Bachelor of Arts degree may be obtained for the following majors:
- Communication
- English
- History
- Performing Arts
- Philosophy and Religion
- Spanish
- Visual Arts
Students completing one of the above majors who want a Bachelor of Science degree must take eight additional hours in a B.S. major beyond the general education requirements in that area.
Bachelor of Science Degrees
One hundred twenty-four (124) academic credit hours are required for the B.S. degree. A Bachelor of Science degree may be obtained for the following majors:
- Biology
- Biochemistry
- Business Administration
- Business Management
- Chemistry
- Information Technology (Dormant)
- Elementary Education (including Special Education licensure)
- Environmental Stewardship
- History and Political Science
- Mathematics
- Physical Education & Health
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Technology (including Auto Restoration)
Students completing one of the above majors who want a Bachelor of Arts degree must take two semesters of a single second human language.
Interdisciplinary Bachelor’s Degree Programs
Interdisciplinary programs allow students to combine courses from different departments or divisions into one major.
Interdisciplinary programs may be initiated by either faculty members or students. In all cases the following guidelines must be followed:
- An interdisciplinary major shall consist of a minimum of 44 semester hours.
- The instructors supervising the program must come from two or more departments.
- The courses central to the program must come from two or more departments.
- The program must be approved by the Educational Policies Committee no later than the second semester of the junior year.
When faculty initiate the program, two or more instructors from the appropriate departments plan the interdisciplinary concentration and submit the proposal the Educational Policies Committee following the guidelines available from the registrar’s office.
An approved, faculty-initiated interdisciplinary program is Environmental Stewardship.
A student may, in consultation with a faculty advisor, propose a previously un-established interdisciplinary program. The chairs of each department represented in the interdisciplinary program must approve the proposal. The proposal is submitted to the Educational Policies Committee according to the guidelines available in the registrar’s office. The student and a faculty advisor must present the proposal to EPC in person to explain and defend its academic integrity.
The following are actual examples of student-initiated interdisciplinary majors that have been approved by Educational Policies Committee and completed by recent graduates of McPherson College. They are listed here to illustrate the possibilities students may explore.
- Family Life and Human Development
- Pre-Nursing and Human Behavior
- Sports Management
- Bioethics/International Studies/Political Science.
Requirements for a Bachelor’s Degree
- A minimum of 124 credit hours.
- Fulfillment of the major program requirements.
- Fulfillment of general education requirements, or completion of an Associate of Arts degree at an accredited institution.
- A minimum, overall residential GPA of 2.0.
- A minimum, residential GPA of 2.0 in the major.
- A minimum of 32 credit hours completed at McPherson College.
- Twenty of the last 30 or 40 of the last 60 credit hours completed at McPherson College.
- A minimum of 8 hours of the major completed at McPherson College.
- The last 60 credit hours completed at a four-year college or university.
- No more than 64 credit hours from two-year institutions counted toward the degree.
- At least six hours outside the home department of the major, in addition to the major and general education requirements. (Students with more than one major automatically meet this requirement. Students with a hybrid major must complete at least six hours outside both home departments of the major.)
- Approval by majority vote of Faculty Meeting.