Courses of Instruction and Common Terms

The courses of study that follow are listed alphabetically by departments.

Course Numbers

A three-digit system is used for numbering courses. The first digit indicates the level of the course.

100 Introductory courses
200 Second-level courses – these often have prerequisites, including introductory work or sophomore standing.
300 Advanced courses – these are designed for major programs and for election by students who have completed the prerequisites specified in course descriptions.
400 Advanced or senior-level course – these are usually research, seminar or independent study courses.
500 Graduate-level course

The use of a comma between course numbers indicates a definite sequence, but completion of the second semester is not required in order to obtain credit for the first. Example: ART101, ART102. The numbers in parentheses following the name of a course indicate the semester hours of credit. For example, (3, 3) indicates three hours of credit each semester.

Students planning to teach in elementary or secondary schools should refer to the Teacher Education section of this catalog to determine requirements for certification. It is recommended that these students confer with the chairperson of the Department of Teacher Education to discuss requirements needed to meet the Michigan Department of Education requirements.

The semesters listed after course descriptions indicate when courses are expected to be offered. Schedules are subject to change; students should confirm semester offerings with the department when planning degree programs.

Special and Advanced Courses

Five courses are consistent in their numbering throughout the departments. These appear at the end of each department’s listing, under the heading Special and Advanced Courses.

199 Exploratory Internships (1-3). Apply through the Institute for Career Planning.
299 Experimental Courses (1-3). Courses offered on a trial basis and intended for first- and second-year students. A course may be offered no more than twice as an experimental course. After the second offering, the course must be submitted through the curriculum review process and become a regular course offering in the Academic Catalog.
399 Professional Internships (1-12). Apply through the Institute for Career Planning.
451 Independent Study (1-3). Individual research projects elected in consultation with department chairpersons. Restricted to qualified upper-class students.
499 Advanced Experimental Courses (1-3). Courses offered on a trial basis and intended for third- and fourth-year students. A course may be offered no more than twice as an experimental course. After the second offering, the course must be submitted through the curriculum review process and become a regular course offering in the Academic Catalog.

100-498. I.S. - Individual Study (1-4). Regularly titled courses offered on an individual basis to a student who is unable to take a course at a regularly scheduled time. These courses include additional fees.

100-498. Topics Course (1-4). In-depth study of a special topic or themes reflecting specialized knowledge and experience of a given professor. At the discretion of the Department, topics courses may be repeated for the credit if the topic is different.

Common Terms

The following terms are common throughout the listing of courses, or may be helpful in navigating a student’s plan of study.

Courses:

The courses of instruction are broken into individual

course units. Each course is approved by the entire Adrian College Faculty to meet any criteria set forth via the curricular process of the college. The faculty member for every class at Adrian College can waive any of the prerequisites or co-requisites to their course of instruction for the semester they are teaching the course.

Prerequisite:

A course which is required to be passed before enrolling in the course desired. For example: MATH215 has a prerequisite of MATH205. Therefore, a student must pass MATH205 before enrolling in MATH215.

Co-requisite:

A course which must be taken in conjunction with another course. The co-requisite course must be completed at the same time as the course desired. For example: BIOL218 has a co-requisite of BIOL217. This means a student can take BIOL217 in the same semester as BIOL218, however, they may not take 218 without having completed BIOL217 or being enrolled in BIOL217.

Course Fees:

Departments can attach fees to the courses to cover the expense of materials required for completing the course. These non-refundable fees are assessed after the add/drop enrollment period at the start of each semester.

Distributional Changes:

Courses may not have the same distributions associated with them in all semesters. This is specifically relevant to the Writing Intensive Course which is dependent on the instructor teaching the course. Students must be aware of the distributions attached to a course at the time of registration. Distributions will not be added to classes retroactively to the registration process.

Changes to Curricular Requirements:

The curriculum of a department may change in the time that you are enrolled at Adrian College due to a number of reasons. Once the curricular changes are approved by the faculty, the department must work with the Registrar and students in a major to allow substitutions to courses that may not otherwise be taught.

Departmental Permission:

When a course requires Departmental Permission, it is an indication that the course is designed for Majors of that department only. Students must see the approval of the department chair in order to enroll in the course.

Course Substitution:

A required course may be replaced with another course upon written approval of the department chair, submitted to the Registrar, prior to registering for the substitute course.

Experiential Learning:

When a department requires an experiential component to their major, the component must be approved before a student register for or completes the experiential experience.

Course Waiver (no credit assigned):

A course waiver can be granted by a Department Chair, when submitting written reasons to the Registrar. However, students receiving a course waiver will receive no credit hours for the waived course

Topics Courses: (1-4 credits)

In depth study of a special topics or themes reflecting a special or current topic of interest or reflecting specialized knowledge and experience of a given professor. At the department’s discretion, students may repeat topics courses if the topic is different.

Topics may be offered as electives; not major or minor requirements.
Topics classes offered at the 300-level or above must either have prerequisites or require instructor permission.
Topics classes open to first-year students and with no prerequisites must be offered at the 100- or 200- level.
Topics classes are not intended to “trial run” new courses. The experimental designation is to be used for that purpose.
After two course offerings, the Registrar’s Office will contact the department for further curricular development.
Students who want to retake a topics course for a grade change may only retake it if it is the identical topic and instructor with the permission of the instructor.