Degree Programs The University of Sioux Falls offers graduate programs in Business Administration (Master of Business Administration/MBA), Education (Master of Education/M.Ed. and Education Specialist/Ed.S) and Leadership (Educational Doctorate/Ed.D) The University also offers a number of academic programs leading to Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Associate of Arts degrees in both liberal arts and professional fields. To secure a Bachelor of Arts degree, students must complete a program of at least 120 semester hours of study with a minimum grade point average of 2.0. This must include the appropriate courses for completing the liberal arts core requirements of the University and those of a major program. The final 30 semester hours and at least half of the major are to be taken in residence, and no student will be granted a degree without having earned at least 30 semester hours of credit at the University of Sioux Falls. The Bachelor of Science degree has the same requirements as the Bachelor of Arts degree but also stipulates that the student’s program must include 18 semester hours from biology, chemistry, mathematics, natural science, computer science, physics and/or exercise science; furthermore, nine of these 18 semester hours must be in laboratory courses. To secure an Associate of Arts degree, students must complete a program of at least 60 semester hours of study. This must include the appropriate courses for completing the liberal arts core requirements of he University and those of a major program. The final 8 semester hours and at least half of the major are to be taken in residence, and no student will be granted a degree without having earned at least 15 semester hours of credit at the University of Sioux Falls.
Philosophy of the Bachelor’s Degree Program
serve as an entry point to a four-year program..
The University of Sioux Falls has framed its bachelor’s degree requirements in light of a specific philosophy of higher education, a philosophy synthesized from two of the most influential approaches in American higher education—the classicist and pragmatist.
The Associate of Arts degree requires a total of 60 semester hours.
The classicist approach to higher education has as its primary goal the development of each person to his or her full potential intellectually, morally, aesthetically and physically. The pure classicist rejects any vocational specialization and any preoccupation with the contemporary setting in favor of a clear focus on intellectual and cultural history.
Associate’s degree candidates must complete 60 s.h..
By contrast, the pragmatist approach to higher education justifies the acquisition of knowledge according to the utility of that knowledge for the solution of concrete practical problems in contemporary life. Any course not directly related to a practical problem or a vocational need would be eliminated. From a Christian perspective, both of these approaches have elements of truth. On one hand, human beings, as creatures made in the image of God, have a special mandate to develop their unique capacities to the fullest extent. On the other hand, persons affirming the Christian mission and lifestyle have a responsibility to confront the practical problems of this world and to pursue professions with competence. Thus, the problem lies not with either of these approaches in itself, but rather in the artificial separation of the two. At the University of Sioux Falls, we believe that a program of higher education should prepare students for dealing with every aspect of their lives, including such practical aspects as profession and family life. At the same time, it should seek to develop students with the insight, creativity and moral sensitivity that our world so desperately needs. To achieve these goals, we have developed a program that combines a core of liberal arts courses with a wide selection of individual academic majors.
Associate of Arts Degree Program An Associate of Arts degree, normally a two-year course of study, is available in selected areas at the University of Sioux Falls. It is designed to fulfill the need for an introductory college experience, as well as to provide vocational training and also
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UNIVERSITY OF SIOUX FALLS
General Requirements Bachelor’s degree candidates must complete 120 s.h., including all of the liberal arts core requirements listed on page 40. LAR 111, LAR 112 and LAR 100 should be taken within the student’s first three semesters or 32 s.h. of study. Transfer students should complete these courses by the end of their first year at USF. The Mathematics requirement must be taken within the student's first two years. Transfer students must complete these courses by the end of their first three semesters at USF. All students must complete one-half of the major and the last 30 hours in residency for bachelor degree programs and the last 15 hours in residency for associate degree programs. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with the academic policies contained in the catalog. Failure to do so does not excuse students from the requirements and regulations described in the Liberal Arts Core Requirements.
Liberal Arts Core Requirements What is a Liberal Art? What exactly is a liberal art? What makes a liberal arts education distinct? These are two questions any USF student should consider and be able to answer by the time they are juniors, no matter their major. On the one hand, students might think of the liberal arts as being a celebration of God’s majestically creative mind. On the other, from a more earthly perspective, the liberal arts comprise the educational core of liberal arts colleges and universities, such as USF. The liberal arts have been around for about 1,000 years, and originally, there were seven: grammar, rhetoric and logic (called The Trivium), arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy (called The Quadrivium). These were the arts—the disciplines—around which the first universities were built. They represented the core of learning. They were liberal in that they were free arts—students pursued them purely for the sake of knowledge, not to train for an occupation. Today, a
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