Academic Requirements

• Two Humanities courses
• Three Social Sciences courses
• One additional course in any discipline
• An ePortfolio (see below for information)

Students who complete SIX courses that are approved by the Black Studies Director and submit a successful Black Studies ePorfolio in their senior year will have earned the Black Studies minor.

At least two of these six courses must pertain to Black culture outside of the United States. Study Abroad courses may also count toward the minor, with approval from the Director. One-credit or two-credit music classes count toward the minor if the student takes four or two semesters of the same class. Students may request that a Special Topics course or a course not ‘flagged’ as a Black Studies course be applied toward the minor if coursework and a research assignment was partially or fully addressing the Black experience. Students can declare the minor at any time, after consulting with the Director, who will advise them in selecting courses that fulfill the minor. Students who are interested in majoring in Black Studies may do so after petitioning the Director and obtaining approval.

For a list of courses that count toward the Black Studies minor, click HERE.

Black Studies ePortfolio

Students must submit a Black Studies ePortfolio to the approval of Black Studies Director in order to be considered a Black Studies graduating minor.

An ePortfolio should have the following elements:

1. A table of contents.
2. A list of courses taken to complete the Black Studies minor.
3. Three separate written assignments (preferably, unmarked papers) that were originally produced for a Black Studies course and were successfully evaluated by the course instructors. Each written assignment must be posted as a Word document or a PDF to Canvas.

For more information about how to create a Canvas ePortfolio, click HERE.

Senior Capstone Experience

Students who complete a Senior Capstone Experience project that focuses on a Black Studies topic may request to have their SCE credits applied toward the Black Studies minor. A student must first receive approval for the SCE according to the requirements stipulated by the major department. A copy of the approved SCE proposal must be submitted to the Black Studies program director in order to be considered for Black Studies course credit. If approved by the program director, the student would receive credit for one four-credit course within the Black Studies minor upon successful completion of the SCE.

Resources

For a comprehensive list of resources for Black Studies minors, click HERE.