College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

Arts, Sciences, and Letters: the Liberal Arts College at the University of Michigan-Dearborn

With a curriculum steeped in the liberal arts and sciences, the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters (CASL) provides students with the necessary foundation to excel in their academic pursuits and to make a difference in the world beyond the classroom.

Mission of the College

The College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters is a transformative student-centered exploratory learning environment, regionally and globally focused, and deeply grounded in the values of inclusiveness and engagement, and informed by leading edge research. We develop and empower students to become future leaders who will guide the resurgence and renewal of southeastern Michigan and the world beyond.

Vision Statement

The College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters aspires to be the premier public liberal arts college in Michigan attracting individuals from all backgrounds and career interests and transforming their lives through education in mathematics, the humanities, and the social, behavioral and natural sciences.

Degree Requirements

Students may obtain a Bachelor of Arts (AB) or Bachelor of Science (BS) from CASL. 

All of the following requirements must be successfully completed to earn a CASL AB or BS degree: Dearborn Discovery Core (DDC), Foreign Language (except Integrative Studies major), Foundations, all Major Requirements, Upper-Level Coursework, and Total Credit Hours. Students must also be in compliance with all policies governing the degree.

Bachelor of Arts (AB)

To be recommended for the AB degree a student must have satisfied the Dearborn Discovery Core (DDC), Foundations, and Foreign Language requirements, senior residency, credit hours, grade point average, and upper-level work. For all programs except Integrative Studies, the student must also complete the requirements for the major. The AB degree in Integrative Studies does not involve a major, but three fields of study called Concentrations. Integrative Studies students do not need to complete the Foreign Language requirement.

Bachelors of Science (BS)

To be recommended for the BS degree a student must have satisfied all the requirements listed above for the AB degree and must have majored in one of the following programs: Behavioral and Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Chemistry (ACS certified), Environmental Science (Ecosystems Sciences or Geosciences concentrations), Microbiology, or Physics. Alternatively, a student who earns 60 or more credit hours (at least 20 credit hours of which are in upper level courses 300 or above) in specified STEM or applied sciences coursework may, upon petition to the CASL Advising and Academic Success office, be granted the BS degree in the following majors: Actuarial Mathematics, Applied Statistics, Business Studies (as a 2nd major only), Integrative Studies, and Mathematics.

Other Requirements

Total Credit Hours

A minimum of 120 credit hours with an overall grade point average of C (2.00) or better is required for graduation.

Upper-Level Coursework

A minimum of 48 hours of upper-level (courses numbered 300-499 and 3000-4999) coursework must be completed by each student. The College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters does not award upper-level credit to courses taken at a two-year institution except in the following circumstances:

• Courses are articulated as upper-level as part of the MiTransfer Pathways Project.
• Courses are articulated as upper-level as part of a current articulation agreement with the two-year institution. In this case, the upper-level credit is dependent upon the student meeting the criteria of the articulation agreement. If those criteria are not met, the credit will revert to lower-level.

Credit Hour Limitation

There are maximum credit hours in any one discipline which may be applied toward the 120 credit hours needed for graduation for some majors. See major requirements for specific rules.

A liberal arts degree program affords a student both breadth and depth of learning. The course requirements for a degree may be divided into types: courses that give a broad, general education, those that provide depth in a specialization, and those that offer the tools needed for success in college and life.

Dearborn Discovery Core (DDC), Foundations, and Foreign Language 

Dearborn Discovery Core (DDC)

Students admitted to the College follow the Dearborn Discovery Core (DDC) curriculum to meet their general education requirements (see General Education Program section). Students meeting Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) should consult a CASL Advisor for review of their remaining DDC requirements. 

Foundations Requirement 

During the first semester on campus, all incoming students in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters will choose one Foundations (FNDS) course to take from the more than 30 seminars offered. Your Foundations seminar will ensure a firm start on your educational journey. The seminar will give you a chance to learn about how you learn, how knowledge is produced in different fields, what faculty expect of you at the university level, and what resources and opportunities the university can offer you to support and enrich your time on campus. Each seminar fulfills at least one Dearborn Discovery Core (DDC) requirement, so this course will be helping you make progress toward your degree.

Foundations Requirement

One course from the following:

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Select any Foundations (FNDS) course or one of the following:
CPBL 101	Major and Career Exploration in Social and Environmental Justice	4
CPBL 102	Major and Career Exploration in Storytelling: Arts, Media and Culture	4
CPBL 103	Major and Career Exploration in Health and Community	4
CPBL 104	Major and Career Exploration in Technology: People, Innovation, and Design	4

 Students in the Honors Program may use HONS 300 for the required Foundations course. 

Foundations is a required program and is not an elective. If you don't register for a foundations course in your first year here, your student account will be put on hold until you register for a course in this program.

Foreign Language 

All AB and BS students (excluding Integrative Studies major) are required to take a two-course sequence in one language. Integrative Studies students are exempt from the Foreign Language requirement.

Foreign Language Requirement

Complete a two-semester beginning language sequence.

Foreign Language Requirement

Language	Courses
Arabic I and II	ARBC 101 and ARBC 102
French I and II	FREN 101 and FREN 102
German I and II	GER 101 and GER 102
Spanish I and II	SPAN 101 and SPAN 102

The foreign language distribution requirement can be met by:

• Successfully completing a two-semester beginning language sequence at UM-Dearborn, or
• Transferring the equivalent of 8 semester hours of a beginning language sequence from another college or university, or
• Successfully completing a 3- or 4-semester hour foreign language course (this course cannot be taught in English) at the 102 level or higher, or
• Having completed at least 3 years (in the same language) of foreign language in high school with a grade of C or better in the final course, or
• Having completed the equivalent of a high school diploma at a school that used a language other than English for instruction. (Appropriate documentation attesting to the language of instruction and graduation from the high school program is necessary, and official English translations of foreign transcripts must be provided), or
• Passing an oral and written proficiency exam.

A student with prior knowledge of Arabic, French, or Spanish should take a placement examination before registering for a course in that language. Placement/proficiency exams in Arabic, French, and Spanish are scheduled online. A student wishing to take a proficiency exam in a language not mentioned above should consult a CASL advisor; call 313-593-5293 for more information. Proficiency exams for a language other than those taught at UM-Dearborn must be administered at another four-year institution. A student wishing to waive the foreign language requirement must officially submit a request via petition. Please note that when the requirement is waived, or proficiency is demonstrated by exam, credit will not be awarded for courses not taken.

Majors

What is a Major?

A college degree experience includes depth as well as breadth. Each student in an AB (Bachelor of Arts) or BS (Bachelor of Science) degree program must choose a field in which to specialize, which is called a major. A major is a program of specialized study that normally consists of a minimum of 30 credit hours of work at the upper-level level (courses numbered 300 through 499 and 3000-4999) taken mainly during the student's final two years. A major allows a student to develop independence and discrimination of thought and judgment and to learn to appreciate, assimilate, and apply a coherent body of knowledge.

The College offers the following majors that normally lead to the degree AB (Bachelor of Arts) or BS (Bachelor of Science) listed.

Degrees

Degree	Code
Actuarial Mathematics	AB, BS
African and African American Studies	AB
Anthropology	AB
Applied Statistics	AB, BS
Arabic Studies	AB
Art History and Museum Studies	AB
Behavioral and Biological Sciences	BS
Biochemistry	BS
Biological Sciences	BS
Business Studies (2nd Major ONLY)	AB, BS
Chemistry (ACS Certified)	BS
Communication	AB
Criminology and Criminal Justice	AB
Data Science/Economics (Concurrent degree only)	BS
Economics	AB, BS
Economics and Computation	BS
English	AB
Environmental Science	AB, BS
French Studies	AB
Hispanic Studies	AB
History	AB
Integrative Studies1	AB, BS
International Studies	AB
Journalism and Media Production	AB
Mathematics	AB, BS
Microbiology	BS
Middle East Studies	AB
Philosophy	AB
Physics	BS
Political Science	AB
Professional Writing and Rhetoric	AB
Psychology	AB, BS
Research Administration	AB
Sociology	AB
Urban and Regional Studies	AB
Women's and Gender Studies	AB

¹

Integrative Studies offers the student an opportunity to design an AB or BS degree program from three 12 or 15+ credit hour fields of study called Concentrations.

Major Requirements

Certain introductory courses, designated as pre-major or prerequisites, are designed to give students the knowledge and skills needed in the advanced courses. Undecided students will find these courses helpful in making a decision about majoring in the field.

A program of study in a major should be planned in consultation with a CASL academic advisor and faculty program mentor.

The following rules apply to most majors:

1. Generally in most single discipline majors, at least 30 upper-level credit hours are required. At least 24 credit hours must be taken in the field of the major and some majors require at least 6 credit hours of cognate courses. A cognate course is in a related field.
2. The courses used to fulfill the 30 or more upper-level credit hours must be numbered 300-499 or 3000-4999. 
3. Courses taken as pre-major/prerequisites may not be counted in the major.
4. At a minimum, students must complete between 12 and 15 (or more) of the 30 credit hours at UM-Dearborn. Students transferring upper-level credits from other institutions should check with their academic advisor for specifics of this residency requirement.
5. Courses used in the major, cognate, or minor/concentration cannot be taken P/F (Pass/Fail)

Major GPA

CASL requires a 2.0 GPA in a student's major for graduation. Unless otherwise stated in the major portion of the catalog, all courses that can fulfill requirements within a major, regardless of grade, will be used to calculate the major GPA. Courses used in a minor that are not shared with a major will not be used in the calculation. For the Integrative Studies major, each concentration must have a GPA of 2.0.  All courses that can fulfill requirements within a concentration, regardless of grade, will be used to calculate the concentration GPA.

Cognate GPA

If a major has a cognate requirement, a 2.0 GPA is required for graduation. The courses included in the cognate GPA are only the courses used to fulfill the requirement.

Double Major (Optional)

Students who want a double major must meet all requirements in two fields and must officially declare, and be approved for, both majors, by the CASL Office of Advising and Academic Success. Courses that satisfy major and/or cognate requirements for more than one field can be applied simultaneously to both fields. The Business Studies major may only be a second major. A double major results in only one degree.

Recognition of A Minor (Optional)

A student in an AB or BS degree program (other than Integrative Studies) may apply for recognition of a minor. Students must officially declare their minor for it to appear on their transcript. A final audit will be conducted at the time of graduation. Any posted minor that has not been successfully completed will be deleted from the student’s transcript. A full list of CASL minors and their requirements can be found in the Academics section of the catalog.

A minor generally consists of a minimum of 12-18 credit hours of upper-level (300-499 and 3000-4999) coursework in a particular field of study. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.00 is required in the courses applied to a minor. For minors offered by CASL, the grades (including E’s) in all upper-level courses in the discipline of the minor will be reflected in the minor GPA. Courses elected pass/fail (P/F) cannot be used in a minor. Courses taken as part of a minor may count toward both major core requirements and the minor (minors requiring 12 credits may allow up to one course; minors requiring 15 credits or more may allow up to two courses). Courses taken as cognates, electives within the major, or towards a concentration may be counted towards the requirements for a minor at the discretion of the college or department of the major. No more than three credit hours of transfer credit, field placements, internships, seminars, S/E-graded courses, and independent study/research may be applied to any 12 credit hour minor, and no more than six credits for a 15+ credit hour minor. 

Not all CASL majors are available as a minor. Furthermore, there are some areas of study that are only available as a minor. CASL students may also choose from several minors offered by the other academic units. Please see each unit's section of the catalog for available minors and their requirements. The GPA for the CIS minor is based on CIS 150, CIS 200, CIS 275, and all upper-level CIS coursework. The GPA for the Business minors is based on all courses taken for the minor in the College of Business. Students who are not in the College of Business cannot elect or transfer more than 30 credit hours in upper level courses offered by the College of Business. A maximum of six credit hours of transfer credit, field placement, internships, seminars, S/E-graded courses, and independent study/research may be applied to any non-CASL minor.

Other Programs

Graduate Programs

The College offers a Master of Public Administration and Policy, a Master of Science in Applied and Computational Mathematics, a Master of Science in Biological and Biomedical Sciences, a Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice, a Master of Science in Environmental Science, and a Master of Science in Clinical Health Psychology. See the UM-Dearborn Graduate Catalog for admission requirements, complete program descriptions and a listing of graduate courses.

Certificates

The College offers many certificates that can serve as a way to specialize in a particular skill or area of interest. Certificates can be completed alongside an undergraduate degree, often with the ability to share courses between a major and the certificate. Certificates can also be pursued after finishing a bachelor's degree.

Consult the program descriptions in this Catalog for additional information on our certificates and their requirements.

Majors

• Actuarial Mathematics
• African and African American Studies
• Anthropology
• Applied Statistics
• Arabic Studies
• Art History and Museum Studies
• Behavioral and Biological Sciences
• Biochemistry
• Biological Sciences
• Business Studies (as a 2nd major only)
• Chemistry (ACS Certified)
• Communication
• Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Data Science/Economics (concurrent degree only)
• Economics
• Economics and Computation
• English
• Environmental Science
• French Studies
• Hispanic Studies
• History
• Integrative Studies
• International Studies
• Journalism and Media Production
• Mathematics
• Middle East Studies
• Microbiology
• Philosophy
• Physics
• Political Science
• Professional Writing and Rhetoric
• Psychology
• Research Administration
• Sociology
• Urban and Regional Studies
• Women's and Gender Studies

Minor

• African and African American Studies
• Anthropology
• Applied Art
• Applied Statistics
• Arab American Studies
• Arabic Studies
• Art History and Museum Studies
• Astronomy 
• Biochemistry
• Biological Sciences
• Chemistry (ACS Certified)
• Communication
• Community Change
• Comparative Literature
• Computer and Computational Mathematics
• Criminology and Criminal Justice 
• DEI and the Workplace
• Economics
• English
• Environmental Science
• Film Studies
• French/French Studies
• Game Studies and Design
• Geography
• Global Cultures
• Health Communication
• Hispanic Studies
• History
• Humanities
• Journalism
• Law and Society
• Leadership & Communication in Organizations
• Linguistics
• Management
• Mathematics
• Medieval and Renaissance Studies
• Microbiology
• Music
• Neuroscience
• Nonprofit and Public Service Leadership
• Philosophy 
• Physics
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Public Relations
• Religious Studies 
• Social Science Research Methodology 
• Sociology
• Urban and Regional Studies
• Women's and Gender Studies

Certificates

• African and African American Studies
• Arab American Studies
• Arabic Translation
• Community-Based Leadership and Development
• Comparative Literature
• Digital Photography and Design
• English Language and Linguistics
• Fiction Writing
• Food Studies
• French Translation
• Geospatial Analysis and Mapping
• Global Engagement
• Health Communication
• LGBTQ Studies
• Media Production
• Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
• Middle East Studies
• Professional Language and Cross Cultural Competency
• Public Relations
• Spanish for Health Care Professionals
• Writing

Special Programs

Practice Based Learning (PBL)

Practice Based Learning  empowers students to practice and apply what they are learning. It also emphasizes analyzing, evaluating, or creating knowledge in collaboration with others. The focus is on developing skills that allow students to thrive in the workplace and/or in graduate or professional school. PBL is found throughout the CASL curriculum in coursework that focuses on student centered projects related to problems beyond classroom walls. We offer CPBL100 level courses that fulfill the CASL FNDS and DDC Critical and Creative Thinking requirements. These courses allow students to explore a variety of majors and careers while working with classmates on interdisciplinary projects. We also offer a CPBL 400 Capstone course that fulfills DDC Capstone and DDC Intersections requirements. This course centers on a semester-long project designed to give students applied experience and to help them build their resumes and interviewing skills. PBL is also found within a variety of majors and programs. Look for these PBL designations in the course schedule:

• PBL Fundamental: These courses will typically include smaller course assignments to provide students with practice in applying key PBL concepts. They will focus on problem-solving and decision-making skills, and the application of knowledge to concrete scenarios, issues, or problems.
• PBL Process: These courses will typically include a project that builds throughout the semester. Students will work with their classmates to apply course concepts to community, industry, government, and societal problems. 
• PBL Engage: These courses will typically include doing some work outside the classroom, engaging with local neighborhoods, nonprofit organizations, businesses, or local government.

Writing Program

The Writing Program offers a range of courses and other academic support not only to CASL students but also to undergraduate and graduate students across the university. 

Foundations Program

During the first year on campus, all incoming students in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters will choose one Foundations course to take from the more than 30 seminars offered. Your Foundations seminar will ensure a firm start on your educational journey.

In addition to studying a cool topic, your seminar will give you a chance to learn about how you learn, how knowledge is produced in different fields, what faculty expect of you at the university level, and what resources and opportunities the university can offer you to support and enrich your time on campus. Each seminar fulfills at least one general education requirement, so this course will be helping you make progress toward your degree.

Whichever course you choose, your Foundations seminar will teach you practical and academic skills that can be applied throughout your time on campus. The courses will deepen your understanding of the norms, expectations, and culture of the University.

You will also learn about the many resources and opportunities on campus as well as how to navigate the institution.  Your Foundations seminar will help you develop a sense of belonging on campus as you build meaningful relationships with a faculty member and your peers. Foundations professors are committed to your success on campus.

In choosing your seminar, focus on what interests you (beyond your potential major). A liberal arts education is all about understanding the world broadly, through many lenses, and your Foundations seminar is a chance for you to do that. Whichever course you take, you will develop foundational intellectual and practical skills in communication, analytical thinking, and problem solving that you will be able to take with you into all your courses and your major field of study.

Foundations is a required program and is not an elective. If you don't register for a foundations course in your first year here, your student account will be put on hold until you register for a course in this program.

Internships and Field Experiences

The CASL Internship Center helps all CASL majors interested in an internship, regardless of credit or program requirement. Please visit the CASL Internship Center for more information.

Criminology and Criminal Justice Internship

Criminology and Criminal Justice internships are designed to provide field experience for Criminal Justice majors. Actual field experience will provide students with valuable tools to help them achieve their goals and produce humane leaders with the technical skills and social and ethical sensitivity needed to succeed in their chosen field.  The internship has a seminar component. The seminar helps students make informed decisions relative to their future career in Law Enforcement or Criminal Justice related fields.  Both the internship and seminar provide opportunities for students to personalize their learning experience.  Students are supervised by a faculty advisor.

For more information about the Criminology and Criminal Justice internship, contact the Internship Coordinator (313) 583-6404; email: criminal_justice@umd.umich.edu

Economics Internship

The economics internship offers students field experiences with businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies. The placement allows students to get hands-on experience applying the tools of economic analysis to specific job and project assignments. Student interns spend either eight or 16 hours per week in unpaid work at their placement site, for which they earn either three or six academic credits. Only three credit hours may be used to satisfy the concentration requirements in economics. All interns are assigned to an economics faculty advisor. This program is open to all declared economics majors, who, by the start of the internship, have completed at least two upper-level economics courses in addition to two of the following core courses: ECON 301,ECON 302 and ECON 305. Permission of the Internship Coordinator is required. To inquire, call the Economics Internship Faculty Coordinator in the Department of Social Sciences at 313-593-5164.

Environmental Internship

The Environmental Internship introduces the student to the world of work at the entry level in an environmentally-related organization.  Students may gain experience in a wide variety of positions with government organizations (Department of Environmental Quality, departments of health, city and county agencies), consulting firms, and non-governmental organizations as field assistants and researchers. Students work a prescribed number of hours per week as arranged by the advisor and employer, typically earning three credit hours. Please see the Environmental Internship Program webpage for additional information.

History and Humanities Internship

The history and humanities internship offers practical experience to students in art history, communication, English, foreign languages, history, humanities, music, and philosophy. Students develop job-entry experiences in humanities and history-related careers. The internship includes a required seminar. Although, in general, the internship is offered for elective credit, it may be used to satisfy the following concentration requirements: Three credit hours may be applied towards a Communication major/minor or toward an Art History/Museum Studies degree and six credit hours may be applied towards a Journalism concentration. For students with a foreign language focus, three credit hours may be used within the International Studies Support Studies component or toward the cognate requirement of the French or Hispanic Studies concentrations. Prerequisites are junior or senior standing. Students earn three to six credit hours per semester. The maximum total credit hours are 12. To inquire, contact the History/Humanities Internship Office, 3028 CB, 313-593-5136.

Ottawa Internship

The Ottawa Internship Program is designed to provide a first-hand learning experience in Canadian government through placement with a Member of Parliament or Senator in the capital of Canada.  Students work in a parliamentarian's office in Ottawa for a period of five weeks in the summer. All majors are welcome.

Politics, Policy, and Law Internship

The public affairs internship program allows students to participate in the political process through placements in a variety of governmental offices. Students in the local internship program work for state and local elected officials, law firms, and interest groups. Students in the Washington, D.C. program have worked in the White House, the Pentagon, and for Members of Congress. Students in the Ottawa, Canada program work in a Member of Parliament’s office for a period of five weeks. Admission is reserved primarily for qualified juniors and seniors of all majors. Six upper-level credits are granted for successful completion of either program. Scholarships are available. To inquire, contact the Department of Social Sciences at 313-593-5164.

Psychology Internship

Psychology internship placements offer work experiences in a wide variety of human services organizations. These include programs related to child abuse, criminal rehabilitation, crisis intervention, geriatrics, human resources, mental illness, organizational development, special education, substance abuse, and women's issues. Students spend six or 12 hours per week at their field placement and attend a weekly seminar involving training in listening and helping skills. Students may register for three or six credits. Prerequisites are PSYC 101 and permission of instructor. To inquire, contact the Department of Behavioral Sciences at 313-593-5520.

Urban and Regional Studies Internship

The Urban and Regional Studies internships offer students the opportunity to learn and apply concepts learned in Urban and Regional Studies coursework to real world settings in municipal and regional government offices, non-profit and community organizations, or businesses dedicated to design, development, or data.

Women in Learning and Leadership (WILL)

The Women in Learning and Leadership (WILL) Program is an integral part of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program’s commitment to fostering student engagement on campus and in the greater metro-Detroit area.

The following are the main goals of the program:

• To encourage critical thinking and intellectual curiosity by providing active learning opportunities that empower students as leaders during and beyond their college years
• To foster a deeper understanding of women’s diverse roles and contributions to society
• To increase awareness of of obstacles created by gender, racial, and social class stratification and develop individual and collective strategies to address these obstacles
• To enrich the campus, Metro Detroit, and global community through service and programming.

Requirements for WILL

Students accepted into WILL complete 4 courses in Women's and Gender Studies and an internship or co-op experience in a field of their choice. There are two required courses for the program: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies, and a Women, Leadership and Social Change class. For their two electives, students may choose from the wide variety of courses offered by the Women’s and Gender Studies program. In addition to fulfilling these curricular requirements, WILL students spend a minimum of 15 hours per semester engaged in co-curricular activities related to gender equity and community building. Among their other activities, the WILL student group engages in volunteer opportunities with social service agencies in metropolitan Detroit. In addition, they have the opportunity to meet with locally and nationally known gender equity leaders for casual “fireside chats” and are offered annual training seminars by local women leaders. They organize speaker and film series on topics such as leadership for global gender justice, eating disorders and body image, and violence awareness on campus. They also run an innovative and successful mentoring program for middle school girls in Southwest Detroit. WILL students’ internship placements have allowed them to work with women in the criminal justice system, in programs for at-risk youth, in an oral history project interviewing Arab-American women, and in a variety of positions in legal, medical, business and education fields with women leaders as mentors.

The program recruits in April every academic year for acceptance into the program the following Fall term. Students accepted into the program have a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average, demonstrated leadership ability, and an interest in fostering gender equity.

For more information, please visit the WILL webpage.

CASL Online and Hybrid Courses

Regular credit-bearing courses are offered via online and blended formats to UM-Dearborn students (and guest students) who can benefit from the flexibility and convenience of online course delivery. Students who want to pursue a university education but have special constraints such as job demands, childcare or eldercare responsibilities, pregnancy or medical limitations may also find that online learning helps them stay on track. Online learning classes are taught by UM-Dearborn’s distinguished faculty and are equivalent in academic depth and rigor to face-to-face versions taught in the traditional classroom. New courses are added to the online repertoire each year. A few courses are in hybrid format; that is, the classes meet on campus for one or two class periods and online for the remainder.

Regularly enrolled students may elect online learning courses as part of the registration process. Guest students must submit the Michigan Uniform Guest Application, available in our Admissions/Registrar’s offices or in the Registrar’s office of the student’s home institution, and complete the admissions process before registering for classes.

Online courses usually require regular participation in online discussion groups established for the class. Required materials may be made available in various formats, including conventional textbooks and online resources, including video and/or audio recordings. Some online courses may require attendance on campus at an orientation session and/or for exams, though special proctoring arrangements can be made, especially for non-local students.

Canvas is the home for all online courses, as well as some assignments, discussions, and resources for hybrid and on-campus classes. This Canvas portal page will provide you with up-to-date Canvas policies, help & support, and other more specific information for faculty and students.

Japan Center for Michigan Universities

Since 1989, the fifteen Michigan public universities have operated a unique program in Japanese language and culture in our sister state in Japan, the Shiga prefecture. The Japan Center for Michigan Universities is in Hikone, a beautiful, medium-sized, non-westernized city in central Japan. The $15 million facility, built by the Shiga government, includes classrooms, offices, and apartments with cooking facilities for student occupancy; home stays, of varying duration, may also be arranged. The full academic program runs from September through the end of April; students may also select a one-semester program, or the Summer Intensive Program in the Japanese language. UM-Dearborn students receive 26 hours of credit for UM-Dearborn courses in Japanese language (see course descriptions under Japanese in this Catalog for the following: JPN 128-JPN 129, JPN 178-JPN 225, or JPN 228-JPN 229), Japanese Culture and Society (JPN 395, JPN 396), and two other courses taught by visiting professors. These have included Japanese art and painting, Japanese technology and business, energy and environment in Japan, modern Japanese history, and mass media.

For current information on program fees and housing, visit the Japan Center for Michigan Universities website. Applicants need not know Japanese, but they should have studied another foreign language and have had some foreign travel experience. They must have sophomore standing by the end of Winter term and a 2.5 or higher GPA. Students should contact the: Office of International Affairs (Room 108 in The Union at Dearborn) for additional information.

Study Abroad

Students interested in other study abroad programs should consult faculty in Modern and Classical Languages, their major advisor, or the Office of International Affairs (Room 108 in The Union at Dearborn) for additional information.

Special Centers, Facilities and Services

CASL Advising and Academic Success

The CASL Advising and Academic Success office helps students make informed decisions about their course of study and the liberal arts.   CASL advisors are available to provide curricular and career option information, program requirements, University policies and procedures, and campus resources. The office also coordinates academic advising between students and faculty mentors, provides necessary College forms and materials, and reviews students' academic progress and performance at specified intervals.

The CASL Advising and Academic Success office contact information: 1039 CB, 313-593-5293, and online at casladvising@umich.edu.

Center for Arab American Studies

The Center for Arab American Studies focuses on scholarship, research, and engagement with the Arab-American community in Dearborn and Metropolitan Detroit. Faculty in Arab American Studies are actively engaged in research and scholarship on current issues facing Arab Americans as well as Arab American history and culture. As teachers, they seek to help all students understand the role of Arabs in American society, the role of America in Arab society, and the vibrant interplay between them. For additional information contact the Center in Room 2040 CB or call 313-593-4925.

Center for Armenian Research

The Armenian Research Center (ARC) was established for the documentation and the publication of materials in the field of Armenian studies and affairs. The ARC accomplishes this work in a variety of ways. It provides access to a computerized database of books, periodical articles, audiovisual material, and other items concerning Armenians. This database is gradually also becoming accessible through the on line catalog of the Mardigian Library. The ARC also regularly publishes scholarly books on Armenian topics. It supports both academic and public outreach by participating in forums, sponsoring conferences, exhibitions, public lectures and answering questions from scholars, students and the public media. Finally, the ARC sponsors and supports the teaching of Armenian language instruction courses on the University of Michigan, Dearborn campus. For additional information call 313-593-5181.

Center for Mathematics Education

The Center for Mathematics Education is dedicated to improving the quality of teacher preparation for prospective teachers and to making continuous professional development available for current teachers. The goal is to strengthen the teaching of mathematics and improve student learning. The professional development programs offered by the Center seek to deepen teachers’ understanding of the mathematics they teach and emphasize best teaching practices through the study and use of current research and standards-based curriculum resources. These professional development activities are offered at school district sites and at regional intermediate school districts, and carry at least 3 SB-CEU credits. It is also possible for classroom teachers to enroll for graduate credit. These credits can be applied towards the degree requirements for the Specialty in Middle Grades Mathematics program that is part of the College of Education, Health, and Human Services’ Master of Arts in Education degree. For additional information see the Center for Mathematics Education website.

Center for Ethnic and Religious Studies

In 2001, faculty in the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters at the University of Michigan-Dearborn established a Center for the Study of Religion and Society.

For more information, please see the Center website or call 313-583-6335.