2023-2024 UNDERGRADUATE CATALOG [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
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Wendy Burns-Ardolino, PhD, Dean
S1015, 713-221-8009
Paul Kintzele, PhD, Associate Dean
S1015, 713-221-8090
Crystal Guillory, MA, Assistant Dean
S1000A, 713-222-5316
Reyna Romero, MA, Assistant Dean, Advising and Degree Completion
S1015, 713-221-8231
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) offers innovative and transformative humanities and social sciences masters and baccalaureate degrees, minor programs, and certificates drawing from a wide array of social, historical, political, and cultural disciplines and fields. Our accomplished faculty teach courses and conduct their research in the Departments of Arts and Communication, English, Social Sciences, and History, Humanities, and Languages. CHSS also offers co-curricular programming designed to deepen student academic learning and cultivate community and cultural engagement through the Center for Critical Race Studies, the Center for Latino Studies, the Center for Public Deliberation, the Cultural Enrichment Center, the Institute for Plain English Research and Study, the O’Kane Theatre, and the O’Kane Gallery.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is committed to excellence in teaching, research/creative activities, and service. CHSS staff and faculty value the rich diversity of humanity within liberal arts education while recognizing that it serves as the foundation of an empowered, free, and engaged public capable of individual and collective creativity and social responsibility. Faculty members demonstrate and students develop this capacity through historical and theoretical inquiry, quantitative and critical/qualitative analysis, and creative cultural production. CHSS students gain crucial communication skills (critical thinking, reading, writing, and speaking) and affinity for the depth and breadth of human experience essential for thriving in complex global communities.
Requirements for CHSS Majors
All BA and BS degrees require a minimum of 120 hours. For degree completion, at least 25 percent of the semester credit hours must be earned through coursework completed at UHD. Residency rules also require that18 hours of the upper- level semester credit hours applied to the major must be successfully completed at UHD. Unless otherwise noted in the individual degree plans, an overall minimum grade point average of 2.0 at UHD is required for graduation and a minimum average of 2.0 must be maintained in the degree’s “Major Requirements” area, including concentration areas. All students seeking a bachelor’s degree at the University of Houston-Downtown must complete the general education requirements. See the General Education section of this catalog for more information about these requirements.
Caveats and Exceptions: developmental courses, such as ENG 1300 , MATH 0300 , and MATH 1300 may not be applied to any CHSS BA or BS graduation requirements. No more than 25 percent of semester credit hours from the business college may be applied to a CHSS BA or BS degree. The College reserves the right to limit the number of directed study, internship, service learning, experience learning, and credit-by-examination credit hours that can be applied to degree requirements.
Students are responsible for being aware of all degree requirements and for complying with them.
CHSS Academic Advising
S1001, 713-221-8460
CHSS Advising Staff
Vanessa Aranda-Rojas, Director, College Advising Center, CHSS
Sharona Castello, Academic Success Coordinator
Jacob Fox, Academic Success Coordinator
Karlyli Juarez, Academic Success Coordinator
Sheila Ortega-Calvillo, Academic Success Coordinator
Tim Solis, Academic Success Coordinator
John Stubblefield, Academic Success Coordinator
Kei Shay Tones, Academic Success Coordinator
The College provides professional Academic Success Coordinators to:
- advise majors on degree and graduation requirements
- assist with course selection
- inform majors of minor programs at UHD
- advise majors on career preparation and graduate studies
- advise student on college and university academic policies
Students are responsible for being aware of all degree requirements and for complying with them without duplicating courses.
Students should always include their full name and UHD ID number in all correspondence and voicemail and they should endeavor to use GatorMail for all email correspondence.
Advising is available by any option below:
- Appointment: appointments can be set by phone (713-221-8460) in person (S1001), or online at our CHSS advising website.
- Walk-in visit: No appointment required. We are located in the OMB in S1001
- Virtual- CHSS Virtual Lobby: the lobby can be accessed via our website, uhd.edu/chss
The CHSS advising schedule at https://www.uhd.edu/academics/humanities/current-students/advising/Pages/college-advising.aspx contains additional contact information.
Before consulting with an Academic Success Coordinator to register for coursework, students should review the requirements for their academic degree described in this catalog, select potential courses to fulfill degree requirements, and prepare a tentative course schedule. Courses, course status (open or closed), and class times for each academic semester are available online in MyUHD.
Although majors in good academic standing may self-advise and register online via MyUHD, all students are strongly encouraged to consult with an Academic Success Coordinator before the semester begins.
Students on academic probation who wish to register for next semester courses must meet with an Academic Success Coordinator for course approval. CHSS majors on academic suspension who have not attended UHD for the preceding long semester must apply for readmission to the university and then meet with an Academic Success Coordinator; the student will then be placed on academic probation and permitted to take a limited number of approved classes.
Admission and Declaration of Major
Students continuing at UHD who meet the following criteria may be admitted to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences as a declared major:
- UHD GPA of 2.00 or higher
Students transferring to UHD who meet the following criteria may be admitted to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences as a declared major:
- Transfer GPA of 2.00 or higher
Students who meet Freshman Admissions criteria may be admitted to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences as a declared major upon admission to UHD.
Students who do not meet the criteria above do not qualify for admission into the College of Humanities and Social Science and will be classified as a pre-major based upon their respective major of interest.
Applying for Graduation
Students planning to graduate from UHD with a major that is housed in CHSS must file an online application for graduation located on MyUHD. It is encouraged that a major meet with a CHSS Academic Success Coordinator before applying and submitting their graduation request online to ensure that all requirements will be met. Students are responsible for completing all steps described within the online application system.
Deadlines for applications for graduation can be found on the academic calendar for a given term. The deadlines for students planning to graduate in a Winter or May term are the same as Fall or Spring term, respectively. Students who do not complete the requirements in the anticipated term must reapply for graduation and repay the graduation fee.
The CHSS Advising Center and Dean’s Office will communicate any information about students’ applications for graduation through GatorMail, so students who have submitted an application for graduation should begin checking their GatorMail a week after the posted deadline.
Requirements for Minors
Students seeking minors in CHSS must maintain a grade point average for all courses taken at UH-Downtown of at least 2.0, receive a grade of C or better in all courses applied toward the minor, and must meet all requirements of the chosen minor, including prerequisites for courses taken toward the minor. Students must complete all requirements for minors in addition to all course work required for the degree before graduation. All minor programs in CHSS, with the exception of a minor in art, require at least 9 hours upper-level course work in residence at UHD. The Art minor requires only 6 hours of upper-level coursework (see full description under the Arts and Communication section).
To declare a minor, students with majors in CHSS must formally declare the minor with an Academic Success Coordinator. Students with majors in other colleges who select a minor in CHSS should meet and request the declaration via their Academic Success Coordinators in their home college.
Interdisciplinary Minors
Interdisciplinary Minors offer students the opportunity to explore a subject from multiple perspectives. Courses in these minors are principally taught by faculty from the Departments of Arts and Communication, English, History, Humanities and Languages, and Social Sciences, with select course offerings from faculty in other colleges. Students must meet the academic Requirements for Minors described above. Prerequisites for courses to support a minor cannot be waived, and internship/field experience courses cannot be applied to these minors.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences offers interdisciplinary minors in: Critical Race Studies Minor , Film Studies Minor , Gender Studies Minor , Religious Studies Minor , Spanish-English Professional Interpreting Minor , and Spanish-English Professional Translation Minor .
Retroactive Foreign-Language Credit by Exam and Coursework
UHD’s Spanish program administers a free placement exam to all incoming students with prior knowledge of Spanish if they are interested in studying the language at UHD. Currently the placement exam is offered daily in N930, the Foreign Language Lab (please check door for schedule). If a student is placed by the exam into a course beyond SPAN 1401 and s/he earns an A or B after taking it at UHD, the student will receive a maximum of eight (8) semester credit hours with a grade of ‘CA,’ depending on the number of courses bypassed. These retroactive credits may be used as electives or as part of a student’s major or minor degree requirements. The option for earning retroactive credits from UHD is only available to students who have never taken college-level Spanish anywhere before coming to UHD. UHD’s retroactive credit may not be combined with any other means of earning free college credits in Spanish, such as through AP Spanish programs in High School (see description of earning AP credits in Spanish at UHD). No more than 24 semester credit hours of non-course-based credit may be applied to a bachelor’s degree. French also allows bypass credit for FREN 1401 , subject to same conditions that apply to Spanish credit-by-exam. See the French coordinator for details.
Note that previous credit awarded via a similar procedure, for any foreign language, by Houston Community College, Lone Star College, San Jacinto College, and the University of Houston is transferable to UHD.
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