An academic minor is a curriculum component, smaller than the major, which enables a student to make an inquiry into a discipline or field of study or to investigate a particular theme. The purpose of a minor is to provide formalized guidance to students in selecting courses in a field or content area that is outside the major and to provide formal recognition of that work on the transcript. The courses in the minor may be centered in a specific department or be drawn from several departments, as in the case of an interdisciplinary topical or thematic focus.

Students may not pursue a minor and a major in the same discipline. A minimum of 6 credit hours in the minor must be outside of the course requirements for any major or other minor the student is pursuing.

Undergraduate Minors

An undergraduate minor is minimum 12 credit hours and normally contains between 18 and 25 credit hours, with a minimum of 6 of those hours being upper-division credit and a minimum 50 percent of the total hours in residence.

Students must formally declare a minor, similar to the process by which they declare the major. Students in a bachelor’s or an applied associate degree (e.g., A.A.B., A.A.S.) or the Associate of Technical Study (A.T.S.), of which there is a major, may declare a minor. Students in a generalist associate degree (e.g., A.A., A.S., A.T.S.–Individualized Program) may not declare a minor.

Graduate Minors

A graduate minor is minimum 9 credit hours, with a minimum 50 percent of the total credit hours taken at Kent State.

Students must be admitted to a master’s, post-master’s or doctoral degree to declare a graduate minor. Students formally declare a minor through the change of program application, which must be approved by the college administrating the students’ major and the college administrating the chosen minor.