Policies and Procedures

Guidelines on Graduate Minors

The purpose of this proposal is to establish guidelines under which units offering graduate degrees may seek Senate approval of a graduate minor to be acknowledged on the student's official University transcript.

Background

Graduate programs offer a range of curricular possibilities, including options, tracks, concentrations, specializations, minors, and cognate fields. Graduate minors require approval of the disciplinary college, the Graduate College, and the Senate. A student in a degree program may accumulate more than one option, track, concentration, specialization, minor, or cognate field. At present, only Senate-approved minors and concentrations are noted on the student's transcript.

Minors. Minors are a coherent set of at least 12 graduate hours of courses defined by one or more units outside the student's enrolling department. A minor encourages and recognizes expertise gained in a particular area. This expertise could be completely outside the usual degree requirements or it could significantly extend knowledge in an area closely related to a particular degree program. For some students, completing a minor will be both appealing and advisable. For others, this will not be the case. The student's enrolling department may decide how many graduate hours of a minor may help fulfill the degree requirements for the student's program. The spirit of a minor is the development of additional academic strengths. It would thus be unusual for there to be total overlap between defined degree requirements and the requirements of a minor. Historically, minors have been constituted primarily with 500-level courses. Some minors may require that a member of the unit(s) offering the minor serve on the student's master's or doctoral committee.
Concentrations. Graduate concentrations are a coherent program of study requiring considerable depth of knowledge. A concentration represents a major part of the graduate program (24-32 hours) and may refer to a subfield within a discipline or to an interdepartmental and/or interdisciplinary area of knowledge. Graduate concentrations must be approved by the disciplinary college, the Graduate College, the Senate, and the Board of Trustees. Approved graduate concentrations appear on the student's transcript.
Cognate fields. Students define appropriate cognate fields in consultation with their departments. While such cognate fields may be defined within certain units, they may also be created by individual students based upon their own particular interests. Cognate fields do not appear on the transcript.
Specializations, options, and tracks. These terms may have different meanings or may be used interchangeably, depending on local custom. Specializations, options, and tracks do not appear on the student's transcript.

Approval Process

All graduate minors must receive disciplinary college, Graduate College, and Senate approval in order to be officially recognized by the campus and listed on the transcript.
Any academic department or unit with the approval of its disciplinary college may initiate a proposal for a graduate minor. Minors approved by the Graduate College will be forwarded to the Senate for approval. The proposal should comply with the guidelines below and follow the format of the Standard Graduate Minor Approval Form (attached).
The Senate Educational Policy Committee, acting on behalf of the Senate, will review all proposals and accept those that comply with the guidelines. Proposals that are out of the ordinary, such as those from more than one department or those from units that are not academic departments, may, at the Committee's option, be forwarded to the Senate for review by the whole Senate. The Senate Educational Policy Committee shall annually report to the Senate all newly approved graduate minors.
The Banner system displays degree, major, concentration, and minor designations. The University of Illinois at Urbana academic transcript will reflect completion of all Senate-approved graduate minors earned by the student. When a student indicates an intention to graduate with a minor, the sponsoring department will confirm whether the minor course of study has been completed.
Students must apply to the sponsoring department for admission to the minor. It is up to the sponsoring department to determine the appropriate enrollment, to establish criteria and timelines for admission to the minor, and to certify successful completion of the minor. The sponsoring department must identify an adviser for each minor. It is the minor adviser's responsibility to advise students on minor requirements. A student's application to pursue a graduate minor must also be approved by the student's adviser and graduate program director prior to beginning to fulfill the minor requirements. The student's enrolling department will determine how many graduate hours of a minor may help fulfill the degree requirements in the student's program.
Because of the nature of most graduate programs, master's students generally would not complete more than one minor. Doctoral students generally would not complete more than two minors.

Guidelines

A minor should constitute a coherent program of study requiring some depth in the subject, but not as extensive a program as the major.
The minor should consist of at least 12 graduate hours of course work in the sponsoring department(s). At least 8 to 12 graduate hours of the minor should be courses at the 500-level.
A minor may require that a member of the unit(s) offering the minor serve on the student's master's or doctoral committee.
The department sponsoring the minor may set prerequisites for eligibility for the minor.
An academic department or unit intending to propose a minor should prepare requirements in accordance with these guidelines and obtain approval from the disciplinary college and the Graduate College. The Graduate College will forward approved proposals to the Office of the Provost to be forwarded to the Senate Educational Policy Committee for review and approval. A standard form is attached.
Departments already sponsoring a Senate-approved graduate minor should send a letter to the Graduate College and Senate Educational Policy Committee listing the requirements of the minor and asking to have the minor officially designated as a Senate-approved minor.

Printable (PDF) Minor Approval Form Template

Policies and Procedures

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