Undergraduate

Minors

Reasons to consider an Academic Minor

Pursuing an academic minor provides students with the opportunity to focus their free electives, general education and upper-level requirement courses.  Some academic minors are complementary to a student’s major.  For some students, an academic minor is a way to explore a different area of interest which is not covered in their academic major.  For most, it is means to build specific career related preparation which adds to and/or diversifies their portfolio.  

Career Readiness and Academic Minors

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) developed a list of eight competencies related to career readiness.  We have listed career readiness competencies which can be practiced in each academic minor.    For more information, please see the NACE Career Readiness for the New College Graduate handout.

Eligibility to pursue an Academic Minor

To declare and pursue an academic minor, degree-seeking students must have the ability to complete the academic minor in alignment with the USF Policy 10-505 - Degree Progression and Completion Deadlines for Undergraduate Students.  

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ACADEMIC MINORS

If eligible to pursue a minor at USF, students must meet the following criteria in order to have the academic minor certification recorded on their USF transcript

Meet all the requirements for the USF academic minor with min GPA required
Complete a minimum of two courses of 3000+level USF courses (six credit hours) which are not used to meet requirements in their academic major or other declared minors.

ADVISOR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DECLARING AN ACADEMIC MINOR

Do your research first

Confirm that you are eligible to add a minor by meeting with your academic advisor to discuss your declared major, what graduation requirements you have left, and learn how much room you have to add an academic minor.  Then explore the different academic minors to see what is a good fit for your interests and goals.  

Declare Early 

The sooner you make plans, the more likely you will be eligible to declare and have the ability to complete the minor on time and get the most out of the experience.

Connect with advising and submit your declaration before registration begins
During Add/Drop Week (first week of the term) and during Priority Registration (11th-15th weeks of the term), most students are seeking advising support to ensure they can register for the correct classes as soon as possible.  Because of the high volume of urgent needs, declaration processes are delayed.  If you submit a minor declaration request during registration, please be patient and expect a longer response time.

LIST OF ACADEMIC MINORS

Our College has a variety of interesting and meaningful Academic Minors students can select to pursue.  Here is an overview of the minors offered by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Minor Department/School
Africana Studies School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies
American Studies Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies
Anthropology Department of Anthropology
Applied Anthropology Department of Anthropology
Astronomy Department of Physics
Biology Department of Integrative Biology
Biomedical Anthropology Department of Anthropology
Biomedical Physics Department of Physics
Chemistry Department of Chemistry
Chinese Language Department of World Languages
Classics Department of World Languages
Communication Department of Communication
Creative Writing Department of English
Economics Department of Economics

Environmental Science and Policy

School of Geosciences

Film and New Media Studies

Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies

French and Francophone Studies

Department of World Languages

Geographic Information Systems and Technology

School of Geosciences
Geology School of Geosciences
German Studies Department of World Languages
History Department of History

Humanities

Department of Humanities and Cultural Studies
Interdisciplinary Classical Civilizations Department of World Languages

Intelligence Studies

School of Information
International Studies School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies
Italian Department of World Languages
Linguistics Department of World Languages
LIterary Studies Department of English
Mass Communications Zimmerman School of Mass Communications
Mathematics Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Microbiology Department of Molecular Biosciences
Philosophy Department of Philosophy
Physics Department of Physics
Political Science School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies
Professional and Technical Communication Department of English
Psychology Department of Psychology
Public Service and Leadership School of Public Affairs
Queer and Sexuality Studies Department of Women's and Gender Studies
Religion and Health Department of Religious Studies
Religious Studies Department of Religious Studies
Russian Studies Department of World Languages
Sociology Department of Sociology & Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Spanish Department of World Languages
Urban Studies School of Public Affairs
Women’s and Gender Studies Department of Women's and Gender Studies