The Tennessee Board of Regents understands that many Tennessee residents have limited access to higher education due to job obligations, geographic location, family obligations, and/or other restrictions which make on-campus attendance difficult and unlikely. The Bachelor of Liberal Studies with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies is an online undergraduate degree designed by the Regents Online Degree Programs to meet these needs. The University College also offers this degree to University of Memphis students who elect to take their courses on campus. It provides students the opportunity to tailor make a degree program around a particular interest or career goal the other majors at the university do not meet. Working within a structured format, students select courses for their major from two distinct/different departments.

Students interested in pursuing the Interdisciplinary Studies major must first be admitted to the University of Memphis. Please see instructions "How to get started" below. The Baccalaureate Contract serves as a proposal for the degree requirements and, when approved, is a student's "contract" with the University as to what their specific degree requirements will be. The student's assigned adviser will explain the contract and guide them through the process.

• Students should submit a baccalaureate contract no later than 30 days after acceptance into University College.
• The proposed degree will require the successful completion of 120 credit-hours allocated as follows:
  • General Education Courses (35-41 hours)
  • Interdisciplinary Major (36 hours)
    • 24 upper division hours (12 each from two different departments)
    • 12 hours upper division electives
  • University College Requirements (9 hours)
    • 6 hours of thematic studies
    • 3 hours senior project (RODP section fees apply)
  • General Electives (34-40 hours)
  • Students must have a minimum of 9 graded hours from the University of Memphis in the major.
  • Students may take no more than 21 upper division hours of course work from the College of Business.
  • Students may have only 3 internship credit hours and they may only be used in the upper division electives category of the contract.
  • Students must complete at least 60 hours from a four-year institution.
  • Students must complete at least 45 hours of upper division credit (3000-4000).
  • Students must complete at least 30 of last 60 hours at The University of Memphis.
  • Students must have an overall cumulative GPA of 2.0 and at least a 2.0 in the major concentration.
• The baccalaureate contract must be fully typed, be grammatically correct and free of typographical errors.
• The first page of the contract is NOT the full contract. All four pages of the contract constitute the full document.
• Students will not have an official degree plan until all levels of approval have been successfully attained. Without an approved degree plan/contract, students WILL NOT:
  • be advised,
  • be cleared to register,
  • be allowed to file an Intent to Graduate form or issued a permit for UNIV 4995-Senior Project,
  • receive a degree plan for financial aid purposes,
  • receive a graduation checkout, or
  • be permitted to graduate.
• After the contract has successfully made it through all levels of approval, a copy will be mailed to the student. The original will be placed in the University College student file.
• Final approval of the baccalaureate contract may take up to eight weeks from the time it is submitted to University College. PLEASE DO NOT RUSH OR OTHERWISE ATTEMPT TO MANIPULATE THIS PROCESS.
• If students need to change a course once the contract is approved, they may petition for a change by submitting a Course Substitution Request form.
• Students who wish to pursue this degree are not required to take any online courses with the exception of the Senior Project, UNIV 4995. Students are allowed to take a combination of online and on-campus courses if this meets their schedule needs.

Interdisciplinary Studies (RODP) Baccalaureate Contract [ PDF ] [ Word ]

How to get started WORD | PDF