Natural Sciences

Dr. Susan Varnum, Program Director
Beury Hall, Room 130
215-204-6390
susan.varnum@temple.edu

www.temple.edu/chemistry

The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in the Natural Sciences provides students more breadth than traditional science programs. Many exciting areas of scientific inquiry, such as the neurosciences, environmental sciences, and biophysical sciences, require general science backgrounds that encompass multiple science disciplines.

Students planning graduate study or technical careers in one of these interdisciplinary areas, as well as students preparing for careers in health sciences, legal professions, science education, science-related business, or social service might be well served by the B.A. in the Natural Sciences.

However, this program of study will not prepare students for graduate study in a traditional science discipline nor will it prepare students for technical employment in a traditional science discipline.

Bachelor of Arts

Summary of Requirements for the Degree

1. University Requirements (123 total s.h.)

• Math 0701 (4 s.h.) and/or English 0701 (4 s.h.), if required by placement testing.

• All Temple students must take a minimum of two writing-intensive courses as part of their major. Following is a list of courses that can be used to satisfy the writing-intensive requirement: Biology 2296*, Biology 3096, Biology 3196, Biology 3396, Chemistry 3196*, Chemistry 4196, Chemistry 4396, Earth & Environmental Science 4096, Earth & Environmental Science 4197, Earth & Environmental Science 4997, Physics 2796* or Physics 4796.

• Students must complete a set of university requirements: General Education (GenEd) or Core.

• New freshman students starting in the 2009-2010 catalog year are required to complete the General Education Curriculum (25-26 s.h.). See the General Education section of the Undergraduate Bulletin for the GenEd curriculum.

• New transfer students starting in the 2009-2010 catalog year are required to complete the University Core Curriculum requirements (34-35 s.h.) including completion of the library orientation, Temple Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT). See the Core Curriculum section of the Undergraduate Bulletin for the course requirements.

2. College Requirements

• 90 credits within the College of Science & Technology (CST) or the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).

• 45 Upper-Level (2000+) credits within the College of Science & Technology (CST) or the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).

• Two (2) Upper-Level (2000+) Liberal Art courses.

• Second (2nd) Level of a Foreign Language (1002).

3. Major Requirements for Bachelor of Arts (58-66 s.h.)

• Two (2) Biology courses are required (8 s.h.): Biology 1011 or 1111 and 1012 or 2112. 

• Two (2) Chemistry courses with labs are required (8 s.h.): Chemistry 1031/1033 and 1032/1034.

• One (1) Computer & Information Science course is required (4 s.h.): C+IN SC 1053, 1057, 1068 or 1073.

• Two (2) College of Science & Technology courses are required (6 s.h.): SCI TEC 3001 and 4351.

• One (1) Earth & Environmental Science (EES) course is required (4 s.h.): EES 1001

• One or Two (1-2) Mathematics course(s) are required (4-8 s.h.): Mathematics 1031 or the combination of 1041 and 1042.

• Three (3) Physics courses are required (12 s.h.): Physics 1004, 1021, and 1022.

• Four (4) Upper-Level (2000+) elective science courses are required (12-16 s.h.): The four electives must be selected from the same department and two of them must be writing-intensive courses.  The departments you can choose electives from are: Biology, Chemistry, Earth & Environmental Science (EES) or Physics.

*Pending writing-intensive program approval.

Suggested semester by semester plan

(F) - Fall only course.

(S) - Spring only course.

**The four science electives chosen to satisfy the science concentration must be taken from the same department and two of the four electives must be writing-intensive courses.  See major requirements above for details.