Special Programs
Honors
The University Honors Program, now a campus-wide endeavor involving students from all the colleges, began as a Liberal Arts Honors Program. Even today it remains most closely allied with the humanities disciplines, fostering academic excellence as well as intellectual curiosity and debate, establishing meaningful faculty-student dialogue, and building a sense of scholarly community. Honors courses, taught by outstanding faculty and limited in size, have been offered by the departments of Communication, Criminal Justice, English, History, Languages and Linguistics, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology/Anthropology, and Theatre Arts. Moreover, History, Political Science, and Psychology offer departmental honors upon completion of an Honors thesis. Besides enrolling in courses restricted to program participants, Honors students may avail themselves of options for independent study or Honors contracts, in which special projects are carried out under faculty supervision. Through its close alliance with the University Honors Program, the College of Liberal Arts strengthens its commitment toward providing students with the satisfaction of having exercised their intellectual capabilities to the fullest.
Western Cultural Heritage
The College of Liberal Arts offers a special sequence of interdisciplinary courses required to fulfill the Western Cultural Heritage area of the General Education Core. Details on these courses, the creation of which was facilitated by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, can be found under the Western Cultural Heritage section of this catalog.
Pre-Law
UTEP is an excellent place to prepare for law school. Law schools seek well-trained graduates from all disciplines, including sciences, math, languages, social sciences, health sciences, business, education, and liberal arts. In selecting students, law schools are less interested in a student's major than in evidence that the student has well-developed analytical skills, writing skills, and skills in critical reading. Any course or major that helps students acquire these skills is appropriate for pre-law students. For more information, students should contact a pre-law advisor.
Certificate in Legal Reasoning: This certificate program is designed to allow students, regardless of major, to become familiar with the types of reasoning, writing, and analysis that are used in the legal world. The program is valuable both for students interested in the study of legal issues and for students intending to apply to law school. The certificate program is open to and will benefit students from any college or major at UTEP. For students in the College of Liberal Arts, the program fulfills the requirement of a minor. While completion of the program is not necessary to gain entry to law school, it is designed to help students gain admittance into law school and to succeed once admitted by developing the skills that are needed for the study of the law.
Students are required to complete twelve hours of core courses and six hours of electives.
Core Courses: POLS 4321 or POLS 3340, POLS 4322 or POLS 3322, ENGL 3358, ENGL 3365 (the English sections must be sections for pre-law students)
Electives: ANTH 3308, BLAW 3301, BLAW 4325, HIST 3310, PSYC 3315, and, with the approval of program advisors, appropriate special topics courses from any department.
Military Science
Military Science courses are designed to afford the student an opportunity to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. These courses provide leadership training and military skills training required of an Army officer. Army ROTC is open to all male and female students in all academic majors leading to a bachelor's degree. Specific courses and requirements are listed under the departmental section for Military Science.
Aerospace Studies
The Aerospace Studies curriculum includes the Air Force ROTC education program leading to a commission as second lieutenant in the Air Force. The Air Force ROTC Commissioning Program is open to all qualified male and female students in all academic majors leading to a bachelor's degree. Specific courses and requirements are listed under the departmental section for Aerospace Studies.
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