COMMUNICATING IDEAS IN CONTEXT (CIC)

College of Arts & Sciences | Curriculum and Teaching | Communicating Ideas in Context (CIC)

Curriculum and Teaching

In addition to developing the core competencies of UNCG’s Minerva’s Academic Curriculum (MAC) and the specialized knowledge within their field, College of Arts and Sciences majors will also complete the College of Arts and Sciences’ Communicating Ideas in Context (CIC) curriculum.

Answering the important questions of our time and solving the serious problems that we face will require the cooperation and the collaboration of a diverse group of committed, thoughtful, and knowledgeable people. Such cooperation and collaboration are built on excellent communication skills.

The College of Arts and Sciences’ Communicating Ideas in Context (CIC) curriculum is designed to strengthen your communication skills by developing:

your skill as a writer so that you can communicate effectively;
your understanding of how and why different types of academic disciplines make sense of our world and the people within it, so that you can work successfully with diverse teams who approach tasks with different assumptions, perspectives, and values;
and your ability to communicate multilingually, so that you can be an active, contributing partner in our global community.

CIC REQUIREMENTS:

Complete 2 courses with a College Writing (CW) attribute¹.
Complete 12 additional credits distributed across three categories²:
- CIC Humanities (6 credits)
- CIC Natural and Data Sciences (3 credits)
- CIC Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 credits)
Complete an additional language or culture requirement.

Notice to Students who are enrolled in the following programs:

Interior Architecture BFA

Integrated Professional Studies Online

BA in Liberal and Interdisciplinary Studies

CLICK HERE TO VIEW WAIVERS, ALTERNATIVES, AND MODIFICATIONS

Please also note that students who transfer 60 or more credits to UNCG are exempt from CIC requirements 1-2, with modified requirements for #3.

1. CIC COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

In addition to the MAC Written Communication competency, students in the College of Arts and Sciences must complete 2 courses at the 200 level or above carrying the College Writing (CW) attribute. At least 1 of these courses must be in the student’s major.

Courses with a College Writing attribute can also be used to fulfill requirements for the student’s majors and/or minors and the CIC Breadth of Knowledge requirement.

¹Students who transfer 60 or more credits to UNCG are exempt from the CIC College Writing Requirement.

2. CIC BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENT

In addition to the MAC, students must complete 12 additional credits distributed across three categories:

CIC Humanities: 6 credits
CIC Natural and Data Sciences: 3 credits
CIC Social and Behavioral Sciences: 3 credits

The categories of courses are defined by the following course prefixes:

CIC Humanities:
ADS, ASL, BLS, CCI, CHI, ENG, FRE, GER, HIS, IAR, JNS, LLC, MST, PHI, REL, RUS, SPA, WGS, RCO 202, RCO 203, RCO 204
CIC Natural and Data Sciences:
AST, BIO, CHE, CSC, GES, MAT, PHY, STA, RCO 253, RCO 254
CIC Social and Behavioral Sciences:
ATY, CST, IGS, PSC, PSY, SOC, SSC, RCO 205

The 12 credits can be at any undergraduate level (100-499). Transfer credits that are not equivalent to specific UNC Greensboro courses can also be used to fulfill the Breadth of Knowledge requirements, as long as they are at the undergraduate level and include these course prefixes:
ADS, AST, ATY, BIO, BLS, CCI, CHE, CSC, CST, ENG GES, HIS, IAR, IGS, LLC, MAT, MST, PHI, PHY, PSC, PSY, REL, SOC, SSC, STA, WGS.

Three of the 12 Breadth of Knowledge credits may also be used to fulfill requirements for the student’s primary major (i.e., the 3 credits can be used to fulfill both a major requirement and a Breadth of Knowledge requirement).

Credits used to fulfill the College Writing requirement may also be used to fulfill the Breadth of Knowledge requirement.

However, 101-204 language courses used to fulfill the Additional-Language Requirement cannot be used to fulfill the Breadth of Knowledge requirement.

²Students who transfer 60 or more credits to UNCG are exempt from the CIC Breadth of Knowledge Requirement.

3. CIC ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENT*

Students are encouraged to take a placement test to determine what level they should start with the additional language. For both BA and BS students, the demonstration of proficiency of an additional language above the 204-level (either via placement test or successful completion of a 300-level language class) will satisfy this requirement.

BA students (0-12 hours) – can be satisfied in one of two ways:
1. Successfully complete a 203 course in an additional language and complete a 204 course in the same language.
2. Successfully complete a 203 course in an additional language and complete a CIC Culture course.
BS students (0-6 hours) – can be satisfied in one of three ways:
1. 6 hours of additional language coursework related to a single language, between the 101-204 level, depending on their starting point in the language.
2. 3 hours of additional language coursework, between the 101-204 level, depending on their starting point in the language, and a CIC Culture course.
3. 6 hours of CIC Culture courses.

ADS 350	Contemporary Africa
ADS 356	The Making of the African Diaspora
ATY 311	Reading Culture and Society
ATY 334	Latin American Art and Archaeology
ATY 354	Modern Asia through its Music
BLS 327	Contemporary Asian Literature
BLS 386	Women, War, and Terror
CCI 323	The World of Alexander the Great
CCI 332	Comparative Studies in World Epics
CCI 354	Roman Republic 754 BC – 44 BC
CHI 313	Major Figures in Chinese Literature
CST 337	Intercultural Communication
ENG 315	Postcolonial Literatures
ENG 340	Shakespeare: Later Plays
GER 310	German Culture: Advanced Intermediate-Topics in German Film
GES 301	Cities of the World
GES 306	World Economic Geography
HIS 312	The Crusades
HIS 318	Revolution and Reform in Modern Latin America
HIS 348	The World at War, 1914-1918
HIS 349	The World at War, 1939-1945
HIS 354	Roman Republic 754 BC – 44 BC
HIS 369	History of Spain
HIS 377	Russian History to 1900
HIS 378	Russian History since 1900
HIS 380	Topics in the Near and Middle East
HIS 382	Viet Nam: History, Culture, and Resistance
HIS 384	The Modern Transformation of China: 1800 to Present Day
HIS 389	West Africa during the Atlantic Slave Trade
HIS 408	Latin America and Caribbean: Selected Topics
IPS 305	Global Awareness and Intercultural Competence
JNS 306	Current Issues in Japan
PSC 344	Politics of Globalization
PSC 355K	Selected Topics in Comparative Politics: Russian Politics
REL 301	Early Christianity
REL 341	Topics in Jewish Thought
REL 370	Religions of Iran: Selected Topics
REL 371	Topics in Islam: Islamic Thought, Culture, and History
REL 382	Topics in Christian Thought
RUS 313	Major Authors in Russian Literature
RUS 314	Major Movements in Russian Literature and Culture
SOC 342	Global Inequalities
SOC 344	Global Society
SOC 371	Race, Ethnicity, and Migration in a Global Context
WGS 333	Postcolonial and Transnational Feminisms

Students who transfer 60 or more credits to UNC Greensboro can satisfy this requirement by successfully completing a 102 level course. Students who transfer 90 or more credits to UNC Greensboro are exempt from this requirement.
Students with fewer than 60 transfer credit hours who have previously completed an additional language through the 102 level, with a subsequent learning gap of five years or more (from the completion of the 102 equivalent), may apply to the College Appeals Committee for permission to use courses from the list of approved MAC Global Engagement and Intercultural Learning Competency courses as substitutions for the intermediate-level 203 and 204 language classes. These courses must be taken in addition to the courses taken to meet the MAC Global and Intercultural Competency requirement.
Please verify the CIC information provided on this webpage (CAS), which is subject to change, by visiting the current catalog page regarding CIC requirements.

COLLEGE WRITING (CW) ATTRIBUTE

WAIVERS, ALTERNATIVES, AND MODIFICATIONS (WAM)

The CIC requirements are waived for students in:

the Interior Architecture, B.F.A. program.
the Integrated Professional Studies Online major.

The following modifications of the CIC requirements apply to students in the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal and Interdisciplinary Studies program:

Students who transfer in 60+ credit hours and do not have 101 and 102 of an additional language can complete 6 credit hours (or 3 credit hours if they have 101 credit) of MAC Global Engagement and Intercultural Learning courses to satisfy the additional language requirement.
The breadth of knowledge requirement and the additional language requirement are waived for reactivated students and students who change their major from outside of CAS with 90 or more credits.

Departments/Programs can request a WAM to all or part of the College’s Communication in Context (CIC) curriculum. They can propose and justify a WAM on any grounds they deem appropriate, although the assumption is that the CIC will apply to all College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) majors in most programs. Among the reasons that a Department/Program might seek a WAM are for:

High Hour Majors: if the number of credit hours required in a CAS major meets or exceeds 70 credit hours, graduating within 120 credit hours would require expert “double or even triple-dipping” courses to meet Minerva’s Academic Curriculum, CIC, and major requirements.
Specific Student Type: If a Department/Program makes a compelling case that all (or part) of CIC poses a significant barrier for its majors based on student profile and/or the difficulty of sufficient course delivery.

WAM requests should be sent to Associate Dean Maura Heyn. The requests will be considered by a subcommittee of the CAS C&T Committee, which will make a recommendation to the Dean, who will make a final decision on whether to approve the request.