A curriculum unique from existing courses that provides greater depth or breadth of learning on a topic of interest to (a) student(s) developed in collaboration with a member of the faculty. The level and number of credit hours will depend upon a number of factors, including but not limited to faculty-student contact hours, anticipated independent hours of work by the student, type of work being conducted, and the depth of content in the discipline.

Requests for an independent study must be approved by the department chair on behalf of the student and submitted to the Office of the Registrar by the Dean. Timelines for completion are the same as that of a traditional term. Communications between faculty and the student who has requested the independent study are determined prior to the start of the independent study and are to be followed as indicated in the formal request submitted to the Office of the Registrar. Official copies of the request, along with the syllabus for the course, will be kept in the academic department. An Independent Study course offering must exist in the department’s subject course offerings to allow the student to pursue an independent study in that subject.