BSC College Catalog

CATALOG DATE : 2004-2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2004-05 Comprehensive Index

Correspondence Directory and Disclaimers

An Introduction to Birmingham-Southern College

Birmingham-Southern at a Glance
Mission of the College
History of the College
Accreditation & Memberships
Consortial Associations
Philosophy of Education

Academic Policy and Information

General Information
Coursework
Grading System
Transfer Credit
Academic Progress
Academic Records
Academic Honors

Courses of Study

Academic Divisions
Academic Majors
Academic Minors
General Education
Requirements for Graduation
Curriculum
Courses Offered
Special Programs
Cooperative Programs
Graduate Program

Admission

Entrance Requirements
Application Procedures
Finances
Financial Aid
Scholarships

Campus Life

Campus Facilities
Living Accommodations
Academic Organizations
Honor Societies
Social Fraternities and Sororities

The College Register

Faculty
Administration
Board Of Trustees


CAMPUS FACILITIES

Administrative Offices

Administrative offices are located in a number of buildings, including Munger Hall, Phillips Administration, Stockham, and the Norton Campus Center. The offices of the President, Academic Affairs, Business Affairs, Interim and Contract Learning, Finance, and Human Resources are located in Munger. The offices of Admission, Financial Aid, and Academic Records and Research are located in Philips Administration.

Charles Andrew Rush Learning Center

Located near the center of the campus, this building houses the N.E. Miles Library, seminar rooms, an auditorium with video and computer projection facilities, a media center, and an electronic classroom. The recently remodeled and renovated Learning Center/Library utilizes up-to-date technology to meet the information needs of students and faculty and to support the intellectual life of the campus. In addition to open stacks and reading areas, the varied individual and group facilities for study and research create an excellent environment for study.

Library services are available seven days a week, permitting ample opportunity for use of the varied resources available. Professional librarians offer personalized assistance to augment the physical facilities and the print and electronic resources of the Learning Center/Library. Please consult one of the library staff any time assistance is needed.

Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Building and Azar Art Studios

Located just south of the College Theatre, the Kennedy Art Center is home of the visual arts program at Birmingham Southern College. This facility provides well lighted, spacious classroom-studios for painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and photography. Also included are a projection-lecture room, the Azar Seminar Room, and the 1,500 square foot Durbin Gallery. The recent Azar Art Studios addition to the facility has resulted in a 100% increase in studio space as well as major exterior remodeling.

The College Theatre

Between the Rush Learning Center and the Kennedy Art Building stands the theatre building. The large theatre, with its split revolve lift stage, offers opportunities for a variety of set designs. Theatre One, located below, provides an intimate “black box” environment for smaller productions. Also housed in the building are makeup rooms, dressing rooms, classrooms, and faculty offices.

James Blaine Hill Music Building

The music building houses classrooms, practice rooms, teaching studios, ensemble rehearsal rooms, and a 285-seat recital hall. The building contains a fully-equipped electronic/computer music studio; pipe organs by Möller, Schantz, Ruhland, and Casavant; Steinway grands in the teaching studios; additional concert grand Steinways; Disklaviers; and a Yamaha upright or grand piano in each of the practice rooms. The state-of-the-art Taylor Recording and Computer Analysis Studio, funded by a gift from Crawford and MarleneTaylor, provides computerized feedback for voice students in rehearsal as well as high-quality studio and recital-hall recording facilities.

Marguerite Jones Harbert Building

Replacing Ramsay Hall, which was one of the original College buildings, the Harbert complex, funded by a major gift in honor of the alumna and longtime supporter of the College, houses the Divisions of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Business and Graduate Programs, and Education. The facility includes a computer classroom, a computer laboratory, and education laboratory, a 98 seat auditorium, and a conference center.

The Anne and Neal Berte Humanities Center

The Humanities Center, formerly the Phillips Science building, experienced a $4.3 million renovation, which was completed in January of 2003. The Humanities Center accommodates the academic needs of the College’s Division of Humanities. The building was transformed into a vibrant Humanities teaching, learning, and research center incorporating the modern learning environment and state-of-the-art technology required of today’s Humanities curriculum and needed by our graduates as they enter diverse career fields or advanced educational pursuits. The facility houses the academic programs of Classics, English, History, Modern Foreign Languages, Philosophy, and Religion, as well as the Academic Resource Center, which includes the Writing Center, Speech Center, Language Lab, and a computer lab.

Olin Computer Science and Mathematics Center

This facility on the hillside south of the dorm quad houses campus-wide server facilities and three computer laboratories containing fifty-eight personal computers. In addition, the Olin Center houses classrooms, faculty offices, the mathematics laboratory, and a multimedia auditorium.

Robert R. Meyer Planetarium

Close to the Olin Center, this facility houses a Spitz A 3P star projector used in academic courses and in special public programs open to organized groups and school children.

Elton B. Stephens Science Center

Birmingham-Southern College dedicated a new 100,000 square-foot, $24 million undergraduate science teaching and research facility on May 9, 2002. The state-of-the-art Elton B. Stephens Science Center houses the most current technology in classrooms, laboratories, and support areas for biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and environmental science. There are more than 1,100 data port connections, and computer-assisted instruction is available in the classrooms, which also are wired for computer use and include retractable projection screens. The classrooms also include multi-tiered blackboards. A nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer is housed in the Science Center for use with investigative, problem-based laboratories, and independent research in the chemistry program.

Designed in consultation with the science faculty, the facility was planned around the College's science mission to foster collaborative, hands-on learning between students and faculty, interdisciplinary connections, and undergraduate research opportunities.

Each faculty member occupies one of the twenty-five offices, as well as one of the twenty-five research laboratories that provide more opportunities to work collaboratively with students on research projects and for students to participate in “doing” science. The center also houses nineteen teaching laboratories, a computer lab, three lecture halls, three classrooms, two seminar rooms, and a greenhouse, among other areas.

Yeilding Chapel

Located between the Olin Center and the Meyer Planetarium, this round structure, highlighted by a central altar and vivid stained glass windows, serves as the center of religious life on campus. Services are held weekly in the Chapel and reflect the diversity of the Christian tradition. Service projects, Bible studies, small group discussions, and retreats are all a part of religious life at the College, which encourages the development of a mature faith and an understanding of the varieties of religious experience.

Edward L. Norton United Methodist Center

This complex, located next to the Rush Learning Center on the north side of campus, houses the headquarters of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. It also houses the Bill Battle Coliseum, which can seat up to 2,000.

Edward L. and Corinne Norton Campus Center

In the middle of campus, between the residence halls and Academic Quad-rangle and across the Alumni Plaza from the Rush Learning Center, stands the Norton Campus Center, named in recognition of the funding provided by the Norton family. This facility is more than twice the size of the previous Snavely Student Center and provides dining facilities for everyday and special events, an expanded bookstore and post office, student lounge areas, and offices for Student Affairs, Student Government, Service-Learning, Leadership Studies, the Black Student Union, student publications, Residence Life, Counseling and Health Services, and the Career Library. The Norton Campus Center also houses a 200-seat, state-of-the-art theatre, the multi-function Bruno Great Hall, various meeting rooms, a computer laboratory, the President’s Dining Room, and the Executive Dining Room.

Edwards Bell Tower

Located in the center of the Academic Quad-rangle, the Edwards Bell Tower contains four tower clock movements as well as four large bronze bells and a complete carillon instrument with 61 bell range, all controlled by a touch screen computer system. It is named in honor of Trustee Bill Edwards and his wife Julia.

Computer Facilities

The College recognizes the importance of computers in assisting college-level learning. Students in all disciplines at the College use computers extensively for writing, research, and presentation development purposes. Eight facilities present in the Olin, Harbert, Stephens Science Center, Humanities, and Rush Learning Center buildings provide general purpose access to computers. In addition, all residence halls have a computer lab. Media development facilities are present in Munger, Harbert, Olin, Kennedy, Stephens Science Center, Humanities, and the Rush Learning Center. Music composition and typesetting facilities are present in Hill. Science labs have a wide variety of computer controlled instrumentation and department specific computer labs as well. All facilities and systems have access to networked laser printers, the Internet, and shared access file storage. All classrooms are equipped with a computer and a ceiling mounted video/data projector for instructional use. Each residence hall, sorority house, and fraternity house offers network access in addition to the computer lab present in each dormitory.

In addition to on-campus facilities, a full-time Internet connection allows access to external resources such as the World Wide Web, library card catalogs for the College and other institutions, a wide variety of research databases, and electronic mail. Each student is provided with an e-mail account by the College

Sports Facilities

A member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the College will compete as a full member of the NCAA Division I in 2003. The College recognizes that physical activity is important for everyone's health and not just for intercollegiate athletics. The College sponsors intercollegiate teams in cross country, baseball, basketball, golf, rifle, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball as well as a full range of intramural sports for both men and women.

Athletic facilities include the Bill Battle Coliseum, site of home basketball contests and the women's basketball and women's soccer offices; the Scrushy Striplin Baseball Field; and The Gymnasium, which houses the men's basketball and men's soccer offices as well as strength training facilities for student athletes. Also, 12 lighted tennis courts and a softball complex were completed during the summer of 2000. The Larry D. Striplin Physical Fitness and Recreation Building, completed in 1998 and intended for student use, is home to two basketball/volleyball courts, a suspended indoor running track, a combination weight and cardiovascular workout room, two racquetball courts, a swimming pool, and an aerobics room, as well as locker rooms and offices.