USP FAQs

Yes, all course changes, including all USP designations will need to submit a Course Action Request Form (CARF). For more information on the CARF, please see the Course Committee Information on the Office of the Registrar's website.

• If the course involves several departments in a single college, the course will be approved at the college level.  FYS and COM sequence courses will also require approval by the USP Committee.
• If the course involves several departments from several colleges, the course will be approved by all colleges involved. FYS and COM sequence courses will also require approval by the USP Committee.
• If the course does not have a home college, it should be submitted to the USP Committee for approval.

• Option 1: Use the department that houses the student’s advisor as the “home department.” For several of the interdisciplinary programs, students have an advisor outside of the declared major.
• Option 2: Use the course prefix that matches the name of the degree program. (For Biology, LIFE would count as the major “department” for those students who are biology majors.)
• We recommend Option 2 since it resolves nearly every case we have examined. Departments could submit exception requests for the few cases when this would cause hardship. The goal is “breadth of knowledge,” not bureaucracy. Interdisciplinary study is broad by definition.

• Students only have to take two H courses to fulfill the USP requirements
• If you want your students to take particular H courses (such as Psychology) to satisfy accreditation or other pre-requisite issues for your degree program, you should put those on your degree program check sheet. Otherwise, students can choose any two H courses to fulfill USP requirements.
• While some of the diversity/global student learning outcomes are part of the H (such as Outcome #4: Examine the role of diversity in human societies and how diversity impacts global change and #5 Analyze how culture and diversity can be depicted through different forms of expression (e.g. visual arts, performing arts), the courses being proposed for the hare only required to meet 3 of the 6 outcomes for Human Culture; consequently some courses won’t choose #4 or #5.
• So, yes, you can continue to embed D and G content into your required courses and let your students take two H courses to satisfy the USP. However, if you choose to put your D or G course forward as an H, it cannot count as an H for your majors.

For continuously enrolled UW students, The Office of the Registrar automatically applies substitutions for USP Requirements. For more information on what courses qualify for substitution, please see the list of course category substitution.

• Community college students who earn an AA, AS, ADN, or AB degree during the Spring 2015 or after will receive a waiver for all USP 2015 requirements except the U.S./Wyoming Constitution course and the Communication 3 (COM 3). The First-Year Seminar will be required for all true first-year college students even if they have earned an AA, AS, ADN, or AB degree in high school. Community college students who have not earned an AA, AS, ADN, or AB degree will have to fulfill all USP 2015 requirements, though exemptions from the First-Year Seminar requirement will be available to those who have earned more than 30 college credits after their graduation from high school. 
• Human Culture (H) & Physical and Natural World (PN): Any transfer course that meets the definition of an H or PN, will be accepted for USP credit. Both H & PN credits must be earned outside of the major department and cross-listed courses are acceptable when the course prefix is not from the major department. For information regarding AP and IB scores, please see the Office of the Registrar's website. 
  • U.S./Wyoming Constitution (V): This requirement is mandated by statute and cannot by waived. Transfer students may meet the requirement in one of three ways:
  • Completions of a UW V Course Completion of a course that has been articulated with UW
  • Completion of a U.S. Constitution course and a passing grade on the WY challenge exam administered by the Political Science department.