Analysis of How and When UW-Madison Undergraduates are

AcademicPlanningandAnalysis,OfficeoftheProvost,clh 3/2011



Analysis of How and When UW‐Madison Undergraduates are Satisfying the Ethnic Studies

Requirement

AcademicPlanningandAnalysis,OfficeoftheProvost



The Ethnic Studies Requirement (ESR) is one of five competency requirements required of all

undergraduatesatUW‐Madison.Facultydocument1736,adoptedin2003,explainedthepurposeofthe

EthnicStudiesRequirementasfollows:“TheUnivers i tyofWisconsin‐Madisoniscommittedtofostering



an understanding and appreciation of diversity, in the belief that doing so will: 1) better prepare

studentsforlifeandcareersinanincreasinglymulticulturalU.S.environment,2)addbreadthanddepth

totheUniversitycurriculum,and3)improvecampusclimate.”



In Fall 2010, Elaine Klein, now Chair of the

 Undergraduate General Education Committee (UGEC),

contactedAcademicPlanning  andAnalysisonbehalfoftheUGEC witharequestforinformationabout

how and when students are satisfying the Ethnic Studies Requirement. Specifically, the UGEC has an

interest in understanding during what term of enrollment students are satisfying the Ethnic Studies

Requirement, whether the timing of ESR course taking varies by school/college, and what courses

studentsareusingtosatisfytherequirement.



BecauseEthnicStudiesisarequirementtograduate,weusedagraduatingcohort.Allbachelorsdegree

recipients from the two most recent academic years – 2008‐09 and 2009‐10

 – are included (13,368

graduates).WeattemptedtoidentifythefirsttermwhentheEthnicStudiesrequirementwassatisfied,

either by taking a course at UW‐Madison or by transferring a course taken at another institution and

whichEthnicStudiescoursewastaken.



SummaryofFindings



1. Most students take a UW‐Madison Ethnic Studies course to satisfy the Ethnic Studies graduation

requirement. Unlike other General Education competency requirements which can be satisfied

through high scores on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams or scores on

Math or English placement tests, 86% of UW‐Madison graduates

satisfy the Ethnic Studies

Requirement with a UW‐Madison course. Twelve percent (12%) satisfy the requirement with a

course taken at another institution (transfer course) and 3% satisfy the requirement via other

means.



2. Aroundone inthree(31%)UW‐MadisongraduatessatisfiedtheEthnicStudiesrequirementduring

their first

two semesters of enrollment at UW‐Madison. One quarter satisfy the requirement just

before graduation (in or after their seventh semesters at UW‐Madison). There are considerable

school/college differences in the timing of Ethnic Studies satisfaction. Graduates from Nursing,

Human Ecology and Education satisfy Ethnic Studies earlier than the overall average.

 Graduates

fromEngineeringarethemostlikelytosatisfyEthnicStudiesjustbeforegraduation.



3. Two particular Ethnic Studies courses account for 36% of the courses used to satisfy the Ethnic

Studies requirement. These two courses, Anthropology 104 and Sociology 134, are the most

frequentlytakenEthnicStudiescoursesby

graduatesineveryschool/college.



AcademicPlanningandAnalysis,OfficeoftheProvost,clh 3/2011



HowStudentsSatisfytheEthnicStudiesRequirement



The vast majority of students are satisfying the Ethnic Studies Requirement at UW‐Madison – 86% of

graduates took a UW‐Madison Ethnic Studies course (Figure 1, Table 1). Twelve percent (12%) of 

graduates took a course at another i nstitution and transferred the credits to UW‐Madison and 3% 

satisfied

theEthnicStudiesrequirementsbyanalternativemethod(seelistbelow).



Figure1

SatisfactionMethodoftheEthnicStudiesRequirement(ESR)

ForBachelorsDegreeRecipientsfrom2008‐09and2009‐10



Unlike the other general education competency requirements in Communications and Quantitative

Reasoning,theEthnicStudiesRequirementis

notsatisfiedbyhighscoresonplacementtests,Advanced

Placement exams, or International Baccalaureate exams. This makes the Ethnic Studies Requirement

differentthantheCommunicationandQuantitativeReasoningrequirementsinthesensethatalmostall

newstudentsneed  to take a coursein ordertosatisfytherequirement(afewgraduates

who entered

UW‐Madisonpriorto1996arenotsubjecttotheESRrequirement).Forthisreason,wewereperplexed

when we found that more than 350 graduates (3% of graduates) who had never tak en an approved

Ethnic Studies course. An examination of DARS reports for these students revealed several

alternative

methodsofESRsatisfaction.Thesemethods,codifiedinDARSbutnotinISIS,include:



1. CompletionofaspecificcoursesectionofatopicscourseinNursing(NUR490/CNP490section28).

2. Completionofanyof12otherspecificcoursesand/orcoursesectionsinspecificterms

.

3. “Exceptions”totheEthnicStudiesRequirement,approved byschool/collegeDeans’offices.





Specificcoursesinclude:Anthropology448(Spring2003),Anthropology353(Fall2003),AsianAmericanStudies

240(allsections,Fall2005;sections1and2,Spring2007),CommunicationArts613(section5,Fall2003),East

AsianLanguages&Literature520(Fall2007),HumanDevelopmentandFamilyStudies501(section1,Spring

2006),

History221(allsections,Fall2006;sections1and2,Spring2007),History600(section9,Spring2004),

Music201(allsections,Fall2002),ScandinavianStudies443(Spring2001),PoliticalScience695(section1,Fall

2006;section1,Fall2008;section1,Fall2007),UrbanandRegionalPlanning590(section3,

Fall2009).

Other

Satisfaction

Me thod

Transfer

Course

12%

UW‐Madison

ESRCourse

86%

60%freshmanstarts

40%transferstarts

18%freshmanstarts

82%transferstarts

86%freshmanstarts

14%transferstarts

AcademicPlanningandAnalysis,OfficeoftheProvost,clh 3/2011

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4. Completion of a teacher preparation program in the School of Education. Instead of completing a

UGEC‐approved Ethnic Studies course, students in certain School of Education programs were

requiredtocompletemultiplecoursesfocusedondiversityandculturalissuesspecifictoclassroom

environments.Itisourunderstandingthatthis

practicehassincebeendiscontinued.



Table1

SatisfactionMethodoftheEthnicStudiesRequirement(ESR)bySchoolCollege

ForBachelorsDegreeRecipientsfrom2008‐09and2009‐10



PercentofGraduates

Total

Grads

UW‐Madison

Course

Transfer

Course

OtherSatisfaction

Method

AgriculturalandLifeSciences 86 12 2 1,219

Business 91 8 1 1,298

Education 68 15 16* 846

Engineering 87 11 2 1,189

HumanEcology 88 11 1 689

LettersandScience 88 11 1 7,621

MedicineandPublicHealth 53 16 31** 120

Nursing 56 35 9 373

Pharmacy 58 42 0 12

Total 86 12 3 13,367

*Seenumber1inlistabove.**Themuchhigher‐than‐averageproportionofgraduatesfromtheSchoolofMedicineandPublic

HealthwhonevertookanEthnicStudiescourseismainlydue tograduatesfromthePhysician’sAssistantprogramwhoentered

UW‐Madisonpriorto1996whenanEthnicStudies.



WhenStudentsSatisfytheEthnicStudiesRequirement



We examined when during the course of their semester enrollments students satisfied the Ethnic

StudiesRequirement(Figure2,Table2).Almostonethirdofstudents(31%)satisfiedtheEthnicStudies

Requirementduringtheirfirsttwosemesters(includingthosewhomatriculateatUW‐MadisonwithESR

already completed) and another quarter

(24%) completed the ESR during their second year (third or

fourthsemesters).Theremaining44%completedtheESRaftertheirfourth termatUW‐Madison.



Thereareconsiderableschool/collegedifferences inthetimingofESRcompletion.Graduatesfromthe

SchoolofNursingarethemostlikelycompleteESRbytheend

oftheirfirsttermatUW‐Madison‐sixty

percent (60%) of Nursing graduates completed ESR during the first year (50% in the first term).

Graduates from the Schools of Education and Human Ecology are also more likely than the overall

averagetocompleteESRduringthefirstyear.



Graduatesfrom

theCollegeofEnginee r ingcompleteESRthelatest.Engineeringgraduatesaretheleast

likelytocompleteESRduringtheirfirstyearat UW‐Madisonandthemostlikelytocomplete ESRafter

their fourth year. Almost a quarter (24%) of graduates from the College of Engineering complete ESR

aftertheirfourth

yearatUW‐Madisonandanadditional21%completeESRduringtheirfourthyear.



AcademicPlanningandAnalysis,OfficeoftheProvost,clh 3/2011



Figure2

EnrollmentTermwhenEthnicStudiesRequirement(ESR)wasSatisfiedbySchool/College

ForBachelorsDegreeRecipientsfrom2008‐09and2009‐10whoTookanEthnicStudiesCourse



*MedicineandPharmacynotshownduetosmallnumbers.



Table2

TermwhenEthnicStudiesRequirement(ESR)wasSatisfiedbySchool/College

ForBachelorsDegreeRecipientsfrom2008‐09and2009‐10whoTookanEthnicStudiesCourse



PercentageCompletingESRinEnrollmentTerm

Total

1 2 3 4 5 6  7 8 >8

CALS 18 13 11 14 9 10 8 6 10 1,190

Business 15 10 16 17 11 9 7 7  9 1,286

Education 29 11 12 12 8 8 6 4  10 704

Engineering 12 7 7 9 10 10 10 11 24 1,162

HumanEcology 24 14 15 14 11 8 5 4  5 680

L&S 21 9 12 12 11 11 10 7 7 7,538

Medicine 34 13 12 12 6 11 6 2 3 83

Nursing 50 10 15 13 4 2 0 1  6 340

Pharmacy 50 33 8 0 8 0 0 0 0 12

Total 21 10 12 13 10 10 9 7 9 12,995

1‐23‐4 5‐67‐8>8

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Total

Nursing

L&S

SoHE

Engineering

Education

Business

CALS

AcademicPlanningandAnalysis,OfficeoftheProvost,clh 3/2011



HowStudentsSatisfytheEthnicStudiesRequirement



Table 3 shows the twenty most frequently taken Ethnic Studies courses at both the overall university

level and within each school/college. Two courses, ranked first or second in every school/college,

accountforthevastmajorityofallEthnicStudiesenrollments.ThesecoursesareCulturalAnthropology

and Human Diversity (Anthropology 104)

and Problems of American Racial and Ethnic Minorities

(Sociology 134). Still among the 20 courses most frequently taken by recent graduates is The African

Storyteller,acoursethatwasdecertifiedasEthnicStudiesin2005.



Table3

RankingofMostCommonlyTakenUW‐MadisonEthnicStudiesCourses

ForBachelorsDegree

Recipientsfrom2008‐09and2009‐10whoTookanEthnicStudiesCourse



RankingofCourseFrequency

CALS BUS EDU ENG SoHE L&S NUR All Grads

CulturalAnthropologyandHumanDiversity 1  2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2,147

Probs.ofAmericanRacial&EthnicMinorities 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 2,059

BlackMusicandAmericanCulturalHistory 3  3 3 3 5 33 881

IntroductiontoLiteratureofNativeAmerica 4 4 4 5 6 4  5 4 521

IndiansofNorthAmerica 5 9 5 4 9 5  8 5 409

IntroductiontoAfro‐AmericanHistory 6 6 8 10 66  320

EthnicMovementsintheUnitedStates5 10 8 10 7 256

MasterpiecesofAfricanAmericanLiterature 878 245

IntroductiontoAfro‐AmericanArt 674 9 240

TheAmericanWestto18506910 214

TheAmericanWestsince1850 8 9  11 203

PoliticsinMulti‐CulturalSocieties1010 6 12 195

IntrotoComparativeStudyofRace&Ethnicity 13 175

ImmigrationandAssimilationinAmer.History14 162

AsianAmericanMovement 7 8 9   15 157

TopicsinMusicandEthnicityintheU.S.7  16 154

TheAfricanStoryteller787 17 153

IntroductiontoFolklore7 10   18 144

IntroductiontoAsianAmericanStudies8 10 19 118

IssuesinAmericanIndianStudies 9 20 116

NativeAmer.Environ.Issues&theMedia 8 23

RacialandEthnicFamiliesintheU.S 3 76

TheAfro‐AmericanFamily 4 64

EnvironmentalChemistryandEthnicity 3 12

*MedicineandPharmacynotshownduetosmallenrollments.StudentsarecountedonceineachEthnicStudiescoursetaken.

However,itisrareforstudentstotakemorethanoneEthnicStudiescoursesoduplicationisminimal.