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Office for Academic Affairs

Pathways

Expand your expertise.

Pathways

CHART YOUR COURSE

Take a collection of interconnected courses centered on a topic of your choosing. Take ownership of your education by focusing some of your core curriculum courses on a particular thematic Pathway. A Pathway can augment your major or help you explore another field of study. You can complete a Pathway without adding any additional credit hours to your degree, and when you complete a Pathway, you will receive a credential that employers want to see.

Select a Pathway

Global Engagement

Executive Systems and Structures

Select an icon to learn more.

Requirements for completing a Pathway

Choose three courses to complete a Pathway.

One Social and Behavioral Science or History

Choose from the General Education Core Curriculum that meets the objectives of your Pathway theme.

One Fine Arts, Humanities, World Language, or Literature

Choose from the General Education Core Curriculum that meets the objectives of your Pathway theme.

One course that is not in the General Education Core Curriculum

This course should meet the objectives of your Pathway theme. This course can be within your Major(s) or Minor(s).

PATHWAYS

Global Engagement (rolling out fall 2025)

This pathway explores relationships between individuals and communities. It seeks to understand the political, economic and cultural forces that make us who we are, paying attention to unique geographical, historical, racial, economic and gendered intercultural experiences. This pathway is for students interested in understanding the key problems and issues that define our world.

In this Pathway, you will learn to:

1. Gather and analyze historical and contemporary knowledge on the nature of global affairs. This can include engagement with political, cultural, local and national forces.

2. Debate and/or present on the most critical issues that shape political thought in the modern era, including the relationship between local and global forces.

3. Identify historical or contemporary definitions of human engagement (this can include anthropological, philosophical, religious, literary and linguistic perspectives).

4. Explore intercultural dependencies, investigating how human cultures rely on and/or influence each other.

5. Demonstrate skills that foster the communication and interaction of people from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and identities.

6. Demonstrate how social, political, cultural, historical and economic forces shape the ways that cultures interact.

Executive Systems & Structures (rolling out fall 2025)

This pathway explores the economic, cultural and political structures and systems that shape people and the physical world. It considers the deeper, interconnected structures that define the human and global experience. Tailored for students keen on honing their executive and strategic thinking abilities, this Pathway offers a comprehensive understanding of these structures.

In this Pathway, you will learn to:

1. Identify the larger political, economic, social, cultural, historical or physical structures that define and shape the contemporary world.

2. Identify and debate the forces that create and moderate the larger structures and systems of the contemporary world.

3. Explore the ethical and philosophical issues undergirding the functioning of large social, political, economic, cultural, or physical systems in the contemporary world.

4. Examine how legal, cultural, and ethical structures are inherited, cultivated and perpetuated locally and globally and how they animate and orient human experience.

5. Offer a critique of structural understandings of the world and societies, paying attention to how structural thinking can essentialize human behavior and marginalize the nuanced experiences of different groups.

6. Explore the ways that individuals and groups can undermine socio-economic structures and play a critical role in creating social change.

7. Identify how social structures are historically and/or discursively determined.

FAQ

Is a Pathway required to complete my core curriculum?

No, Pathways are optional. You can complete your core general education courses without selecting a Pathway.

When will Pathways be available?

Intercultural Affairs and Global Systems & Structures will roll out in the fall semester of 2025. Health & Sustainability and Digital Ethics & Practice will roll out in the fall semester of 2026.

 What documentation is provided to students upon the successful completion of a Pathway?

Once completed, you will receive a credential on your academic transcript.

Can a class I take towards a Pathway requirement also count towards my Major or Minor?

Yes. If your Pathway classes also help you to complete a Major or Minor, that is great.

Can one class count towards multiple Pathways?

No. There is no “double dipping” between Pathways.

Can I take more than one Pathway?

Yes. You can take as many Pathways as your schedule will allow.

Can a transfer student do a Pathway?

Yes. If a course you completed at another university transfers to UA as an equivalent to a course that sits within a Pathway at UA, it will be considered the same as that course. You are also welcome to take a Pathway at any time during your enrollment at UA.

If I have completed all or some of the courses for a Pathway but have not declared a Pathway, can I do it after the fact? 

Yes. You can declare a Pathway at any point during your time at UA. You do not have to declare a Pathway before you start taking the required courses. 

Can I change Pathways?

Yes. The courses you took for one Pathway will most likely not transfer over to another Pathway, but you are welcome to change and embark on a plan to take a different Pathway instead.