What is Tier III?
TierIII is the final component of Ohio University's general education program. The courses described in this booklet are open only to seniors. That you are about to scrutinize them signals your imminent achievement of a baccalaureate degree. Tier III courses intend to provide an experience with questions and topics that require multiple approaches or bodies of knowledge to be understood well. In these courses you will be called upon to integrate and synthesize, to draw upon your academic background but also to move beyond it, just as you will need to do in your life after graduation.
Two key ideas spurred the thinking that went into the creation of Tier III. One was structural, the other theoretical. The framers of the General Education Program believed that a solid and meaningful program of liberal studies should not be confined to the freshman and sophomore years, but should extend throughout the undergraduate experience, enriching work in the upper division. The junior composition requirement and Tier III reflect this conviction. Secondly, while there was wide agreement that the major worked well to develop students' powers of analysis, the ability to break things into smaller and smaller parts for detailed inspection and understanding, we realized that our curriculum should also offer opportunities for students to develop a capacity for synthesis.
Synthesis turns on the ability to weave many complex strands to form a fabric of understanding. Many problems and issues can be penetrated successfully only through a variety of perspectives. In order, then, to contribute to the preparation of persons capable of handling complex intellectual and social issues, faculty have created courses specifically designed to confront broad topics from multiple perspectives. These courses are for seniors only. These courses are for you.
*TierIII is the senior, capstone requirement of the university's general education program. Students take one Tier III interdisciplinary synthesis course after attaining senior rank (135 credit hours).
**Registration is limited to one Tier III course only. Multiple enrollments will be dropped by the Office of the Registrar.
