Legal Studies, Minor (409)
Advisor: Dr. Patricia Minter
Email: patricia.minter@wku.edu
Cherry Hall, Office 206
Phone: (270) 745-5098
Website: http://www.wku.edu/legal-studies/
Legal Studies
The Legal Studies minor provides students an interdisciplinary perspective while fostering greater understanding of the law as it relates to history, the sciences, and ethics in the United States and around the world. While this minor will appeal to pre-law students, it can also serve as a background for a wide variety of careers, including public administration, academics, government, homeland security, non-governmental organizations and law enforcement.
Why Legal Studies?
Legal Studies allows students from a broad range of disciplines to focus their studies using their own majors as a launching point for exploring how the study of law cuts across disciplinary lines. It offers courses in a wide variety of subjects, including philosophy and ethics, American legal history, political process, constitutional law, sociology and criminal justice, business, journalism and broadcasting, economics and property law, and environmental law and regulations.
Legal Studies prepares students for a wide variety of careers in law, business, journalism and broadcasting, public policy, and sciences. A future FBI agent, attorney, or advisor to a Fortune 500 company will need to understand not only environmental law, for example, but also the history of law in the United States as well as the ethical underpinnings of business law and ethics. For science majors, Legal Studies provides an interdisciplinary supplement to their major.
Program Requirements (24 hours)
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| HIST 445 | American Legal History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 446 | American Legal History Since 1865 | 3 |
| PS 326 | Constitutional Law | 3 |
| Restricted Electives | ||
| POD 1: | ||
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Ethical Theory | ||
| Press Law and Ethics | ||
or SMC 301 | Mass Communication Law and Ethics | |
| Government and Ethics | ||
| POD 2: | ||
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Environmental Management and Law | ||
| Psychology and Law | ||
| Sociology of Criminal Law | ||
| POD 3: | ||
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Economics, Law, and Public Choice | ||
| Legal Environment of Business | ||
| Business Law | ||
| General Electives | ||
| Select two of the following: 1 | 6 | |
| Mass Communication Law and Ethics | ||
| Economics, Law, and Public Choice | ||
| Environmental Management and Law | ||
| History of the Civil Rights Movement in America | ||
| Press Law and Ethics | ||
| Legal Environment of Business | ||
| Employment Law | ||
| Biomedical Ethics | ||
| Social Ethics | ||
| Ethical Theory | ||
| Philosophy of Law | ||
| Judicial Process | ||
| Civil Liberties | ||
| Government and Ethics | ||
| Psychology and Law | ||
| Racial Justice | ||
| Criminology | ||
| Juvenile Delinquency | ||
| Special Topics in Criminology | ||
| Sociology of Criminal Law | ||
Select a three-credit service-learning component in consultation with the program director | ||
| Total Hours | 24 | |
- 1
Electives must be from two different disciplines.
Students should consult with the program director for the suggested sequence of studies and for course prerequisites.