offers 300 academic courses each semester. Graduation from MCLA requires completing 120 credits of academic work. Of these, about 40 must in the college-wide core curriculum. Another 40 credits are required for a major. At least 40 upper-division credits are required. At least 45 credits must be earned while the student is in residence at the college. Students must earn at least a 2.0 grade point average overall and a 2.0 in their major. Distinctive educational programs MCLA offers internships for undergraduates through the Berkshire Hills Internship Program. It also offers undergraduates coursework in other countries through its travel abroad program. MCLA belongs to the Massachusetts Council for International Education (MaCIE), College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS), and the National Student Exchange (NSE). Through these associations and connections, students are sent on semester- or year-long programs to colleges around the world. The college Honors Program includes ten percent of the student body for whom it offers special interdisciplinary courses in such topics as "The Mathematics of Fairness," "Ethics and Animals" or "The Romantic Movement." The college is authorized by the state to grant the distinction "Commonwealth Scholar" to students who complete the honors program with a capstone thesis. Athletics MCLA has 13 varsity sports. The college's varsity teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division III level in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC). Active intercollegiate female teams are basketball, volleyball, tennis, cross country, soccer, softball, and lacrosse; while active intercollegiate male teams are baseball, basketball, golf, cross country, tennis and soccer. The college also has NERFU club rugby which was re-activated in 2011. From 1963, the college's athletic teams were known as the Mohawks, after the Mohawk Trail which runs along Massachusetts Route 2. In response to concerns over using a Native American name (Francis Boots, cultural-preservation officer of the Mohawk tribe, has told college officials that his people were not honored by the name), the mascot was changed to the Trailblazers in 2002. In 2013, a new mascot, the Mountain Lion, was adopted while in April 2019, the Trailblazer community named the Mascot "Murdock" after a vote of the campus community, alumni, and community members. The most successful team in the college's history was the men's ice hockey team, which was cut in 2003. However, MCLA will have men's and women's hockey teams beginning to compete again in the 2023-24 academic year.