General Education

GE Worksheets and Qualtrics GE Submission Form

THEME: Foundations

We want our students to build sound Foundations - 15 credits

Foundational courses provide students with opportunities to develop vital skills needed to succeed while in college and throughout life outside of college. These skills include effective and appropriate written and oral communication, the generation of evidence-based arguments, and accurate and appropriate quantitative reasoning. 

Commonwealth students are required to take FYS100 First Year Seminar, a course in Written Communication, a course in Oral Communication, a course in Historical Themes, and a course in Quantitative Reasoning. 

Courses that are approved for inclusion in the General Education Foundations curriculum will engage students in the associated learning objectives at a significantly high level. A majority of course content and assignments will be focused on the student learning objectives and student learning outcome competencies related to the relevant program goals. These goals and what we expect students to do successfully reach them are available for each of the five Foundations pillars via their specific Learning Objectives link below

THEME: Interconnections

We want our students to recognize Interconnections - 9 credits

Interconnections courses provoke explorations into human behavior, social interactions, and global communities through the humanities and the social and behavioral sciences. A pathway to mutual respect and tolerance in a diverse world is provided through meaningful discourse about the causes and consequences of human thought and behavior, as well a meaningful examination of traditions and structures.

Interconnections courses provide students with opportunities to (1) develop global perspectives by analyzing systems and evaluating interrelationships, (2) evaluate the diversity of human experience, behavior and thought, (3) better understand themselves and others, (4) appropriately respond to roots of inequality that undermine social justice, (5) understand and demonstrate oral and written communication in a foreign language, and (6) attain awareness and appreciation of a foreign culture. 

Commonwealth students are required to complete three Interconnections courses. All students are required to take at least one class in the diversity pillar and at least one class in the global perspectives pillar. For their third course, students may either take a course in the foreign language pillar or a class in diversity or global perspectives.

Courses that are approved for inclusion in the General Education Interconnections curriculum will engage students in the associated learning objectives at a significantly high level. A majority of course content and assignments will be focused on the student learning objectives and student learning outcome competencies related to the relevant program goals. These goals and what we expect students to do successfully reach them are available for each of the three Interconnections pillars via their specific Learning Objectives link below.

THEME: Citizenship and Responsibility

We want our students to consider the importance of citizenship & responsibility - 6 credits

Citizenship & Responsibility courses provide students with opportunities to consider the function and development of social institutions as well as students' own responsibilities in society. Tools for development of students as informed and responsible citizens include the examination of principles and research in the social sciences, analysis of the development of social and political systems and practices, engagement in critical analysis and reasoning, and application of ethics and values. 

Citizenship & Responsibility courses focus students' attention on  (1) understanding what is entailed in responsible citizenship, how societies protect or fail to protect basic rights, and the avenues for individual or collective action, (2) using appropriate critical analysis and reasoning to explain and analyze concepts, (2) identifying ethical theories or guidelines, (3) applying appropriate ethical reasoning to reach conclusions and support moral arguments, and (4) applying concepts to issues to determine significance or value. 

Commonwealth students are required to complete two Citizenship & Responsibility courses, with no more than one course being attributed with the same pillar/program goal. (In other words: there are 3 pillars/goals - pick 2 of them.)

Courses that are approved for inclusion in the General Education Citizenship & Responsibility curriculum will engage students in the associated learning objectives at a significantly high level. A majority of course content and assignments will be focused on the student learning objectives and student learning outcome competencies related to the relevant program goals. These goals and what we expect students to do successfully reach them are available for each of the three Citizenship & Responsibility pillars via their specific Learning Objectives link below.

THEME: Natural World and Technology

We want our students to understand the Natural World and Technologies that surround them - 9 credits

Science is the concerted human effort to better understand the history of the natural world and how the natural world works, with observable physical evidence as the basis of that understanding. The courses in Natural World & Technology provide students with opportunities to learn how new knowledge is created and to apply scientific principles and/or technologies that can be used to address historical and contemporary questions.   

Natural World & Technology courses provide students with opportunities to understand the scientific method and resulting principles and theories, (2) critically evaluate data to answer questions about the natural world, (3) acquire knowledge, skills, and competencies regarding a broad range of computer technologies and software, and (4) to use computer technologies and software responsibly.
 

Commonwealth students are required to complete three Natural World & Technology courses, with at least two courses being part of the Natural World pillar/program goal. Students may either take a third Natural World course or a Technology course to fulfill this requirement.

Courses that are approved for inclusion in the General Education Natural World & Technology curriculum will engage students in the associated learning objectives at a significantly high level. A majority of course content and assignments will be focused on the student learning objectives and student learning outcome competencies related to the relevant program goals. These goals and what we expect students to do successfully reach them are available for each of the two Natural World & Technology pillars via their specific Learning Objectives link below.

THEME: Creativity and Expression

We want our students to recognize and appreciate Creativity & Expression - 6 credits

Creativity and Expression courses will provide students with opportunities to explore artistic and literary disciplines and their modes of expression, considering the processes by which artistic works are imagined and created as well as the analytical tools for describing and appraising works of art and literature. 
 

Creativity & Expression courses provide students with opportunities to (1) comprehend, analyze, and determine the significance of works of literature,  (2) describe, analyze, and respond to the scope of works in the arts, and (3) demonstrate and apply creative competencies, problem solving, and preparation in the realization of a creative work.   

Commonwealth students are required to complete two Creativity & Expression courses, with one of these two courses being a Literature pillar course and the other being either an arts or a creativity course.

Courses that are approved for inclusion in the General Education Creativity & Expression curriculum will engage students in the associated learning objectives at a significantly high level. A majority of course content and assignments will be focused on the student learning objectives and student learning outcome competencies related to the relevant program goals. These goals and what we expect students to do successfully reach them are available for each of the three Creativity and Expression pillars via their specific Learning Objectives link below.