2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Core Curriculum (38-40 Total Credit Hours)
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The purpose of the Core Curriculum is to provide an educational experience in the liberal arts tradition that promotes inquiry, creativity, and critical thinking.
The Core Curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop skills in the following: critical thinking and reasoning, written and oral communication, and quantitative and information literacy.
The Core Curriculum provides opportunities for students to apply the above mentioned skills in the practice of the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, and the arts in the context of global and diverse cultural perspectives.
Goals, Student Learning Outcomes, and Requirements
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I. Core Skills (19-21 credit hours)
Goal: The Core Curriculum seeks to develop skills in reasoning, reading, writing, and quantifying, as well as a variety of information and communication skills.
Objective: Students will utilize these skills in order to understand, question, revise, and generate knowledge.
A. Critical Thinking and Reasoning (3 credit hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Identify arguments.
- Evaluate arguments through reasoning.
- Formulate arguments for a thesis.
B. Critical Reading, Writing, and Information Literacy (8 credit hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Read for comprehension.
- Write for a specific audience and purpose, employing discipline-specific language.
- Locate, evaluate, and apply information appropriate to a specific audience and purpose.
Complete the following: - ENGL 101 - Composition (4 credits)
- ENGL 102 - Composition and Critical Reading (4 credits)
Students may exempt (without credit) ENGL 101 under the following conditions:
Report a score of 600 or higher on the old SAT Writing Test (taken prior to March 2016)
Report a score of 24 or higher on the old ACT Writing Test (taken prior to Sept. 2016)
Report a score of 33 or higher on the new SAT Writing Test (taken after March 2016)
Report a score of 9 or higher on the new ACT Writing Test (taken after Sept. 2016)
Transfer students may satisfy IB with 6-8 hours of transferable credit for ENGL 101 and ENGL 102.
All students are required to complete ENGL 101 with a grade of ‘C’ or better to progress to ENGL 102, which must be completed with a grade of ‘C’ or better in order to fulfill this core goal.
C. Communication Across Cultures (5-6 credit hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Apply foreign language skills consistent with the level of study.
- Identify cultural perspectives through language study.
D. Quantitative Literacy (3-4 credit hours)
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Interpret quantitative results in context.
- Apply mathematical and/or statistical concepts to solve problems.
II. Core Concepts (19 credit hours)
Goal: The Core Curriculum seeks to introduce students to methods of inquiry and practice within and across disciplines, including scientific concepts and the practice of scientific inquiry, individual and social human behavior, and humanistic thought from a national and global perspective.
All students are required to take one course in Scientific Concepts, two courses with different prefixes in Human and Social Behavior, and two courses with different prefixes in Humanistic Thought, and one course in Artistic Expression.
A. Scientific Concepts (4 credit hours)
Objective: Students will recognize scientific evidence and apply the basic principles of scientific inquiry.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Apply the methods of scientific inquiry.
- Analyze evidence using scientific methods.
B. Human and Social Behavior (6 credit hours)
Objective: Students will recognize a variety of social perspectives and contexts, and identify connections among individual and group behaviors within and across cultures.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Apply methods of inquiry to investigate social behavior.
- Analyze and illustrate the connections among individual and group behaviors.
C. Humanistic Thought (6 credit hours)
Objective: Students will recognize, identify, and engage with a variety of perspectives and concepts in the humanities, and evaluate forms of human expression within and across cultures.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Apply methods of inquiry in the humanities.
- Critically interpret forms of human expression.
D. Artistic Expression (3 credit hours)
Objective: Students will recognize, identify, and critically interpret a variety of perspectives and concepts, as well as engage in forms of artistic expression.
Learning Outcomes: Students will be able to:
- Apply methods of inquiry to the practices of fine arts.
- Analyze, interpret, or engage in forms of artistic expression.
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