NAU is launching a new General Education program
Launching fall 2025, NAU’s new General Education program supports the university’s strategic goals, reflects our diverse student body, and equips graduates for 21st-century success.
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What is General Education?
- It is a guided yet flexible set of courses covering these areas: Foundational Math and English, Arts and Humanities, Science, Social and Political Worlds, and Peoples Within and Beyond the United States.
- Students create their own GE portfolio by selecting courses from each area that will provide context for their chosen major, support personal growth, and prepare them for future careers.
- This is a program that all undergraduate students complete in addition to courses for their major.
- Most universities across the country have GE programs.
General Education and your major
Courses in your GE portfolio make up more than 25% of the 120 credits required for most undergraduate degrees. The other 75% will be credits you complete in your major.
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Which General Education program am I in?
What is the value of General Education?
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Foundational knowledge
Build a broad base of knowledge that will contextualize your major.
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Transferable skills
Enhance transferable skills such as critical thinking, written and oral communication, quantitative reasoning, teamwork, and information literacy that will prepare you for a future career.
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Discover
Expand on your life experiences with deep dives into personal interests and curiosities.
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Network
Meet and work with students outside of your major that may share similar interests.
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Tips on how to choose your General Education courses
- Be proactive in searching for courses that meaningfully connect to your major, help you grow personally, or help you develop marketable skill sets and knowledge to kickstart a career.
- Talk to professors in your major about GE courses that will complement/contextualize your major.
- Select courses that will help you explore an interest or skill set that will help you identify a major.
- Think about courses that will offer you experiences and exposure to knowledge you do not already have. Explore new parts of the world and cultures you know nothing about.
- Select courses that will offer you skill sets you wish to develop such as writing, public speaking, teamwork, computer programming, etc.
- Look for courses that will help you understand your social context: Who are the people around you? What are their life experiences? What is important to them?
- Think about how you can use your GE courses to create a customized experience of your own creation.