Liberal Studies Program

The English Foundations course offers students a valuable experience during their first year to develop the writing skills necessary for success at the university and in their future personal and professional lives. (4 Credits)

You may also meet the English composition requirement by completing English 101 and 102 (6 credits), or equivalents, with a grade of C or better at another accredited university or community college.

You are eligible to take a composition placement exam if you are accepted to the university:

• with an ACT score of 23 or higher
• with a verbal SAT of 530 or higher
• as a transfer student who has completed English 101 or equivalent

If you score high enough on the composition placement exam, you will receive 2 credits toward graduation. Instead of ENG 105, you will take ENG 205, in which you can earn another 2 credits, for a total of 4 credits. If your score on the placement exam is insufficient, you must take ENG 105.

If you receive a score of four on either the AP English Language and Composition Exam or the English Literature and Composition Exam, you will receive 2 credits toward graduation and take ENG 205. You cannot combine the 2 credits for each exam to complete the English foundation requirement. You must take ENG 205.

The Mathematics Foundations course helps students during their first year to develop the skills necessary for future mathematical reasoning within their major and in their future personal and professional lives. (3 Credits)

You may use any course with an MAT or STA prefix included in your chosen degree plan to fulfill the mathematics foundations requirement, EXCEPT the following courses:

• MAT 101X
• MAT 102X
• MAT 100
• MAT 108
• MAT 123
• MAT 150

If your major doesn’t require a specific mathematics course, we suggest you take MAT 114 to satisfy the mathematics foundation requirement. Consult with your adviser to determine the most appropriate mathematics course for your major.

In these courses, students study the human condition through the examination of works of art. These courses will help students understand how the human experience and values are expressed through creative endeavors.

Transferrable Skills: Critical thinking, written and oral communication, personal and social responsibility.

 Search for courses in the Aesthetic and Humanistic Inquiry Distribution Block

In these courses, students examine the organization and structure of societies within and outside of the United States. These courses help students understand the complexity and changing nature of human interactions among and between individual societies.

Transferrable Skills: Critical and independent thinking, written and oral communication, problem-solving and the ability to see things from different points of view.

Search for courses in the Social and Political Worlds Distribution Block

In these courses students develop an understanding of different cultures of the world through the study of subjects such as language, literature, and religion.

Transferrable Skills: Critical thinking, written and oral communication, personal and social responsibility.

Search for courses in the Cultural Understanding Distribution Block

In these courses, students study theories, concepts, and classifications essential to the physical, life, earth, and space sciences. In lab courses, students engage in the practice of observation, measurement, and experimentation, and learn to form, test and modify hypothesis. These courses help students understand the physical and biological world around them.

Transferrable Skills: Scientific inquiry, quantitative reasoning (thinking with numbers), problem-solving and critical thinking.

Search for courses in the Science and Applied Science Distribution Block

Critical Thinking: Critical thinking includes the skills – particularly as applied to one’s own work – of articulating the meaning of statement, judging the truth of a statement while keeping in mind possible biases, and determining whether a conclusion is warranted by the evidence provided

Effective writing: Effective writing conveys information or argues a point of view using organizational structures, supporting materials, and language appropriate for the topic, purpose, and audience.

Effective Oral Communication: Effective oral communication influences, informs, and/or connects with others by using organizational structures, supporting materials and delivery skills suitable to the topic, occasion and audience.

Scientific inquiry: Scientific inquiry includes the skills of formulating hypotheses on the basis of observations, obtaining and analyzing data to test (i.e., refute or confirm) hypotheses, and explaining phenomena by means of accepted principle, theories or laws.

Quantitative reasoning: The application of numerical, visual or symbolic reasoning for the purpose of drawing inferences, understanding phenomena or making predictions.

Creative or aesthetic thinking: Creative or Aesthetic Thinking includes the skills of (1) artistic expression characteristic of the works of the fine, performing and literary arts, (2) analyzing and interpreting works of the artistic expression in systematic detail, or (3) processes of generating and evaluating innovative approaches to problem solving regardless of discipline.

Junior Level Writing: This is a writing intensive course where students build on their English Foundations course and gain skills and techniques of written communication specific to their major field of study.

Senior Capstone: This is a culminating experience where students demonstrate the skills and knowledge gained through the General Studies Program and their major through signature projects and assignments.