Current General Education Competencies
Communicate clearly in a variety of modes and media
Acquire communication and rhetorical literacy in order to speak and write effectively, express one’s knowledge, read critically, analyze rhetorically, and synthesize information, skills necessary to furthering one’s own educational and occupational goals. Understand, evaluate, and discuss rhetoric, argument, and persuasion in a variety of contexts. Critically examine evidence, interpret and integrate information, identify solutions and potential outcomes, and apply rhetorical and communication literacies to the real world.
Research and examine academic and non-academic information, resources, and evidence
Understand how scholars across all academic disciplines investigate and speak to the human condition. Conduct in-depth, reflective, and ethical research about the dynamics of the human condition and the physical world in order to acquire information literacy, refine critical thinking and analytical skills, and sharpen intellectual focus. Effectively locate, interpret, manage and use information and evidence from academic and non-academic sources in order to create original projects that engender meaningful learning in the classroom and beyond.
Evaluate and utilize mathematical principles, technology, scientific and quantitative data
Understand and apply the scientific method, as well as quantitative and qualitative research methods, to a variety of questions and concepts, not limited only to those dealing with scientific understanding. Modify, test, and reevaluate previously held mathematical or scientific theories and beliefs based on new information, as well as engage in the continuous search for truth. Examine how mathematical, scientific, and technological reasoning are integral to communication and provide foundations for further inquiry. Acquire literacy in scientific and quantitative reasoning in order to evaluate new and old ideas and better understand the natural world, our role in it, and our potential for transformation.
Analyze and create individual and collaborative works of art, literature, and performance
Acquire cultural literacy and foster creative thinking by examining the visual, artistic, literary, and inventive endeavors of humankind. Understand histories of creative thought, nurture personal creativity, and strengthen human relationships. Engage with the material culture, creative productions, and humanistic traditions of diverse cultures to examine human values and life across the world. Understand how human innovations in the arts, sciences, and humanities have changed the world and produced the societies in which we all live, as well as how diverse communities and societies interact in order to produce new forms of knowledge and culture.
Think critically about questions to yield meaning and value
Apply intellectual standards and critical thinking to confront issues central to the human experience. Evaluate, read widely in, and analyze the thinking of others through a variety of fiction and nonfiction genres across disciplines. Evaluate and consider new technologies and their effects on human life and the world. Improvise and seek out new ideas and solutions to complex problems in order to improve one’s own thinking and foster maturity of judgment. Employ ethical decision-making and develop sound arguments using critical thinking.
Investigate and engage in the transdisciplinary applications of research, learning, and knowledge
Discover and apply new ideas when required to break with traditional systems of thought. Foster systemic problem-solving habits that require thinking in terms of patterns, relationships, and context. Empathize and engage with others from diverse backgrounds in order to develop, understand, evaluate and assess information and generate solutions to important local, national, and global problems. Collaboratively work with others to creatively transfer knowledge and learning to a variety of new contexts. Learn different approaches to intellectual inquiry, test theories for issues that confront our communities, and imagine solutions to complex problems in the academy, the workplace, and the world.
Visualize and engage the world from different historical, social, religious, and cultural approaches
Understand how history, culture, and society shape and inform the human condition in the successful pursuit of academic and occupational goals. Understand how diverse cultures have interacted with, and continue to connect with, each other on a global scale. Engage in the comparative study of the values and traditions of diverse cultures. Understand and navigate the conventions, knowledge formations, practices, and discursive norms of society, culture, and the academy in order to improve and analyze one’s own thinking, value diversity, and cultivate an open-minded approach to new ideas and social issues.
Engage meanings of active citizenship in one’s community, nation, and the world
Develop an understanding of the individual’s relationship to their communities and the world, including the need for personal physical and mental well-being, in order to foster a sense of social responsibility. Read and consider historical and political texts and analyze different political points of view in order to develop effective political and civic decision-making and consider policy solutions to complex civic and political problems. Encourage active participation in the processes of local, national, and global citizenship and government. Acquire political and civic literacy through a deeper understanding of national and global politics, as well as the obligations of the individual to society, their communities, and the world.