GENERAL EDUCATION is a program of study which introduces students to a broad, liberal course of instruction in the major areas of knowledge (the arts and sciences). Its aim is to cultivate the intellect by educating students to reason logically, to think critically, to express themselves clearly, and to foster an understanding of the human condition and the role of value judgements in the human experience. As an integrated educational experience, the GENERAL EDUCATION program helps to provide the foundation for further intellectual growth. In addition to giving a sense of the various academic disciplines, and their interrelationships, GENERAL EDUCATION serves as the common element for all degree programs leading to the baccalaureate.
 

GENERAL EDUCATION is an integral component of the undergraduate experience, generally constituting one-third to one-half of the course work of the baccalaureate program. It is not intended to address all dimensions of the college experience.

GENERAL EDUCATION is the liberal arts foundation for learning at the undergraduate level. It prepares students for other educational experiences at the university by providing the opportunity to obtain a common knowledge and a reasonable facility to do advanced work. To fulfill its function(s) the program must be concise, orderly and rational in its requirements. Its various parts must be interrelated and they must demonstrate that interrelatedness through its structure. GENERAL EDUCATION must be practical in its demands to assure that students can complete other facets of the university experience in a reasonable time period. And, most importantly, GENERAL EDUCATION must be "useful," imparting to the student the skills necessary to do work at the university level. GENERAL EDUCATION must, in a larger sense, assure that students are prepared to address and solve problems beyond the university environment.

Traditionally, programs in GENERAL EDUCATION are centered in the Liberal Arts (Humanities, Fine Arts, Natural and Social Sciences). This core is to guarantee that students have a base of knowledge from which to address a multiplicity of concerns beyond specific disciplines. The body of knowledge is general only in the sense that it draws from interrelated fields with a shared heritage. Certain areas of inquiry and branches of knowledge are more appropriate to the specific, limited aims of the program than others. Customarily, technical, professional, or career oriented courses are not applied toward the GENERAL EDUCATION component of the baccalaureate, but fit elsewhere in the curriculum. Nevertheless, departments not traditionally considered in the mainstream of liberal arts may submit courses for consideration in GENERAL EDUCATION. These courses must comply with the established criteria.
 

The realization of these broad objectives demands that the GENERAL EDUCATION program not be perceived as a random sampling of liberal arts courses, unstructured in focus and in sequence. Rather, the program should exhibit an identifiable organization and a coherence of course orientation and development. The interrelatedness of the areas of knowledge should be discernible to the students throughout the program, with the academic disciplines represented as interpretations of and contributions to knowledge rather than as self serving entities. Indeed, the program should accommodate the design and implementation of course offerings outside the traditional departmental units of the disciplines constituting the arts and sciences. GENERAL EDUCATION should be pursued aggressively during the initial stages of the baccalaureate, thus exemplifying its utilitarianism.

In this general context, more specific characteristics of the program are hereby identified.
 

1. Students should be conversant with our common liberal arts heritage; with great ideas, events, and persons that have shaped human history; with human institutions, their roles, and their responsibilities; and with concepts of beauty, truth, and good.
2. Although many of the values of a liberal arts education are intangible, they are necessary nevertheless for a complete education. The Liberal Arts core of a "general education" program, then, should prepare students to live, not simply to make a living. While a narrowly focused or highly technical program may provide for success in the market place and make competent technicians, the GENERAL EDUCATION core provides broad competence which helps produce complete, mature, responsible leaders and citizens of the world; that is, the program is "practical" in that it helps students prepare for the wide variety of problems with which they must contend in a complex world. Its value resists obsolescence.
3. The program should reflect the reality of a culturally pluralistic and interdependent world. The common survival of humanity in a world of finite resources demands an unprecedented level of understanding and tolerance among the peoples who inhabit the earth. Our students must be made aware of the global perspectives which can enhance this understanding.
4. In a society compelled to emphasize technical specialization, the need for courses in the liberal arts becomes ever more important to assure the development of an educated person who can communicate, reason, and solve problems intelligently. Thus, the University proceeds from the idea that a meaningful GENERAL EDUCATION program involves several fundamental principles applicable to all students. The program should guarantee:

 
1. That the students possess the fundamental competencies required to pursue and complete the baccalaureate program successfully.  These competencies include:

1. Mathematical reasoning
2. Critical reasoning
3. Information literacy
4. Oral and written communication
5. Technology literacy;

2. That the progression to the bachelor's degree be an orderly sequence;
3. That there be a significant exposure to the liberal arts;
4. That the liberal arts core be protected from erosion on either side, such as the granting of credit in the liberal arts core for pre-college level work or for work in the student's field of specialization;
5. That the number of 100 level courses students may take for GENERAL EDUCATION be limited; and
6. That some specified courses at the 200 level or above which count for GENERAL EDUCATION credit contain a significant writing component.  Writing is central to the academic process; therefore, the GENERAL EDUCATION curriculum should provide opportunity for students to develop the skill of writing throughout their academic careers, both horizontally (across the curriculum) and vertically (at all levels of study). Designated courses counting for GENERAL EDUCATION will develop these skills:
1. Through written assignments which require students to gather information and to select, organize, and synthesize information around a formulated thesis; and
2. Through written examinations which require students to demonstrate the ability to select, organize, and synthesize information around a stated thesis.
 
 

A further guide to the determination of program structure and content is the set of objectives that a program in GENERAL EDUCATION would attempt to achieve. These are both philosophical and practical and indicate the need for breadth in approach to the program. An underlying objective is that students have course work and other experiences in which they learn how to learn. Specifically, the objectives are:
 

1. Fundamental Skills


Objective 1. Mathematical Reasoning.
Students completing 60 credits at MU will be able to:

a) formulate problems from the real world in the symbolic language of mathematics;
b) select and perform mathematical procedures appropriate for solving such problems;
c) explain mathematical concepts and procedures appropriate for further learning.


Objective 2. Critical Reasoning.
Students completing 60 credits at MU will be able to:

a) recognize, analyze, and appreciate arguments supporting theories and perspectives other than one’s own;
b) provide reasoned support for their own beliefs;
c) compare and evaluate competing arguments.


Objective 3. Inquiry/Information Literacy.
Students completing 60 credits at MU will be able to:

a) generate research questions/pose problems;
b) recognize when they have a need for information;
c) find reliable sources;
d) evaluate information found and select relevant information;
e) make effective use of information, including being able to integrate what they have learned into a final product.


Objective 4. Communication using a Variety of Speaking and Writing Processes.
Students completing 60 credits at MU will be able to:

a) generate, express, and revise ideas;
b) take into account others’ critiques of their ideas;
c) present ideas formally in both spoken and written form;
d) reflect on their ability to work through these processes.


Objective 5. Communicating within Different Contexts.
Students completing 60 credits at MU will be able to:

a) use speaking and writing for a variety of purposes;
b) target different audiences according to those purposes;
c) select appropriate strategies for both writing and speaking for those audiences and purposes;
d) demonstrate awareness of their decisions.


Objective 6. Communications Technology Literacy.
Students completing 60 credits at MU will be able to:

a) make use of appropriate communications technology;
b) explain the way new technologies alter the process of inquiry and communication.
 
2. Discipline-based Skills and Knowledge


Objective 7. Humanities and Fine Arts.
At completion of their general education requirements, MU students will be able to identify and discuss (in a way that demonstrates broad-based knowledge within one or more disciplines) at least two different individuals/movements from a list of historical and contemporary artists, philosophers, musicians, playwrights, or writers, including Western and non-Western examples.

Objective 8. Humanities and Fine Arts.
At completion of their general education requirements, MU students will be able to discuss and apply critical and creative methods of the arts and humanities, including the ability to create works of art and/or literature and respond to their aesthetic attributes by analyzing, critiquing, and defending their reasoned opinions concerning works of theater, literature, art, philosophy or music (American or international, contemporary or historical) and create and/or aesthetically appreciate works of art and/or literature.

Objective 9. Science and Math.
At completion of their general education requirements, MU students will be able to articulate connections between mathematical and scientific principles, technologies, and events affecting our everyday lives.

Objective 10. Science and Math.
At completion of their general education requirements, MU students will be able to explain how we know and why we believe key concepts in the natural sciences, and be able to use:

a) scientific reasoning;
b) laboratory methods;
c) mathematics to solve scientific problems; and
d) appropriate technology


Objective 11. Social Sciences.
At completion of their general education requirements, MU students will be able to articulate the relationships among people, culture, environment, institutions, and systems across history and geography.

Objective 12. Social Sciences.
At completion of their general education requirements, MU students will be able to explain and be able to use some of the methods of inquiry of the social sciences, including quantitative and qualitative methods, to:

a) study human behavior and social institutions;
b) communicate the results using appropriate language; and
c) ascertain and evaluate the results obtained by others.
 
3. Connections


Objective 13. Coherence.
At completion of degree requirements, MU students will be able to see and discuss connections among courses in various disciplines and between their course work and “real life.” In addition, they will be able to use what they have learned to make decisions and solve problems.

Objective 14. Diversity.
At completion of degree requirements, MU students will be able to demonstrate knowledge, attitudes, and skills essential for communicating with, working with, and making decisions with people of diverse backgrounds.

Objective 15. Historical Consciousness.
At completion of degree requirements, MU students will be able to explain how the development and expression of institutions and beliefs interact with historical circumstances.

Objective 16. Personal, Ethical, and Civic Values and Decision-making.
At completion of degree requirements, MU students will be able to:

a) articulate and rationally support personal, moral, and civic values;
b) understand and treat with respect the perspectives of others;
c) use this knowledge of self and others to resolve conflicts and make responsible decisions; and
d) manifest a commitment to core values such as wellness, honesty, and civic responsibility.
 
 

The criteria for evaluating courses to be counted as GENERAL EDUCATION Liberal Arts core courses are:

1. The course must demonstrate how one or more of the GENERAL EDUCATION objectives stated above are satisfied.
2. In each course the major concepts and principles that epitomize the liberal arts discipline must be the primary focus.
3. The process of inquiry and analysis commonly employed in the discipline must be emphasized and applied.
4. Some Liberal Arts core courses must contain a significant writing component.
5. The course must not be primarily a technical, professional or career oriented course.
6. Courses at the 200-level or above may count for GENERAL EDUCATION whether or not they have prerequisites.
7. A GENERAL EDUCATION course from a given department may require a maximum of two prerequisites from that same department.

 

1. Each department should complete an evaluation of each course it desires to be reviewed for GENERAL EDUCATION credit.
2. Each department shall complete the appropriate General Education Application form (available from the Faculty Senate website) that addresses all criteria for each course. Any course approved to satisfy the Perspectives component must carry a Perspectives label and number, but also must have one or more departmental labels and numbers.
3. All new courses to be considered for Liberal Arts Core and Perspectives credit must also be submitted to the School Curriculum Committees and the Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee for approval before being referred to the Faculty Senate.
4. All existing courses within each department that have been recommended for GENERAL EDUCATION credit by the School Curriculum Committees and the Undergraduate Program and Review Committee will be submitted to the Senate for consideration.
5. Should a proposal be twice disapproved by the same committee or council (other than departmental) the initiating department(s) shall have the right to appeal directly to Faculty Senate.
6. Topics Courses in General Education

In the interest of spontaneity and academic freedom, topics courses continue to have a short approval process as they presently do (School Curriculum Committee and Dean). Any department wishing to have its topics course count in a core will need to obtain the standard core course approvals.
 

1. Liberal Arts Core (36 Credit Hours)
Humanities and Fine Arts:   Four course minimum totaling at least 12 credit hours.
Science and Mathematics:  Four course minimum totaling at least 12 credit hours.
Includes one Mathematics course (except for Mathematics Majors)
2 courses must be taken from Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, or Physics.
1 course must be a Laboratory course.
Social Sciences:  Four course minimum totaling at least 12 credit hours.
2. Fundamentals (6 Credit Hours)
English Composition, ENGL 110:  3 Credit Hours (This requirement shall be completed prior to the Junior Year)
Fundamentals of Speech,  COMM 100: 3 Credit Hours (This requirement shall be completed prior to graduation.
3. Perspectives (P) Course (3 Credit Hours)

 
4. General Education Elective or Additional Perspectives Course (3 Credit Hours) – Not required for students beginning in or after Summer 2003

 
5. Upper Level Writing Requirement (3 Credit Hours)
Must be chosen from ENGL 311, ENGL 312, ENGL 313 or ENGL 316.
6. Health/Physical Education Requirement (3 Credit Hours)
Wellness: Concepts of Health and Fitness, WELL 175: 3 Credit Hours
(or WELL 352, Health Education in Elementary Schools, for ElEd majors)
OVERALL Total ---------------54 Credit Hours (51 Credit Hours for students beginning in or after Summer 2003)
 
7. Further stipulations In the Liberal Arts Core:
1. At least 3 of the 12 Liberal Arts Core courses must be at the 200 level or above.
2. To achieve greater than a single-course understanding in some disciplines, in each Liberal Arts Core Area, students must complete satisfactorily two courses in a single department.
3. At least four "W" courses must be taken anywhere in the curriculum before graduation. "W" courses may be counted in the Liberal Arts Core, in the major (if required there), or as free electives. The English 110 competency must be satisfied prior to enrollment in "W" courses. Approved courses that may be used to satisfy the writing component shall be designated with a "W" label.
4. No more than two courses may be credited in a single department. For the purpose of course counting, courses with divisional designations are considered as a separate department but may not be used to fulfill the "two course in one department" rule.
5. Courses taught by the major department cannot be credited in the GENERAL EDUCATION Liberal Arts Core.
6. Up to 6 courses of departmentally required related courses may be credited in the Liberal Arts Core.

 

 

1. Composition Sequence

All students must successfully complete English 110, or its equivalent (see listing below), preferably during their freshman year. The equivalent includes:

1. Achieving a combined score of 1100 in the verbal portion of the S.A.T. and the CEEB English Composition Achievement Test.
2. Achieving a score of 3 or higher in the Advanced Placement (AP) test in English Composition.
3. Achieving a satisfactory score in the CLEP general examination in English composition.
4. Passing the English Composition Competency Examination administered by the English Department at the beginning of each fall and spring semester.

Students who successfully complete one of the above, demonstrating that they are ready for advanced composition, will take one of the courses described below. Individual departments with programs which offer a significant advanced writing course, such as senior thesis or advanced foreign language composition, may petition through the appropriate academic channels to have such a course accepted as an alternate to the upper division writing course in English.

Advanced Composition Courses

English 311: Advanced Composition

English 312: Technical Writing

English 313: Journalism

English 316: Business Writing

2. Significant Writing Component Guidelines "W"


Rationale:

The writing component of general education is designed to ensure that undergraduate students have the opportunity to develop competence and confidence in their writing skills.

Description:

Faculty teaching 'W' courses are encouraged to devise and use strategies, singly or in combination, which will assure that these courses contain a significant and distinguishable writing component. Examples of such strategies include the following:

• traditional term papers, particularly when revised through drafts, peer review, or other activities designed to encourage the development of written communication
• short papers designed to lead to a larger writing project
• literature reviews, book reports, precises of newspaper articles--especially when these are actively discussed and shared with others in the class
• revised prose as determined by the instructor
• portfolios that encourage the student, peers, and instructor to focus on the development of an aggregate body of work
• shared interactive writing such as Internet discussion groups
• group writing projects such as web pages or writing which contains a public service component.

 
The above are examples only and are not meant to limit an instructor's ability to construct other strategies designed to lead students to more fully appreciate the writing process, a process which includes writing, rewriting, editing, and revision. Courses with a 'W' designation must continue to demonstrate the importance of writing in both individual learning and group communication.
3. Perspectives


Perspectives is an advanced studies component of GENERAL EDUCATION. A major function of these courses is to apply analytical and critical thinking abilities in resolving major social, cultural, scientific/technological, and/or aesthetic problems. They are interdisciplinary and/or multi-cultural in content and require a high level of educational maturity, knowledge, and thinking.

Perspectives courses nurture and extend the basic communications skills developed in the Fundamentals component. These courses integrate the knowledge acquired throughout the baccalaureate experience, and demonstrate how different areas of knowledge in the Liberal Arts core relate and might be used in complementary ways. At the same time, Perspectives courses encourage undergraduate students to make independent and responsible value judgements and decisions.
Each student must:

1. Satisfactorily complete one 3 s.h. Perspectives course from a list of approved Perspectives courses so identified.
2. Have satisfied the English Composition competency requirement and at least 24 semester hours of the Liberal Arts Core before enrolling in Perspectives courses. The expectation is that the student will be at least at the junior level.

Students who complete an academic fall or spring semester abroad as part of a baccalaureate degree will be considered to have fulfilled the Perspectives requirement; International students studying at Millersville will also be considered to have fulfilled the Perspectives requirement. Although this Waiver does not carry credits, the students will only be required to take 51 credits of other general education courses (or 48 credits for those beginning their Gen Ed program in or after Summer 2003).

Perspectives Course Criteria

Each Perspectives course:

1. Must be 3 s.h. at the 300 level or above.
2. Must have meaningful writing and oral communication components but may not carry a "W" label.
3. Must be interdisciplinary and/or multicultural in content.
4. Requires the students to identify, critically analyze, and resolve complex problems (social, cultural, scientific/technological, and/or aesthetic) that require the application of knowledge from two or more academic disciplines and/or cultures.
5. May not have a narrow technical, professional, or career orientation.
6. Must enable quality interaction.
7. As indicated above, all perspectives courses must demonstrate that they are either interdisciplinary or multi-cultural in content.
8. If a course is proposed as interdisciplinary, the course proposal must demonstrate that the course integrates knowledge from two or more different academic disciplines.
9. If a course is proposed as multi-cultural, the course proposal must demonstrate that a major objective of the course is to provide students with an understanding of two or more different cultures.
10. Any member of the faculty may submit for approval courses that may be counted on the Perspectives list. Course proposals shall be submitted through the respective school curriculum committees, the Undergraduate Course and Program Review Committee, and the Faculty Senate.
11. Perspectives courses may be proposed in any one of the following ways:

1. As a course from a single department. In that case it is strongly recommended that departments proposing courses with interdisciplinary components consult with other appropriate departments. The course proposal should indicate if such consultation took place.

NOTE: Individuals offering Perspectives courses with interdisciplinary components should be able to demonstrate expertise in the discipline outside their major area of study. Expertise can be shown in various ways: for example, through professional development activities completed during sabbatical leave or released time; through scholarly research and publication; or through previously demonstrated self-study.

2. As a cross-listed course that is listed under two different departments. Proposals for such courses must be co-sponsored by both of the listing departments. Students may take such courses under either designation.

NOTE: If a student in department A takes a course that is listed under departments A and B, that student may register for the course either in department A or in department B. If the student takes the course in department A, it will count as a course in the major. If the student takes the course in department B, it will not count as a course in the major, but will qualify as the required perspectives course taken outside of the student's major department.

3. As a course with a division designation. Perspectives courses may be offered as science, humanities, social science, or education courses in accordance with existing senate policy. Such courses must be sponsored by the appropriate school or division curriculum committee.

NOTE: Such courses will count as the perspectives course taken outside of the student's major department.

4. As two courses taught in tandem. Two separate courses in related disciplines may be taught by two faculty members in the same semester. Each course should emphasize one or more themes common to both courses. Students must register for both courses.

NOTE: For example, a student would take a course in the History of WWII with instructor A and a course in the Literature of WWII with instructor B. This would fulfill the interdisciplinary requirement for the student. Examinations, papers, and other assignments would be coordinated between the instructors. The following are examples of how course requirements might be coordinated. Instructors could structure each course using many references to the content of the other course. Examinations could include some reference to the relation of course A to the issues of course B. Joint papers could be assigned and evaluated by both instructors. A common final exam could be administered. Emphasis should be given to the common theme(s) in both courses, such as the relationship/effect of issues in course A to those in course B.

12. In situations where perspectives courses are designed, proposed, and approved as team-taught courses these courses should continue in the future to be handled by two faculty from the two different disciplines unless a single faculty member is specifically approved by two departments.
13. No Perspectives course may have more than two prerequisites from a single department.
14. No Perspectives course may be counted in the Liberal Arts Core.
15. Additionally, no Perspectives course may be required by the major and also count as a GENERAL EDUCATION Perspectives course.
16. Perspectives courses must be designed so as to be accessible to non-majors as well as majors. Appropriately prepared students from outside the major must be capable of benefiting from the course on an equal basis with students from within the major.