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Division of Academic Affairs

General Education (GE)

Developed by both faculty and students, the university's General Education Program is an introduction to the breadth and depth of the dynamics of human experience. It provides students with a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences and prepares them for specialized study in a particular discipline or program.

The overall objective of General Education is to create a context wherein basic skills are developed and strengthened, scholarship and disciplined thinking emerge, awareness and reflection occur, and ultimately - the integration of knowledge begins.

For detailed information for students, please visit our Information for Students page. If you are faculty, you can visit the Resources for Faculty page.

General Education Learning Outcomes

The following Learning Outcomes are in alignment with the California State University System Executive Order on GE:

Upon completion of an Area A1 (Oral Communication) course, students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate effective communication by analyzing, creating, and presenting extemporaneous informative and persuasive messages with clear lines of reasoning, development of ideas and documentation of external sources.
  2. Analyze the impact of culture and situational contexts on the creation and management of the communication choices used to inform and persuade audiences.
  3. Create and criticize public arguments and reasoning, decision making processes and rhetorical messages through oral and written reports.

Upon completion of an Area A2 (Written Communication) course, students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate appropriate language use, clarity, proficiency in writing, and citation mechanics.
  2. Demonstrate effective academic reading strategies and processes, as well as critical evaluation of written work.
  3. Demonstrate effective academic summary, rhetorical awareness and perception, and analysis and synthesis of information.

Upon completion of an Area A3 (Critical Thinking) course, students will be able to:

  1. Recognize, analyze, evaluate and construct arguments in ordinary language.
  2. Distinguish between inductive and deductive reasoning.
  3. Identify common fallacies of reasoning.
  4. Analyze and evaluate the various types of evidence for various types of claims.

Upon completion of an Area B1 (Physical Sciences) course, students will be able to:

  1. Recognize and explain scientific theories, concepts, and data about non-living systems.
  2. Use data and observations from a specific scientific field to elucidate scientific hypotheses and theories.
  3. Discuss the tentative nature of scientific knowledge, and how scientific uncertainty is reflected in the value systems and ethics associated with human inquiry and public policy.

Upon completion of an Area B2 (Life Sciences) course, students will be able to:

  1. Recognize and explain scientific theories, concepts, and data about living systems.
  2. Recognize scientific principles and apply the scientific method.
  3. Discuss the distinctive strengths and scope of scientific endeavors and the ethics associated with intellectual inquiry.

Upon completion of an Area B4 (Quantitative Reasoning) course, students will be able to:

  1. Represent and explain mathematical information beyond the level of intermediate algebra symbolically, graphically, numerically and verbally.
  2. Apply mathematical models of real-world situations and explain the assumptions and limitations of those models.
  3. Use mathematical models to find optimal results, make predictions, draw conclusions, and check whether the results are reasonable.

Upon completion of an Area C1 (Arts) course, students will be able to:

  1. Respond orally and in writing to aesthetic experiences, both subjectively and objectively, validating the integrity of both emotional and intellectual responses.
  2. Recognize and explain the relationship between the self and the arts in a given cultural context.
  3. Recognize, describe, and interpret works of art and performance; students may engage in skill development and/or participate in artistic creation.

Upon completion of an Area C2 (Humanities) course, students will be able to do one of the following:

  1. Objectively review and explain important philosophical, historical or linguistic findings and developments. OR Recognize, describe, and interpret works of the human imagination or intellect in their cultural context, either subjectively or objectively. OR Demonstrate basic competence with a language (not English) and interpret texts or speech produced in that language from a relevant cultural perspective.

Upon completion of an Area D1 course (American History), a student will be able to:

  1. Trace the historical development of American documents, institutions, and ideals, including the Constitution of the United States and the operation of representative democratic government.
  2. Describe the origins of American social, political, cultural, and economic institutions and how they have changed over time.
  3. Analyze and synthesize historical sources, including primary and secondary documents, and place them in their historical context.

Upon completion of an Area D2 course (Social Science), a student will be able to:

  1. Discuss issues in the social sciences in their contemporary as well as historical settings and in a variety of cultural contexts.
  2. Explain the principles, methodologies, value systems, and ethics employed in social scientific inquiry.
  3. Discuss the influence of major social, cultural, economic, and political forces on human behavior and institutions.

Upon completion of an Area E course (lifelong learning and self-development); a student will be able to:

  1. Explain how, during the course of a lifetime, humans are physiologically, socially, and psychologically integrated.
  2. Explain, model, or practice activities, skills, and behavior that promote lifelong learning and development.

Upon completion of an Area F course (Ethnic Studies); a student will be able to:

  1. Analyze and articulate concepts such as race and racism, racialization, ethnicity, equity, ethno-centrism, white supremacy, self-determination, liberation, decolonization, sovereignty, imperialism, settler colonialism, and anti-racism as analyzed in any one or more of the following: Native American Studies, African American Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latina and Latino American Studies
  2. Apply theory and knowledge produced by Native American, African American, Asian American, and/or Latina and Latino American communities to describe the critical events, histories, cultures, intellectual traditions, contributions, lived-experiences and social struggles of those groups with a particular emphasis on agency and group-affirmation.
  3. Critically analyze the intersection of race and racism as they relate to class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, and/or age in Native American, African American, Asian American, and/or Latina and Latino American communities.
  4. Critically review how struggle, resistance, racial and social justice, solidarity, and liberation, as experienced and enacted by Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and/or Latina and Latino Americans are relevant to current and structural issues such as communal, national, international, and transnational politics as, for example, in immigration, reparations, settler-colonialism, multiculturalism, language policies.
  5. Describe and actively engage with anti-racist and anti-colonial issues and the practices and movements in Native American, African American, Asian American, and/or Latina and Latino communities and a just and equitable society.

Upon completion of a course in Area IB (Integration - Physical Universe and Its Life Forms), a student will be able to:

  1. Describe the inextricable connections among the physical universe, the life forms which inhabit it, and the mathematical models used to describe it.
  2. From the perspective of a particular scientific discipline, explain the ways in which science shapes our lives.
  3. From the perspective of a particular scientific discipline, assess scientific issues including the value systems and ethics associated with them.

Upon completion of a course in Area IC (Integration - Arts and Humanities), a student will be able to:

  1. Recognize and explain, subjectively or objectively, the content and interpretation of creative works of culture (artistic, literary, and intellectual).
  2. Explain relationships among the humanities, arts, and the self.

Upon completion of a course in Area ID, a student will be able to:

  1. Describe the inextricable connections among human social, political, cultural and economic institutions and behavior and employ the diverse methodologies used to examine them.
  2. Discuss social science issues, human institutions and their interconnections from both a contemporary and historical perspective.

For more detailed information of General Education and Learning Outcomes, please refer to APM 215 in the Academic Policy Manual. For any other questions please contact the Office of Undergraduate Studies.