|
|
PHILOSOPHICAL STATEMENT
A liberal arts education liberates individuals from the particularity of their pre-college lives and provides entry into larger communities, both intellectual and social. At the same time, a liberal arts education liberates students to find their way in a complex, interconnected world both as individuals and as members of various communities. In the end, a liberal arts education offers what life post-college in a global world demands: the capacity to negotiate the tension between personal freedom and social responsibility.
Thus, a liberal arts education liberates and empowers. Whereas a student's major empowers him/her to master a specific discipline and excel within the context of a particular field, the role of General Education in a liberal arts education is to liberate and empower the student as a citizen and inquirer in the broader world. The UMF General Education curriculum has four components:
1. First-year courses: In order to make a successful academic transition to college, and as a foundation for their intellectual life here at UMF, all students must take a First-Year Seminar (FYS 100) and First-year Writing Seminar (ENG 100), one in the first semester and the other in the second. Together these two courses provide a year-long program focusing on the intellectual and academic practices essential for success in college via inquiry into topics of contemporary interest (often interdisciplinary).
2. Health Activity: As a foundation for their physical life here at UMF, every student will participate in a physical activity at the Fitness and Recreation Center during one of their first two semesters.
3. Distribution courses: In addition to the depth of knowledge they acquire in their major, every UMF student will develop a breadth of knowledge in the various disciplines of the arts, humanities, mathematics, natural science, and social science. These courses may be taken any time before graduation.
4. Intellectual Abilities: Every UMF student will acquire competencies in the areas of writing, research, technology, and public presentation. Since the form of these skills is different in different majors, their acquisition is woven into the learning plans for each academic program.
Course Requirements:
First Year: Both of the following, in consecutive semesters:
FYS 100 First-Year Seminar (4 cr)* ENG 100 First-year Writing Seminar (4 cr)
In addition, all students must sign up for and participate in a physical activity (PHE 010, 0 cr) at the Health and Recreation Center.
*Transfers entering with 16 or more credits are exempt from the First-Year Seminar requirement (FYS 100). Transfers matriculating in January with 8 or more credits, but still needing ENG 100, should take ENG 100 in the first semester; they are then exempt from the First-Year Seminar requirement (FYS 100).
Distribution Courses: Seven courses, appropriate for non-majors and generally not carrying a prerequisite, found in the course catalogue with a distribution designation following the course number: A for Arts, H for Humanities, M for Math, N for Natural Science, S for Social Science. (Distribution requirements fulfilled by Honors courses are announced when the courses are offered.)
|
Arts: One course (art, art history, dance, music history,
theatre) |
(4cr) |
|
Humanities: One course (English literature, foreign language,
philosophy, religion) |
(4cr) |
| Math: One course |
(4cr) |
|
Natural Sciences: Two laboratory science courses in two
different disciplines: (biology, chemistry,
environmental science, geology, physics) |
(8cr) |
|
Social Sciences: Two courses in two different disciplines:
(anthropology, economics, geography,
history, political science, psychology,
sociology, women's and gender studies) |
(8cr) |
Open Course: In addition to the above, students must take 4 more credits outside their major in either Health or in any Arts and Sciences discipline in order to reach a total of 40 credits. These credits may be from courses which do not have a capital letter distribution following the course number.
Foreign Language Requirement:
Students enrolled in Bachelor of Arts programs must have passed either two years of one foreign language in high school or two semesters of one foreign language at the college level. In addition, specific majors may have more stringent requirements; see the program description in the catalogue.
Can a course count for both General Education and the Major?
Courses in the primary discipline of a major may not be used to fulfill general education requirements. Some required courses for a major may be outside of the primary discipline and these courses may be used to fulfill general education requirement. There are also exceptions for ENG 100 and mathematics. If you have any questions your academic advisor will be able to assist you.
Transfer Course Evaluation:
For transfers, transcript analysis done at the time of matriculation at UMF will determine which of the Distribution requirements have already been met. Transfers might need to do more "Open" General Education coursework in order to reach the 40 credit minimum (e.g. to offset their exemption from FYS 100 and/or their transferring in distribution courses that were worth 3 credits at their former institutions). |
|
