The General Education curriculum contributes to the fulfillment of UMF's mission by providing a solid foundation of knowledge, skills, and habits of intellectual inquiry for all graduates. The program 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 English Composition (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, as well as in a variety of comparative cultural perspectives. 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 Requirments:
First Year: Both of the following, in consecutive semesters:
FYS 100 First-Year Seminar (4 cr)* ENG 100 English Composition (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. Transfers matriculating with 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.
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, music history, theatre)
|
(4 cr) |
Humanities: One course (English literature, foreign language, philosophy, religion)
|
(4 cr) |
|
Math: One course
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(4 cr) |
| Natural Sciences: Two courses in two different disciplines
(biology, chemistry, environmental science, geology, physics)
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(8 cr) |
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Social Sciences: Two courses in two different disciplines (anthropology, economics,
geography, history, political science, psychology, sociology,
women's and gender studies) |
(8 cr) |
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.
Comparative Cultural Perspectives: All students need 2 units, which may be earned via the following courses/experiences:
a) Participation in international exchange (2 units);
b) Participation in national exchange outside New England (1 unit);
c) Any travel course with a faculty member visiting an area with a significantly different culture from that of New England (1 unit); or
d) Courses found in many different disciplines having a CCP designation following the course description in the catalog (1 unit per course).
Special topics courses, as well as independent or directed study courses, may also count for this requirement when appropriate. Courses that fulfill
the Comparative Cultural Perspectives requirement may also fulfill some other distribution requirement at the same time.
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 and Comparative Cultural Perspectives 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).
