Undergraduate General Education Program
Overview of the General Education Program
Essential Skills
- Written and Oral Communication: 6 credits
Includes a required First Year Writing course (WRT 105 or WRT 110): 3 credits
- World Languages: 0-6 credits
- Thriving in College: 2-3 credits
Ways of Understanding
- Arts and Humanities: 9 credits, no more than 6 in any one discipline
Includes a required Literature course: 3 credits
- Social and Behavioral Sciences: 12 credits, no more than 6 in any one discipline
Includes a required History course: 3 credits
- Mathematics and Natural Sciences: 9-10 credits
Includes a required Mathematics or Statistics course numbered 102 or higher: 3 credits
Includes a required Lab Science course: 3-4credits
General Education Elective: 3 credits (may include 3 credits of World Languages)
Total Credits: 41-46
Additional Requirements (can be fulfilled with courses in the major, minor, or other General Education categories):
- International (6 credits)
- Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (3 credits)
- Writing in the Disciplines (3 credits)
Why is there a General Education program?
A General Education Program is the cornerstone of the liberal arts education that a regional comprehensive university like Central offers its students. While the major is narrowly focused on preparing students for the anticipated needs of their projected career, General Education—as its name suggests—provides a broad preparation in the skills and knowledge that empower students to understand the world and appreciate its variety, adapt to change, effectively communicate one’s thoughts and ideas, and function as active and engaged citizens.
What is included in the General Education program?
Central’s General Education Program is made up of two interrelated parts: Essential Skills and Ways of Understanding.
Essential Skills provide students with the skills they will need to succeed in college and in the world beyond it.
- Written and Oral Communication (6 credits): students take First Year Composition and one other course of their choice in order to learn to communicate clearly and persuasively in a variety of circumstances.
- World Language (0-6 credits): students demonstrate basic knowledge of a language other than English, either through prior coursework, testing, or taking up to two courses at Central, in order to enhance their knowledge of how language works and to prepare them to live and thrive in a multicultural world. Up to 3 credits of World Language coursework may be used to fulfill the General Education elective requirement.
- Thriving in College (2-3 credits): this is Central’s First Year Experience course. Students take a course that will familiarize them with the academic options and other resources offered by Central, teach them the academic habits, skills, and techniques needed to succeed in college and beyond, and introduce them to the tools for personal growth that will serve them for a lifetime. Transfer students who enter with 24 or more credits taken at an accredited institution may fulfill this requirement with a course from any of the General Education categories.
Ways of Understanding introduce students to some of the most important and powerful ways in which we understand our world. They are academic disciplines, but also lenses through which to engage with culture, politics, technology, the economy, the human mind, and other fundamental elements of our society.
- Arts and Humanities (9 credits): students take a literature course and two other courses from a wide variety of disciplines in order to learn how philosophy, the arts, and other humanistic endeavors shape our culture and help us understand our world. Courses offer opportunities to study, appreciate, and participate in the arts. No more than 6 credits in any one discipline can be applied to this requirement.
- Social and Behavioral Sciences (12 credits): students take a history course and three other courses from a wide variety of disciplines in order to learn how the social and behavioral sciences work and how they view the world. Students have the opportunity to explore questions like “how does the human mind work?” “how can I participate meaningfully in the political arena?” and “how did human society develop?” No more than 6 credits in any one discipline can be applied to this requirement.
- Mathematics and Natural Sciences (9-10 credits): students take one mathematics or statistics course at the level of College Algebra or higher in order to learn the fundamentals of quantitative reasoning and its role in the world. Students may further pursue these goals by taking an additional course in quantitative reasoning. Students also take at least one course in a natural science discipline that includes a laboratory or field experience in order to understand the scientific method and the way the sciences explore and explain the natural world. Students may take an additional course in the natural sciences—which need not be a lab course—to learn more about the discipline introduced in their first science course or to explore a different discipline.
Additional General Education requirements. While the Essential Skills and Ways of Understanding categories set out the range and number of courses students must take, Central’s General Education also includes important elements that do not require taking additional courses but can be fulfilled with courses in the major, minor, or other General Education categories. General Education also includes one elective course.
- International Requirement: In order to prepare students to thrive in an increasingly globalized world, two of the courses that students must take at Central will help them understand the cultural expressions or social, political, and economic conditions of a region or country other than the United States. Courses abroad also satisfy this requirement.
- Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Requirement: One of the courses that students must take will introduce them to the importance of equity, justice, and inclusion to a thriving society by exploring bias and discrimination in the United States and highlighting obstacles to and strategies required to promote equity and social justice and inclusion.
- Writing in the Disciplines Requirement: Because learning to write clearly and effectively in one’s chosen discipline is integral to both academic and career success, after satisfying the first-year writing requirement all students shall complete at least three credits of writing instruction appropriate to their major. Each major determines the form of writing instruction best suited to its discipline, to be provided through coursework required for completion of the major. Credits for this coursework are generally a part of the major; in certain circumstances they may be counted in a minor or in General Education. Students should consult their advisor or curriculum sheet for major-specific information about the WID requirement.
- Elective (3 credits): To allow students to further explore the breadth of opportunities offered by the General Education Program, the program includes one elective course. Students may fulfill this requirement with a course from any of the General Education categories, either to deepen their experience with a discipline introduced in another course, or to try something new that has piqued their interest. Students who need coursework to fulfill the World Language requirement may do so in whole or part with their elective.
What to Expect from a General Education Course
- First-Year Composition. Purpose: To give students the writing skills they will need to
succeed in college and beyond. Students learn to analyze different writing situations, use
intentional writing processes, reflect on writing choices, search for and evaluate sources,
synthesize multiple sources, and produce logical and persuasive academic arguments.
- Written and Oral Communication. Purpose: To strengthen written and oral communication
skills. Students learn to develop a chosen topic, organize specifics to support a main idea,
choose appropriate language, tone and style, address a particular audience, and revise and
edit to produce focused and coherent texts using various media.
- Writing in the Disciplines. Purpose: To strengthen written communication skills in a
student’s field of study and future profession. Students learn to identify and understand the
elements of writing in different types of texts in the discipline, compose effectively in the
written genres of students’ field of study and profession, demonstrate the ability to
compose in specific rhetorical situations, apply significant aspects of the writing process,
and acquire disciplinary writing skills that can be applied to a variety of texts and
communicative situations.
- Thriving in College. Purpose: To enhance students’ academic and social integration into
college and prepare them for success at CCSU and beyond. Students learn tools and
techniques to support the ability to study successfully, learn effectively, engage with the
campus community, and maintain self-care and wellness; acquire an understanding of
academic choices and knowledge of campus resources; improve academic skills and
techniques; and demonstrate personal growth.
- World Language. Purpose: To provide students with the linguistic and communicative skills
to interact in basic transactions with people from another culture. Students develop skills,
knowledge, and perspectives that will help them gain intercultural awareness, make
comparisons and connections between the language studied and their own, and use the
language to interact and collaborate with their own community and the globalized world.
- Arts and Humanities. Purpose: To develop an appreciation for, and enhance understanding
of, the arts and humanities. Students learn to engage in literary, philosophic, and artistic
expression, response, analysis, and evaluation; and to understand the role of the arts and
humanities in society.
- Literature. Purpose: To introduce students to the nature of literature, its forms and
conventions, and its role in society. Students acquire an understanding of literary history,
the ability to read and understand literary language, and an awareness of the ways in which
history shapes literature and literature influences history.
- Social and Behavioral Sciences. Purpose: To explore the foundational principles of social
and behavioral sciences in order to develop an understanding of human behaviors, systems,
and institutions. Students learn to apply social and behavioral research methods to assess
human behavior and social interactions; connect theories to real-world issues; and
understand the importance of power structures, cultural diversity, and ethical
considerations in shaping societies.
- History. Purpose: To train students to think historically—to consider deeper roots or larger
contexts—and to practice the historical method. Students learn to evaluate and
contextualize sources, assess continuity and change, and formulate a historical argument.
- Natural Sciences. Purpose: To develop scientific understanding of the natural world.
Students learn to explain how scientists think, work, and evaluate the natural world; use
techniques such as controlled observation, experiment, mathematical analysis of data, and
production and interpretation of graphical and tabular data presentation; and demonstrate
knowledge and appreciation of the natural world.
- Mathematics. Purpose: To develop cognitive abilities essential to mathematics, including
abstract thinking, logical reasoning, and practical application. Students will learn to
effectively represent, communicate, analyze, and interpret quantitative information and
ideas. They will also develop the ability to identify assumptions in arguments, apply
accurate mathematical techniques and perform calculations across diverse domains and
real-world contexts.
- International. Purpose: To develop global awareness and appreciation of social and cultural
diversity in the world. Students learn to analyze an issue from the perspective of another
cultural tradition, and to understand and respect cultural differences.
- Equity, Justice, and Inclusion. Purpose: To recognize issues of equity, justice, and inclusion
in the United States. Students learn to recognize the diverse forms and effects of social and
economic inequality; and to understand bias and discrimination based on individual and
group factors such as race, color, religious creed, age, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual
orientation, and mental or physical disability.
What can you do with General Education?
The essence of Central’s General Education Program is breadth: while the major and minor offer in-depth attention to a particular area of study, the distribution requirements of the General Education Program ensure that students are exposed to a wide variety of skills, ideas, and disciplines. Within that variety, however, students can create a path that fulfills their interests.
- You might explore the connections between disciplines by seeking out courses in different areas that address the same topic or related topics: link courses in Geography, Economics, and Earth Sciences that all focus on climate change, or join literature and history courses on nineteenth-century New England with a local Geography course.
- You might focus on learning skills and ideas not connected to your major that you think will make your life more fulfilling: learn the language of a place you’ve always wanted to visit and take a course on that place’s history and culture, or learn to appreciate and understand jazz with courses in music, African-American history, and jazz-age literature.
- Or do something you’ve always wanted to do and may never have another opportunity to try: learn to draw, travel abroad, go on an archeological dig, or try your hand at writing poetry. You’ll be surprised at the opportunities General Education offers.
Additional Information
Writing: Writing is an important skill in all disciplines and an essential part of General Education. When appropriate to subject matter, methodology, and class size, all courses designated for General Education, in particular courses in literature, philosophy, the humanities, history, and the social and behavioral sciences, will require writing, including assigned papers and essay examinations.
Honors Program: Those students who have been admitted to the CCSU Honors Program will fulfill about half of their General Education requirements through the Honors Program curriculum. For further information on the Program, see www.ccsu.edu/honors.
Double-Counting: A maximum of four courses totaling no more than 16 credits in the Essential Skills and Ways of Understanding portions of General Education may be fulfilled by courses in a student’s major and/or minor that are designated as applicable to General Education, with no more than 8 credits total from any one field of study. Courses that fulfill the International, Writing in the Disciplines, or Equity, Justice and Inclusion requirements may also fulfill another General Education requirement; otherwise, no course can count in more than one area of General Education.
General Education
Learning Outcomes
The General Education Learning Outcomes are the skills that all students should acquire during their time at Central, and that the university assesses as a measure of our students’ success. While not every Learning Outcome is represented by a required course in General Education, the expectation is that students begin to learn them in General Education and continue to build them through their major, minor, and electives.
Aesthetic Knowledge:
Graduates can analyze and interpret expressive works by applying aesthetic concepts, contextual understanding, and knowledge of the creative process, articulating the role of aesthetic knowledge in shaping societal and cultural experiences.
Historical Understanding:
Graduates can evaluate and contextualize diverse historical sources; analyze an issue from the perspective of another cultural tradition or historical period; assess patterns of continuity and change across time periods; and construct well-supported arguments that connect historical events to broader societal, cultural, and ethical trends.
Scientific Reasoning:
Graduates can apply empirical-based thinking to formulate research questions, design and analyze studies, interpret data to identify patterns, and draw evidence-based conclusions while demonstrating the ability to distinguish between correlation and causation in the evaluation of scientific claims.
Critical Thinking:
Graduates can analyze issues by clearly articulating problems, evaluating evidence with interpretation and synthesis, identifying assumptions and relevant contexts, formulating nuanced positions that consider multiple perspectives, and drawing logical conclusions that reflect an understanding of implications and consequences.
Oral Communication:
Graduates can communicate information and express ideas orally by tailoring content, style, and visual aids to suit the audience and context, clearly articulating a central idea supported by relevant evidence, employing a logical organizational structure with smooth transitions, and using vocal variety to sustain audience engagement and enhance understanding.
Written Communication:
Graduates can express ideas in writing by engaging with context, audience, and purpose; using relevant and compelling content to convey mastery of the subject; adhering to genre-specific and disciplinary conventions; integrating credible sources and evidence; and employing clear, fluent language with control of syntax and mechanics.
Quantitative Reasoning:
Graduates can interpret and represent quantitative data in various mathematical forms, perform calculations to solve problems effectively, apply quantitative analysis to draw insightful conclusions, evaluate assumptions with clear rationale, and communicate quantitative evidence in support of arguments or purposes in a contextually appropriate format.
Information Literacy:
Graduates can define research needs, access relevant information using appropriate strategies, critically evaluate sources and their contexts, synthesize information to achieve a specific purpose, and apply ethical and legal standards in the use and dissemination of information.
Ethical Dimensions:
Graduates can clearly articulate relevant ethical issues, apply theoretical and conceptual frameworks to evaluate these issues, analyze multiple perspectives and contexts, and accurately apply ethical theories or principles, to defend an ethical position while addressing potential objections.
Community and Civic Engagement:
Graduates can evaluate and apply diverse perspectives within and across communities with empathy, demonstrating awareness of insider and outsider perspectives. Graduates can connect and extend disciplinary knowledge to civic engagement, critically analyze power dynamics and justice/injustice in communities, and take initiative in enacting mutually beneficial solutions through informed advocacy.