The College Core will provide you with the skills, knowledge, and experiences that will ensure you are successful during and after college, in your professional and personal life.
The specific learning outcomes for the College Core are listed below and represent the skills and knowledge you will gain from completing the College Core. The outcomes are grouped by the main structural elements of the program.
Intellectual and Scholarly Growth
Information Literacy
Locate, evaluate, and use information responsibly to engage in advanced study and work.
Critical Thinking
Integrate in-depth knowledge to interrogate issues, ideas, artifacts, or events; develop conclusions; design solutions; or ask new questions.
Written Communication
Write effectively for specific audiences and purposes.
Oral Communication
Design and deliver effective presentations for specific audiences and purposes.
Second Language1
Communicate in a second language in a coherent, intelligible manner in social situations.
1Only students in departments and programs in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and in selected programs in the School of Arts and Communication, School of Business, and School of Science currently have a second language requirement. Students from other schools and programs are exempt from the language requirements because the number of accreditation or licensure requirements required of them makes it impossible to complete both the language requirement and all other degree requirements.
Social Justice
Community Engagement
Engage with communities through purposeful study, action, and reflection.
Gender & Sexuality
Explain the social construction of gender and sexuality, and critically evaluate norms and practices of identity formation at interpersonal or wider levels.
Global Perspectives
Identify and explain norms, values, and practices across different societies or regions to critically evaluate worldviews.
Race & Ethnicity
Evaluate critically how the social constructs of race and ethnicity lead to inequitable impacts on individuals, communities, or societies.
Multidisciplinary Perspectives
Literary, Visual, or Performing Arts
Analyze how creative texts, artworks, or performances reflect, shape, exalt, or challenge the values of a culture.
Belief Systems
Evaluate critically theories of reality, knowledge, or culture arising from areas of human inquiry.
Historical Perspectives
Analyze how forces, factors, and actors contribute to historical change.
Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives
Evaluate critically how human thought, emotion, and behavior affect and are affected by relationships or institutions at the level of the individual, culture, or society.
Natural Sciences
Use scientific data and approaches to inform a decision, solve a problem, or answer a question.
Quantitative Reasoning
Apply formal logic or numerical analysis to evaluate a quantitative claim, guide a decision, solve a problem, or answer a question.