Program of General Education

In keeping with the above philosophy and goals, the faculty established general education requirements for the bachelor's degree that contain an interdisciplinary Core relating to ULV's Mission Statement and a series of Area Requirements introducing the traditional Liberal Arts disciplines.

CORE REQUIREMENTS:

The Core consists of a cluster of common courses which all students take. It introduces students to the central values of the University as they are articulated in the Mission Statement-- values-orientation, community and diversity (internationalism/ interculturalism), life-long learning, and service to society:

Values and Critical Thinking. The aim of this course is to teach students how to think critically and to help them reflect on their own values as well as to think critically about the value systems of other persons, groups, and nations.

International/Intercultural Core. The aim of this tripartite requirement is to expose students to cultures and persons different from their own in order to introduce them to the increasingly complex and multicultural world. Knowledge of another language and culture is imperative for true intercultural understanding. The foreign language requirement provides functional communications skills as well as an introduction to the culture. The interdisciplinary world civilizations and cultures course complements the language study by offering a broader world perspective. Finally, the international/intercultural experience personalizes the study by immersing students in an ethnic-religious- national group different from their own.

Interdisciplinary Core. The aim of this twocourse requirement is to show students the interrelationships between disciplines, the associations between themes, and the holistic nature of their lives. To achieve this, both upperdivision courses are team taught by faculty from two different disciplines. One of the disciplines represented in The Human Condition must be from either the Humanities or the Social Sciences; one of the disciplines in Toward a Sustainable Planet must be in the Natural Sciences.

Service Requirement. The aim of this supervised service placement is to practice ULV's Mission Statement's affirmation that "service is a primary goal of the educated person."