General Education Requirements

Current General Education Requirements

For a full description of the Goals and Objectives including revisions, refer to the Faculty Senate General Education Goals, Criteria and Outcomes. 

Approved Courses

GOAL ONE: COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY: Students will demonstrate the ability to read, write, speak, and listen effectively.

CW (Communication - Reading and Writing) - select one course

• ENGL 100 Academic Reading and Writing (3)
• ENGL 101 Freshman English for International Students I (3)

CS (Communication - Speaking and Listening) - select one course

• CHIN 101 Beginning Chinese I (4)
• FREN 101 Beginning French I (4)
• GERM 101 Beginning German I (4)
• JAPN 101 Beginning Japanese I (4)
• OJIB 101 Beginning Ojibwe I (4)
• SPAN 101 Beginning Spanish I (4)
• MODL 101 Oral Communication (3)
• COMS 101 Fundamentals of Oral Communication (3)
• COMS 116 Business and Professional Communication (3)

CA (Advanced Communication) - select one course

• ENGL 200 Investigating Ideas: Reading, Writing, & the Disciplines (3)
• ENGL 201 Freshman English for International Students II (3)

GOAL TWO: DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE OF PAST AND PRESENT HUMAN ENDEAVOR: Describe the diverse ways of thinking that underlie the search for knowledge in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

SB (Social and Behavioral Sciences) - select two courses (Courses taken under both SB and HF designators must be from different disciplinary prefixes)

• ANTH 100 Introduction to Anthropology (3)
• ECON 100 Modern Economics (3)
• ESM 107 Planning for a Sustainable Society (3)
• GEOG 120 Human Geography (3)
• GEOL 250 Geological Destinies of Nations (g) (3)
• HIST 100 Defining Themes in U.S. History (3)
• HIST 101 Origins of Civilization (3)
• HIST 102 History of the Modern World, 1500-Present (3)
• HIST 201 Introduction to Asian Civilization (g) (3)
• HIST 211 History of Japan and Films (g) (3)
• HIST 222 Love, Sex, and Marriage in the Pre-Modern World (g) (3)
• HIST 292 History of Agriculture: Origins to 1800 (g) (3)
• HIST 333 Silk, Spices, and Silver: The Making of the Global Exchange System to 1700 (g) (3)
• INTS 200 Introduction to International Studies (g) (3)
• INTS 371/POLS 371 German Politics (g) (3)
• MNGT 250 Global Business & Society (3)
• POLS 110 Controversies in Politics (3)
• POLS 114 American Government and Politics (3)
• POLS 220 Introduction to Public Opinion and Political Behavior (3)
• POLS 245 Introduction to Comparative Politics (g) (3)
• POLS 260 Introduction to International Relations (g) (3)
• PSYC 101 General Psychology (3)
• SOCI 100 Introduction to Sociology (3)
• TED 250 Educational Psychology for Teachers (3)

HF (Humanities and Fine Arts) - select two courses (Courses taken under both SB and HF designators must be from different disciplinary prefixes)

• ART 100 Introduction to Art (3)
• ENGL 105 Literature and Human Experience (3)
• ENGL 106 Topics in Literature (3)
• ENGL 107 Heroes in Literature (3)
• ENGL 108 Power, Money and Business in Literature (3)
• ENGL 162 Introduction to Creative Writing (3)
• ENGL 215/WGST 215 LGBTQ Literature (3)
• MUS 100 Understanding Music (3)
• MUS 105 Popular Music (3)
• MUS 106 Music & Movies (g) (3)
• MUS 107 Video Game Music (3)
• MUS 222 Contemporary Music Creators and Concepts (3)
• MUS 234 Music History and Literature 1 (3)
• MUS 235 Music History and Literature 2 (3)
• MUS 255 History of Jazz (d) (3)
• MUS 300 World Music (g) (3)
• HUM 312 Arts and Ideas II: The Baroque to the Postmodern (g) (3)
• PHIL 151 Living Issues in Philosophy (3)
• PHIL 201 Human Nature, Ethics and the Natural World (3)
• PHIL 211 Futuristic Visions: Utopias and Dystopias
• PHIL 221 Ancient Philosophy (3)
• PHIL 240 Social Ethics (3)
• PHIL 310 Philosophy and History of Visual Art (3)
• PHIL 323 Science and the Philosophers of the Age of the Enlightenment (3)
• PHIL 345 God, Religion and Science (3)
• POLS 230 Introduction to Political Philosophy and Ideology (3)
• SASA 100 Dance Appreciation (3) 
• SASA 105 Introduction to Theater and Drama (3)
• SASA 200/ FILM 200 Introduction to Film Studies (3)

GOAL THREE: APPLY SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES TO THE NATURAL WORLD: Students will demonstrate knowledge of the principles and methods of quantitative and qualitative scientific reasoning.

M (Mathematics) - select one course

• MATH 126 Activities in Math (3)
• MATH 136 Quantitative Reasoning (3)
• MATH 146 College Algebra (3)
• MATH 147 Algebra and Trigonometry (3)
• MATH 149 Pre-Calculus (4)
• MATH 156 Calculus for Business (3)
• MATH 166 Calculus for Science and Math (4)
• MATH 216 Elementary Statistical Concepts (3)
• MATH 226 Fundamentals of Statistics (3)
• MATH 246 Math for Elementary Teachers I (4)
• PSYC 201 Behavioral Statistics (3)
• TED 323 Content and Techniques of K-3 Mathematics I (3)

SI (Scientific Inquiry) - select two courses (The courses taken under SI must be from different disciplinary prefixes. For example, you cannot take two Biology course, but could take a Biology course and a Chemistry course)

• BIOL 101 Concepts in Biology (3)
• BIOL 103 Fundamentals of Biological Evolution (3)
• BIOL 150 General Biology (3)
• BIOL 160 General Biology-Freshman Research Focus (3)
• CHEM 100 Modern Alchemy (3)
• CHEM 111 / CHEM 116 General Chemistry 1 (5)
• CHEM 115 Concepts in General Chemistry (4)
• CHEM 130 Introduction to Organic Chemistry (5)
• CHEM 210 Chemistry and Society (3)
• FDSC 110 The Science of Food (3)
• GEOG 110 Physical Environment: Patterns and Systems (3)
• GEOL 101 Introduction to Geology (3)
• GEOL 115 Oceanography (3)
• NSCI 111 Introduction to Neuroscience (4)
• PHYS 114 Basic Physics (3)
• PHYS 117 Astronomy (3)
• PHYS 121 Algebra-based Physics I (5)
• PHYS 131 Calculus-Based Physics I (5)
• PHYS 150 Science and Art (3)
• PHYS 318 Astrophysics (3)

GOAL FIVE: EVALUATE INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY TO SELF, SOCIETY, AND THE WORLD: Students will make and defend judgments with respect to individual conduct and well being, citizenship, and stewardship of the environment.

HW (Personal Health and Wellness) - select 1 course

• HEAL 108 Health and Fitness for Life (required) (1)

EC (Ethical Citizenship) - select one course

• ANSC 115 Animal Welfare (3)
• CHEM 210 Chemistry and Society (3)
• COMS 219 Civic Communication (3)
• CRIM 130 Introduction to Crime, Law, and Society (3)
• CIDS 120 Technology and Cyberspace: Ethics and Issues (3)
• ECON 312 Political Economy of Discrimination (d) (3)
• ENGL 205 Literature of War:Culture and Ethics (3)
• ENGL 228 Literature of Environmental Justice (d) (3)
• ENGL 230 International Short Story (g) (3)
• ENGL 306/ FILM 306 Postcolonial Literature and Film (g) (3)
• ENGL 374 Cyberliteracy and Writing on the Web (3)
• ESM 105 Introduction to Environmental Studies (3)
• ESM 300 Environmental Education (3)
• FINC 210 Personal Finance (3)
• GENG 225 Energy for a Sustainable Society (3)
• GEOG 220 Economic Geography (3)
• GEOG 265 Mapping and Spatial Justice (d) (3)
• GEOL 269 Environmental Geology (3)
• HUM 305  Human-Animal Studies (3)
• JOUR 101 Introduction to Mass Communication (3)
• MNGT 250 Global Business and Society (3)
• PHIL 201 Human Nature, Ethics and the Natural World (3)
• PHIL 211 Futuristic Visions: Utopias and Dystopias
• PHIL 220 Bioethics (3)
• PHIL 224 Existentialism (3)
• PHIL 304 Business Ethics (3)
• PLSC 120 Plants and Society (3)
• POLS 114 American Government and Politics (3)
• POLS 230 Introduction to Political Philosophy and Ideology (3)
• SASA 110 Sustainability from the Perspective of the Arts (3)
• SMGT 420 The Built Environment and Sustainability (3)
• SOWK 150 Introduction to Social Work (3)
• SUSJ 197 Sustainable Justice Foundations (3)
• TED 326 Place-Based Science for Early Childhood Educators (3)

UWRF General Education Mission Statement

The purpose of the UWRF General Education program is to facilitate the acquisition and integration of knowledge, abilities, and ethics in order to form a foundation for lifelong learning.

The interdisciplinary foundation includes the ability to communicate effectively; to demonstrate knowledge of past and present human endeavor; apply scientific principles to the human and natural world; and to evaluate individual responsibility to self, society, and the world.

These General Education requirements are part of the larger General Education and University Requirements (GEUR) Program. The University Requirements portion of the GEUR Program includes the requirements regarding American Cultural Diversity (d) and Global Perspectives (g). A list of approved University Requirements courses can be found on the University Requirements website.  Note that, in general, GEUR courses can count wherever they have been approved, which means that some courses may satisfy more than one graduation requirement.