Analytical Reading & Writing is intended to teach students how to:

• Read and discuss for the purposes of careful analysis and critique;
• Use rhetorical strategies to take a position, marshal evidence and respond to opposing views;
• Retrieve, evaluate and synthesize evidence and commentary on a topic;
• Revise drafts for clarity and intellectual sophistication;
• Reflect on the writing and reading processes; and
• Demonstrate both fluency and competence with Standard English in writing and editing personal work.

Intellectual Heritage courses are intended to teach students how to:

• Develop critical approaches to reading a set of shared texts, while communicating their ideas, asking questions, and actively listening to peers in a free and honest exchange of multiple viewpoints.
• Sharpen analysis and argumentation skills through a variety of expressive modes.
• Evaluate the historical, social, and cultural bases of prevailing beliefs.
• Investigate fundamental questions of human experience from a variety of perspectives.
• Make connections between historical texts about human existence and current moral, social, and political issues. 

Quantitative Literacy courses are intended to teach students how to:

• Understand quantitative models that describe real world phenomena and recognize limitations of those models;
• Perform simple mathematical computations associated with a quantitative model and make conclusions based on the results;
• Recognize, use, and appreciate mathematical thinking for solving problems that are part of everyday life;
• Understand the various sources of uncertainty and error in empirical data;
• Retrieve, organize, and analyze data associated with a quantitative model; and
• Communicate logical arguments and their conclusions.

Arts courses are intended to teach students how to:

• Experience and respond to a work of art or creative process;
• Recognize and interpret a work of art or creative process in a societal, historical or cultural context;
• Describe or evaluate a work of art or creative process using appropriate terminology;
• Demonstrate “appreciation” for the value of art in our lives and society; and
• Function as a member of an audience.

Human Behavior courses are intended to teach students how to:

• Understand relationships between individuals and communities;
• Understand theories or explanations of human behavior used to describe social phenomena;
• Examine the development of individuals’ beliefs, behaviors, and assumptions and how these affect individuals and communities;
• Apply one disciplinary method to understand human behavior or explain social phenomena;
• Access and analyze materials related to individuals, communities or social phenomena; and
• Compare and contrast similar social phenomena across individuals or communities.

Race & Diversity courses are intended to teach students how to:

• Recognize the ways in which race intersects with other group identifications or ascriptions such as gender, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, disability and age;
• Understand the relationships among diversity, justice and power;
• Explore what it means for individuals and institutions to exist in a multi-racial, multicultural world;
• Investigate the various forms race and racism has taken in different places and times; and
• Discuss race matters with diverse others in relation to personal experience.

Science & Technology courses are intended to teach students how to:

• Understand and describe the scientific process;
• Understand the sequential nature of science and technology;
• Recognize, use and appreciate scientific or technological thinking for solving problems that are part of everyday life;
• Understand and communicate how technology encourages the process of discovery in science and related disciplines; and
• Retrieve, organize, and analyze data associated with a scientific or technological model.

U.S. Society courses strengthen students’ understanding of the history, society, culture and political systems of the United States.

They are intended to teach students how to:

• Access and analyze historical, analytical, and cultural materials;
• Develop observations and conclusions about selected themes in US society and culture;
• Construct interpretations using evidence and critical analysis;
• Communicate and defend interpretations; and
• Analyze the ways difference and heterogeneity have shaped the culture and society of the U.S.