California State University, Fresno

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General Education

You are in the official 2001-2002 General Catalog
for California State University, Fresno.

General Education

Photo of a student studying and student reading school paper.

General Education

Developed by both faculty and students, the university's General Education Program is an introduction to the breadth and depth of the dynamics of human experience. It provides students with a foundation in the liberal arts and sciences and prepares them for specialized study in a particular discipline or program.

The overall objective of General Education is to create a context wherein basic skills are developed and strengthened, scholarship and disciplined thinking emerge, awareness and reflection occur, and ultimately - the integration of knowledge begins.

In the 1999-2000 academic year, the university introduced a major revision of the General Education program that the faculty believes is improved in content and which facilitates transfer to the university. All students enrolling in the university as first-time freshmen beginning fall 1999 and after, and all transfer students entering fall 1999 or after who elect to adopt the 1999-2000 catalog will be required to complete this new General Education Program.

NOTICE TO STUDENTS ENROLLED
UNDER EARLIER CATALOGS:

The revised program presented in this section is different from the program which you are expected to satisfy. Please refer to the catalog under which you are enrolled for information about the requirements and the courses appropriate to those requirements.

NOTICE TO LIBERAL STUDIES AND ENGINEERING STUDENTS:

Liberal studies and engineering students follow a distinct G.E. pattern. Please see liberal studies and engineering.

FOUNDATION, BREADTH, INTEGRATION,
and MULTICULTURAL/INTERNATIONAL

The General Education Program is an integrated curriculum of courses organized into four groups:

FOUNDATION, the basic foundation of one's university education, consists of courses in fundamental skills and knowledge.

BREADTH exposes students to a variety of disciplines within a structured framework that develops knowledge in four basic areas of human endeavor.

INTEGRATION ties together the Program by providing an integrative experience at the upper-division level in three of the four areas of breadth.

MULTICULTURAL/INTERNATIONAL completes the General Education Program with an upper-division experience as preparation for an international, multicultural world.

Requirements

The General Education Program requires students to complete a minimum of 51 semester units. All requirements must be met with courses of at least three semester units. The requirements include: four courses in FOUNDATION, nine courses in BREADTH, and four upper-division courses - three INTEGRATION courses and one MULTICULTURAL/INTERNATIONAL course. These four upper-division courses should be taken no sooner than the term in which 60 units of college coursework are completed. A minimum of 9 units of course work for General Education must be taken in residence (see Residence Requirements) at California State University, Fresno.

Because the goal of General Education is to provide a solid foundation with a broad scope and the goal of the major is to provide depth in a specific discipline or program, the following stipulations apply:

The FOUNDATION courses must be completed with a grade of C or better to satisfy the General Education requirement.
A maximum of two General Education courses from one department or program may be applied to satisfy BREADTH, INTEGRATION, and MULTICULTURAL/INTERNATIONAL requirements. (However, a department or program may prohibit any General Education course from simultaneously satisfying its own departmental or programmatic requirements.) INTEGRATION and MULTICULTURAL/INTERNATIONAL courses used to satisfy this requirement must be taken outside the department of the student's major.

Writing in General Education Courses

The university's General Education Program requires that almost all courses in the program have substantial writing assignments.

All Foundation courses except those in Quantitative Methods (B4) and all Breadth courses will require writing assignments totaling at least 2000 words.

All upper-division courses (IB, IC, ID, and M/I) will require writing assignments totaling at least 4000 words.

G.E. Prerequisites

A2 completion is prerequisite to C2, D1, D2, and D3
B4 is prerequisite or corequisite to B1
A1, A2, A3 and B4 are prerequisite to IB, IC, ID, and MI

General Education in A-E Format

While the revised General Education Program is presented here in terms of FOUNDATION, BREADTH, INTEGRATION, and MULTICULTURAL/INTERNATIONAL, it relates simply to the A-E format widely used throughout the state as indicated by the course prefixes in the table:

Note: Please consult the Schedule of Courses for the fall 2001 and spring 2002 semesters for a list of courses included in the G.E. program.

G.E. requirement: 51 semester units minimum to include 12 upper-division semester units.

Area A
(9 semester units minimum. One course is required in each subarea.)
A1 Oral Communication
A2 Written Communication
A3 Critical Thinking

Area B
(12 semester units minimum including 3 units upper division. One course is required in each subarea.)
B1 Physical Science
B2 Life Science
B4 Quantitative Reasoning
IB Upper-Division G.E. Integration, Area B

Area C
(12 semester units minimum including 3 units upper division. Select one course from C1, C2, and IC plus one additional course from either C1 or C2.)
C1 Arts
C2 Humanities
IC Upper-Division G.E. Integration, Area C

Area D
(15 semester units minimum including 6 units upper division. One course is required in each subarea.)
D1 American History
D2 American Government
D3 Social Science
ID Upper-Division G.E. Integration, Area D
MI Upper-Division G.E. Multicultural/International

Area E
(3 semester units minimum.)
E1 Lifelong Understanding and Self-Development