General Education Requirements
Introduction
The College of Liberal Arts, College of Science and Technology, College of Business and College of Professional Studies at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania administer undergraduate curricula.
Each curriculum, leading to a baccalaureate degree, requires successful completion of at least 120 semester hours in the major, general education and free electives. This section deals with general education; requirements for each major are listed under department headings. While electives are unrestricted, it's helpful to consult with a faculty adviser.
When a student makes a tentative choice of a major, preliminary or prerequisite courses required in that major are assigned. Admission is selective or restrictive at the junior year entry level for some curricula. The university is not bound to admit the student if the student is not admissible according to the competition for available spaces or other selective criteria.
Collette Frantz, an art history major from Winfield, recently presented "The Legend of the Saint Ursula Shrine" to the 11th annual Student Symposium in the History of Art, which focused on her research into the 1489 Hans Memling work in the Netherlands and other late-medieval reliquaries. Her first BU degree, in political science, led to a career as a drug and alcohol counselor, but now she'd like to attend graduate school to eventually work in the museum field. She chose to return to Bloomsburg for its lifestyle, the availability of courses, and the "very helpful and motivating" staff and faculty.
Students who plan to major in two departments must have a major adviser in each department and meet all of the major requirements of each department and all of the general education requirements. Double majors in some departments may require more than the minimum 120 semester hours for graduation. Double majors in departments in two colleges must have the permission of both college deans to declare a double major.
Credit, Semester Hour
A semester hour, or credit, is ordinarily defined as the credit for one weekly period of 50 minutes of lecture, discussion or recitation for one semester. In some cases as in laboratory, studio or internship, there may not be a one-to-one correspondence between experimental time and credit.
Distribution Requirements
The general education program includes specific course requirements totalling 18 credits, distribution requirements totalling 36 credits and a diversity requirement of two courses. The goals of the general education program are to develop:
- An ability to communicate effectively;
- An ability to think analytically and quantitatively;
- A facility to make independent and responsible value judgments and decisions according to high ethical values and life goals;
- An appreciation of the need for fitness and lifelong recreation skills;
- A capacity for assessing the validity of ideas and an understanding of the approaches used to gain knowledge through the development of critical thinking abilities;
- A greater appreciation of theater, literature, art and music through stimulation of one's creative interests;
- An understanding of our society and the relative position of an individual in this society;
- An understanding of the relationship between an individual and his/her physical and biological environments;
- A familiarity with the major contributions of human knowledge in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics; and
- An awareness and global understanding of the relative position of the individual in the world community.
Courses for diversity requirements must be taken from different departments
More information: see the current university catalog