REDWOODS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
Board Policy
BP 4025
PHILOSOPHY AND CRITERIA FOR ASSOCIATE DEGREE
AND GENERAL EDUCATION
The awarding of an Associate Degree is intended to represent more than an accumulation of units.
An Associate Degree is comprised of two major components: general education and a focused area
of study. General education courses are central to an Associate Degree and serve to introduce
students to a variety of means through which people comprehend the world they live in. In addition
to a general education, the student shall achieve competency in a particular field. This combination
of breadth and depth is designed to help students better understand the complex world around them
and inform their personal, academic, and career choices.
Not only does General Education include the overarching aims of effective communication,
critical thinking, and global awareness, but they also expose students to a breadth of disciplines,
each providing distinct perspectives on the world. Faculty have the privilege and responsibility for
creating general education courses that help students achieve these goals, and the Curriculum
Committee oversees this process. There should be coherence and integration among the set of
courses used by a student to fulfill their general education requirements.
Associate Degrees are designed to provide students with the necessary depth of knowledge to
achieve competency in a particular field. This expertise furnishes students with vocational skills,
transfer requirements, and/or individual enrichment. Earning an Associate Degree is a personal
achievement which opens up possibilities for career development and future educational
opportunities. Associate Degrees are created by faculty with Curriculum Committee and
Chancellor’s Office oversight. In addition, outside professional accrediting organizations may
have specific degree requirements that must be incorporated.
The President/Superintendent has the responsibility to ensure that general education and associate
degree requirements adhere to this policy.
References:
Title 5 Section 55061;
ACCJC Accreditation Standard II.A
Adopted by Board of Trustees: December 5, 2006
Revised: June 2, 2015
Revised by ASPC June 17, 2015
REDWOODS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
Board of Trustees Policy
BP 4025
PHILOSOPHY AND CRITERIA FOR ASSOCIATE DEGREE
AND GENERAL EDUCATION
PHILOSOPHY
The associate degrees offered by District are intended to symbolize the successful completion of
a pattern of learning experiences designed to develop the ability to think and to communicate
clearly and effectively both orally and in writing, to use mathematics, to understand the modes of
inquiry of the major disciplines, to be aware of other cultures and times, to achieve insight
gained through experience in thinking about ethical problems, and to develop the capacity for
self understanding. An associate degree may be conferred upon a student who has demonstrated
these competencies and who has satisfactorily completed at least 60 semester units of college
work, including course requirements specific to each degree.
DEGREES AND REQUIREMENTS
The District will award the Associate of Science Degree in a specific program area, the Associate
of Arts Degree or the Associate of Science Degree in General Studies, and the Associate of Arts
degree in University Studies. These degrees will be awarded to students who have completed all
requirements with a minimum cumulative Grade Point Average of 2.0 for all courses applied to
the degree and who have earned a "C" or better in each course required for the degree except for
unrestricted electives. Unrestricted electives are courses that are not specifically required to
meet program or general education requirements. The degree course work must include at least
18 semester units in General Education. Of the required units, at least 15 semester units and 12
of the required units in the major field of study must be completed at the District. Specific
degree requirements are adopted by the Board of Trustees, relying primarily upon the advice and
judgment of the Academic Senate. These requirements will be reviewed periodically by the
Academic Senate and its Curriculum Committee to ensure relevance, currency, and consistency
with State regulations.
GENERAL EDUCATION
The purpose of general education at the District is to encourage students to think more deeply
and more broadly both about their own lives and about the world in which they live. General
education provides students with skills in the areas of communication, computation, and critical
thinking and introduces them to the basic modes of inquiry in the various academic areas. It
promotes an understanding of values, a sense of civic responsibility, a commitment to preserving
the natural environment, an appreciation of cultural diversity, and an understanding of the
interrelationships among all societies.
GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS
A. NATURAL SCIENCE (3 Units).
Courses in the natural sciences are those that examine the physical universe, its life forms, and
its natural phenomena. To satisfy the general education requirement in natural sciences, a
course shall be designed to help a student develop an appreciation and understanding of the
scientific method and to encourage an understanding of the relationships between
science and other human activities. This category may include introductory or
integrative courses in astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental science,
general physical science, geology, meteorology, oceanography, physical
geography, physics, and other scientific disciplines.
B. SOCIAL SCIENCE (3 Units).
Courses in the social and behavioral sciences are those that focus on people, group relations,
and society. To satisfy the general education requirement in social and behavioral sciences, a
course shall be designed to develop an awareness of the method of inquiry used by the social
and behavioral sciences. It shall be designed to stimulate critical thinking about the ways
people act and have acted in response to their societies and should promote appreciation of
how societies and social subgroups operate. This category may include introductory or
integrative survey courses in cultural anthropology, cultural geography, economics, history,
political science, psychology, sociology, and related disciplines.
C. HUMANITIES (3 Units).
Courses in the humanities are those that study the cultural activities and artistic expressions of
human beings. To satisfy the general education requirement in the humanities, a course shall
be designed to help the student develop an awareness of the ways in which people throughout
the ages and in different cultures have responded to themselves and the world around them
in artistic and cultural creation and to help the student develop aesthetic understanding and an
ability to make value judgments. Such courses may include introductory or integrative courses
in the arts, foreign languages, literature, philosophy, and religion.
D. LANGUAGE AND RATIONALITY (9 Units).
Courses in language and rationality are those that develop for the student the principles and
applications of language toward logical thought, clear and precise expression, and critical
evaluation of communication in whatever symbol system the student uses.
1. WRITING (3 Units). Courses fulfilling the written composition
requirement shall be designed to include both expository and
argumentative writing.
2. ORAL COMMUNICATION (3 Units). Courses fulfilling the
communication requirement include oral communication and courses in
other disciplines that have oral communication as their primary focus.
3. ANALYTICAL THINKING (3 Units). Courses fulfilling the analytical
thinking requirement include mathematics, logic, statistics, computer
languages and programming, and related disciplines.
NOTE: While a course might satisfy more than one general education requirement, it may not be
counted more than once for these purposes. A course may be used to satisfy both a general
education requirement and a specific program requirement.
ETHNIC STUDIES will be offered in at least one of the required areas.
CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENTS
To receive a certificate of achievement or a certificate of completion, a student must complete all
of the courses required for the certificate with a minimum grade of "C" in each course.
Reference: Title 5 Section 55805; Accreditation Standard II.A.3
Adopted by Board of Trustees: 12/5/06
Former Policy #120, “Associate Degree and Certificate Requirements,” Adopted by the Board of Trustees: 5/3/82
Amended: 2/3/86, 5/2/94, 3/5/02, 4/5/05, 1/10/06