For Department Use
NOT Student Use
SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SCIENCES
GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM
APPLICATION FOR CURRICULAR AREA/CATEGORY DESIGNATION
Department (please
indicate whether this
course will be taught in the
Honors program):
Course Number and
Title
Applicant/Instructor:
Campus Phone & E-mail:
Department Chair or
Curriculum Committee
Chair submitting
proposal*
* Applications for general education designation must be forwarded as an email sent to
hscurriculum@ithaca.edu by the department chair or the chair of the departmental curriculum
committee. Hard copies with signatures are not required. Please name the file according to the
following format: [SUBJ] [Course#] Gen Ed [mm-dd-yy].docx
Select from distribution area(s) below; you may also request that the course carry a Global
and/or Historical designation.
1: Self and Society
2a: Science
2b: Mathematics and Formal Reasoning
3a: Human Expression: Language
3b: Human Expression: Visual and Performing Arts
Global Perspective
Historical Perspective
Before completing this designation request, please review the Humanities and Sciences
General Education Program in general, and the activities required in the Focused Curricular
Choice section in particular, found in the IC Undergraduate catalog. Note that the general
education program encourages broad learning “across the humanities and sciences
curriculum.” For this reason, General Education designation for level 3 and level 4 courses is
discouraged, as these courses usually serve to hone a student’s knowledge and skills rather
than broaden it.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
1. In addition to this form, all applications should include a syllabus or, if a syllabus is not yet
available, complete the syllabus outline (1A-F).
Note: APC guidelines indicate that “a syllabus must include the following information: course
description, course credit, course objectives, topics covered, texts/resources, basis for determining
grades, student disability statement, and attendance policy. The syllabus should adequately reflect
the content, goals, and rigor of the course.” The goals of the course should include general
education goals.
2. Applicants must complete questions 2A, 2B, and 2C.
Rev Jan2012
1. Syllabus Outline
If a syllabus is not yet available, applicants may provide the following information about the proposed
course.
A. Course number and title:
B. Course description:
C. Student learning
objectives: (these objectives
should include reference to
the general education goals)
D. Topics to be covered in
course:
E. Texts/resources to be
used in course:
F. Basis for determining
course grade:
(i.e., what will you assign,
and how will those
assignments be weighted in
the final grade)
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2. Designation Proposal Questions
A. For each designation being requested, select the general education goals that are central to
your course:
1: Self and Society (minimum of two)
Students will explore their own values, beliefs, and behaviors and trace the causes for
and sources of those values, beliefs, and behaviors.
Students will also discover how they express those values and beliefs through their
actions and learn to evaluate the effects of these values and beliefs on their daily lives.
Students will come to understand the developmental process of identity formation.
Students will examine interactions between diverse cultures and institutions and explore
areas of both harmony and conflict.
Students will explore the ways in which cultures and institutions help shape, and in turn
are shaped by, the lives and decisions of their members.
2a: Science (minimum of two)
Students will develop an understanding of some basic scientific principles.
Students will develop an appreciation for the relevance of science to society, as well as
some comprehension of the interaction of humans and the natural and physical world.
Students will develop an understanding of the methods the natural sciences use to study
the physical world, through courses that include an experimental component and/or an
observation component and/or a component to evaluate data and develop and test
hypotheses.
2b: Mathematics and Formal Reasoning (minimum of one)
Students will examine mathematics and/or other formal reasoning systems as tools in
societies.
Students will examine mathematics and/or other formal reasoning systems as reflections
of the concerns, values, and direction of human communities.
Students will examine mathematics and/or other formal reasoning systems as abstract,
universal systems.
3a: Human Expression: Language (minimum of one)
Students will analyze texts to discover the role language plays in how people view
themselves and their world.
Students will use language to shape ideas about themselves and their world.
3b: Human Expression: Visual and Performing Arts (minimum of one)
Students will examine how performances or visual works stimulate our emotions,
provoke our thoughts, and even guide our actions and beliefs.
Students will perceive and understand the visual and performing arts and articulate this
perception and understanding.
Students will place the visual and performing arts in the larger context of human
communities.
Students will create their own performances or visual works to understand the processes
by which people express meaning and as a way of exploring values and beliefs.
Global Perspective
Students will examine the nature of the viewpoints, beliefs, and organizations of a
community outside of the United States.
Students will examine the verbal, written, or visual ways in which members of a
community outside of the United States express themselves through physical structures,
works of literature, art, music, or mass media.
Historical Perspective
Students will study how the events, institutions, works, expressions, or ideas that we
study from the past are related to what preceded them and followed them.
Students will examine the relationships between contemporaneous events, institutions,
ideas, and individuals, and those in a past society.
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B. Making explicit reference to your syllabus or syllabus outline, explain how you will
incorporate the general education goals you have selected in 2A (content covered,
readings, assignments, etc.). Answers should not exceed 250 words.
C. Making explicit reference to your syllabus or syllabus outline, please explain how you
will assess whether your students have effectively achieved the goals of the general
education designation(s) (e.g., exams, assignments, or other methods). Answers
should not exceed 250 words.
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