General Education at Cleveland State University provides students with a strong foundation upon which to build their entire university career. All students of the university—regardless of major or program—complete this set of requirements. The courses in the General Education program expose students to a variety of disciplines, provide basic knowledge, and cultivate core skill areas. Further, the General Education requirement—through Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), Speaking Across the Curriculum (SPAC), and Capstone courses—creates links to students' work within their majors.

Table of Contents

1. Information for students and faculty.
2. For Students.
3. For Faculty: General Instructions for Course Approval.
4. Links to Individual Criteria Sheets.
5. Additional Resources on Skill Areas.
6. Complete Plan of the New General Education Requirements.

For Students and Faculty:

Click here for a summary table of the new General Education Requirements approved by Faculty Senate in April 2007.

For Students:

Students who have questions about their General Education requirements should meet with their academic advisor. For more information on determining which Advising office you should visit, click here

For Faculty: General Instructions for Course Approval

As part of the implementation of the newly-approved General Education Requirements, faculty will need to submit their courses for approval under the new criteria. Even courses approved under the old requirements will need to be resubmitted for approval under the new criteria. These materials will be evaluated by the University Curriculum Committee. Please follow the instructions and links below.

Please note the following deadlines for Gen Ed submissions: for spring semester the deadline is February 1 and for fall semester the deadline is October 1. Courses submitted and approved in spring semester will become effective the following spring semester [e.g. courses submitted in spring 2009 will be effective spring 2010]. Courses submitted and approved in fall semester will become effective the following fall semester [e.g. courses submitted in fall 2009 will be effective fall 2010].

1. Consult the check list to determine which check sheets you need to submit. Please note that with the exception of WAC, SPAC, and Capstone courses, courses may only be approved in one area.
2. Click on the links below to print out and complete the relevant check sheets and respond to the questions on each. You must submit a hard copy of your course submission.
3. Be sure to attach a current syllabus (that includes a statement of the criteria for the category for which you are submitting your course) to your check sheet and answers.
4. Check with your department/program and college to see if your materials need to be sent to other curriculum committees before they go to the UCC. If you are only submitting an existing course for re-certification under Gen Ed 08, you can submit your materials directly to the UCC. If there are any additional changes to the course (e.g. credit hours, catalog description, etc) or if it is a new course, it must also be submitted to the appropriate college curriculum committee.

Links to Individual Criteria Sheets

Note: most of these links are to MSWord documents.
Breadth of Knowledge Areas Arts and Humanities Social Sciences Natural Sciences	Social Diversity Areas African-American Experience U.S. Diversity
Skill Areas (for courses in Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, African-American Experience, and U.S. Diversity) Writing Oral Communication Quantitative Literacy Group Work Critical Thinking Information Literacy	Skill Intensive Areas Writing Across the Curriculum Speaking Across the Curriculum Quantitative Literacy Intensive (QL) courses
	Capstone Experience

Additional Resources on Skill Areas

Additional Documents

• Complete Plan of New General Education Requirements
  (Approved by Faculty Senate April 8, 2007)

 

For all questions please contact Rosemary Sutton, Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Studies at 216-875-9732 or r.sutton@csuohio.edu.