General Education Curriculum

Skills Acquisition

Because of its recognition that utilizing information technology, writing and speaking effectively are skills necessary for success in college and in one’s later professional life, The University of Scranton requires that students demonstrate basic competencies in written, oral and digital communication before their junior year. These competencies may be demonstrated by students in one of the following ways: 

1. An examination supervised by Communication Department faculty (for COMM 100 ), by English Department faculty (for WRTG 107 ) and by the Computer Information Literacy Advisory Board (for C/IL 102 /C/IL 102L  or C/IL 104 ). These examinations may be taken only once by freshmen and sophomores who have not taken the course in the same skill area.
2. Successful completion (a grade of C or better) of each skills course: COMM 100  or PHIL 217J  for public speaking; WRTG 107  (or WRTG 105  & WRTG 106 ) for writing; and C/IL 102 /C/IL 102L  or C/IL 104  for computing information literacy
3. Successful completion (with a grade of C or better) of the requirements of the department sponsoring the student’s major regarding COMM 100 , C/IL 102  and C/IL 102L  or C/IL 104 , and the Eloquentia Perfecta course.  Undeclared majors should follow the instructions above.  (Note: this does not affect the required writing courses.)

Public Speaking and Writing skills can also be satisfied with INTD 117 - Writing, Research and Speaking .

Subject Matter Mastery

Writing-Intensive Requirement (W): Two courses, variable credit*

One of these courses should be in the major program of study. Writing-intensive courses may also fulfill other major, cognate and/or general education requirements. An advanced course in applied writing (WRTG 210 , WRTG 211 , WRTG 212 , WRTG 218 , WRTG 310 ) may be substituted for one of the two required writing-intensive courses.

Quantitative Reasoning (Q): One course, 3 credits*

A mathematics based course as recommended by the major or chosen by the student in consultation with an advisor.

The Human Person and God

• Theology/Religious Studies: Two courses, 6 credits

T/RS 121 - (P) Theology I: Introduction to the Bible 
T/RS 122 - (P) Theology II: Introduction to Christian Theology 

• Philosophy: Two courses, 6 credits

PHIL 120 - Introduction to Philosophy  
PHIL 210 - Ethics 

• Theology/Philosophy Elective (P): One course, 3 credits*

Nature

• Natural Science (E): Two courses, 6-8 credits*

Two courses in natural or physical sciences as recommended by the major or selected by the student after consultation with the advisor.

Culture

• Humanities (CA, CF, CH, CL, CI): Four courses, 12 credits*

Courses in the humanities as recommended by the major or selected by the student after consultation with the advisor. Students must earn 6 credits in one humanities field: foreign language (CF), history (CH) or literature (CL). The remaining 6 credits must come from the other humanities fields, with no more than 3 credits coming from the fine arts (CA).

Integration of Individual and Community

Personal

• First Year Seminar : One course, 3 credits
   
• Passport/TAPESTRY  Program: Participation in a series of co-curricular activities guided by the professor teaching your First Year Seminar
   
• Provost’s Wellness Initiative 

Social

• Social or Behavioral Science (S): Two courses, 6 credits*

Two courses in social or behavioral sciences as recommended by the major or selected by students after consultation with an advisor.

• Cultural Diversity (D): Two courses, 6 credits*

Two courses with strong cultural diversity content are required. These courses may also fulfill other major, cognate and/or general education requirements.

Electives

Four courses, 12 credits. Students are encouraged to use their general education electives to add minors or second majors where possible. For some majors, specific courses have been recommended in the GE elective area by the home departments. Where no specific recommendations have been made by the home department, any course (with a limit of 3 credits of PHED activity courses) may be used as a free elective. Please refer to the department course listings in the catalog for complete Course Descriptions . If you have a question about how a specific course satisfies a requirement, please contact your advisor, academic advising center, dean’s office or registrar’s office.

Note(s):

* A listing of courses that includes general education designations, if any, may be found under Course Descriptions  in the online undergraduate catalogs. The catalogs are accessed through the registrar’s webpage at www.scranton.edu/registrar or directly at http://matrix.scranton.edu/catalogs. General education courses offered for a particular term may be located by accessing the online course schedule, “Course Schedule Search,” through the registrar’s webpage or directly at https://ssbprd.scranton.edu/appprd/syaclst.main, selecting a term, and then searching by course attributes. Not all courses are offered every registration cycle.