General Education Requirements

The University of Montana-Missoula's General Education Program provides a broad academic base that supports both undergraduate learning at the University of Montana-Missoula and continued learning following graduation. While the General Education Program offers students considerable flexibility in selecting courses, it has a set of common educational objectives for all students.

In accordance with the mission of the University of Montana-Missoula, these objectives are to develop competent and humane individuals who are informed, ethical, literate, and engaged citizens of local and global communities. Students should become acquainted with issues facing contemporary society, participate in the creative arts, develop an understanding of science and technology, cultivate an appreciation of the humanities, and examine the history of different American and global cultures. Upon completion of the general education requirements students should be able to articulate ideas orally and in writing, understand and critically evaluate tangible and abstract concepts, and employ mathematical and other related skills appropriate to a technologically focused society.

In summary, the General Education Program is designed to provide a high quality intellectual foundation that accommodates all UM students whether in liberal arts or professional programs. This foundation will be reinforced, expanded, and refined as students continue through their course of study. Students are encouraged to prepare for productive roles in their chosen fields by cultivating civic awareness vital to the greater community and a democratic society. The acquired skills will allow students to examine critically the human experience and achieve genuine confidence in their knowledge and abilities. For the General Education Program to accomplish its goals, students must assume primary responsibility for their growth and education.

Overview

To earn a baccalaureate degree, all students must complete successfully, in addition to any other requirements, the following General Education Requirements (GERs). Students who have completed an approved lower-division general education program at an approved Montana institution of higher education should refer to the catalog section on General Education for Transfer Students.

All General Education courses must be at least 3 credits, must be introductory and foundational, and have no more than one pre-requisite. The General Education Committee may allow exceptions for upper-division courses, courses fewer than three credits, and for courses with more than one prerequisite if the proposing unit can justify such an exception.

Some courses may satisfy both the Writing Across the Curriculum requirement (1.2) and one of the Groups IV through XI. Some courses may satisfy both Group IX and one of the Groups IV through VIII. Some courses may satisfy both Group X and one of the Groups IV through VIII.

Many of the general education courses listed below require prerequisites be met before registration. Prerequisites are listed in individual course descriptions.

NOTE: All courses taken to satisfy General Education Requirements must be taken for a traditional letter grade and must be passed with a grade of C- or better.

Students are cautioned that approved courses may change from year to year. To be used for General Education credit, a course must be listed as approved in the Class Schedule for the semester a student registers for it.

Some courses satisfy more than one group. See the list in the next section.

Courses that Satisfy More than One Group

The following courses satisfy more than one general education group.

Group I: English Writing Skills

Students must satisfy the following three requirements:

1. Introductory College Writing
2. Writing Across the Curriculum
3. Writing in the Disciplines

Introductory College Writing

Students must complete WRIT 101 , WRIT 201 , or an equivalent composition course with a grade of C- or better. Students with Language and Composition AP scores of 4 or better are exempted from this requirement.

Entering students who are placed into WRIT 095 , based on their standardized test scores, must successfully complete WRIT 095 prior to enrolling in WRIT 101 or WRIT 201 or enroll in a section of WRIT 101 with co-requisite support. Students may challenge their placement with specific scores from the University Writing Assessment. Entering students who place into WRIT 201 may choose to take WRIT 101 instead.

Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines

To fulfill the General Education requirements for college writing students must pass one Writing Across the Curriculum course with a grade of C- or better and also one Writing in the Disciplines course with a grade of C- or better (in this order, if possible).

Upon completing the Writing Across the Curriculum course, students should be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

• Use writing to learn and synthesize new concepts.
• Formulate and express written opinions and ideas that are developed, logical, and organized.
• Compose written documents that are appropriate for a given audience, purpose, and context.
• Revise written work based on comments from the instructor.
• Find, evaluate, and use information effectively and ethically.

Students may not use the same writing course to meet both the Writing Across the Curriculum and the Writing in the Disciplines requirements. The courses satisfying the Writing in the Disciplines requirement differ according to the student's major.

Upon completing the Writing in the Disciplines requirement, students should be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

• Identify and pursue sophisticated questions for academic inquiry.
• Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information effectively from diverse sources.
• Manage multiple perspectives as appropriate.
• Recognize the purposes and needs of discipline-specific audiences and adopt the academic voice necessary for the chosen discipline.
• Use multiple drafts, revision, and editing in conducting inquiry and preparing written work.
• Follow the conventions of citation, documentation, and formal presentation that are appropriate to the discipline.
• Develop competence in information technology and digital literacy.

Students should examine the course catalog for the specific courses that fulfill the writing requirements and consult with their advisor. The courses satisfying either the Writing Across the Curriculum or the Writing in the Disciplines requirements are listed in separate tables below.

Writing Across the Curriculum Courses

The following courses are designated as Writing Across the Curriculum courses for this catalog year. Students are cautioned that courses may change from year to year. To be used to fulfill the General Education Requirement, a course must be listed as a Writing Across the Curriculum course in the catalog and in the class schedule for the semester a student registers for it.

Writing in the Disciplines Courses

The following courses are designated as Writing in the Disciplines courses for this catalog year. Students should consult with their advisor regarding the requirement specified by their major.

Group II: Mathematics

Mathematical literacy implies an appreciation of the beauty of mathematics, an ability to apply mathematical reasoning, and an understanding of how mathematics and statistics are used in many arenas. Mathematical literacy may be attained through the study of the properties of numbers, mathematical modeling, geometry, data analysis and probability, with the overarching goal of learning mathematical reasoning and problem solving.

Mathematical literacy cannot be achieved in a single course. However, for the purposes of general education, the mathematical literacy requirement can be met by any one of the following:

achieving a grade of C- or better in one of the following courses which address different aspects of mathematical literacy:

Students must complete the mathematical literacy requirement by the time they have earned 30 credits; if not, they must register for a mathematical sciences course every semester until they have completed the requirement. Because many other courses at the university assume some mathematical literacy, it is strongly recommended that all students complete their mathematical literacy requirement as soon as possible.

Upon completion of the mathematical literacy requirement, a student will be able to effectively apply mathematical or statistical reasoning to a variety of applied or theoretical problems.

Group III: Modern and Classical Languages

The study of language is a core component of a liberal arts education. Students must complete the first-year sequence of a language or demonstrate comparable proficiency to fulfill the General Education language requirement (test-out provisions apply).

The language requirement can be met in any of the following ways:

1. by achieving a C- or better in a second-semester language course offered at the University of Montana (see list of courses below);
2. by achieving a grade of C- or better in a language course numbered 201 or above at the University of Montana (see list of courses below);
3. by presenting a transcript record of completion with a grade of C- or better of a second- semester (or more advanced) language course at an accredited college or university;
4. by achieving an appropriate score on a placement exam administered by the offering department;
5. by receiving verification of an appropriate level of proficiency in any other natural language in collaboration with the department of World Languages and Cultures. Note that the student's native language, if it is not English, can be used to fulfill this requirement.

Upon completion of the Modern and Classical Languages requirement, the student will have a basic functional knowledge of a second natural language sufficient to:

• read and write if the language is classical, such as Latin or classical Greek;
• speak and aurally comprehend, if the language does not have a written tradition, such as Salish;
• perform all four skills (speaking, aural comprehension, reading, and writing) if the language is modern and has a written tradition, such as Japanese or French;
• demonstrate both receptive (visual comprehension) and expressive (manual production) proficiency if the language is American Sign Language.

The courses listed below require prerequisites be met before registration. The prerequisites for the following courses are listed in the individual course descriptions.