Area C Guidelines (prior to summer 2020)

In the sections that follow, you will see the specific learning goals for each area. Together, we refer to these requirements as "Guidelines."

Generally speaking, "Educational Objectives" refer to what students will learn by completing that sub area while "Course Criteria" refer to how the course is designed to support that learning.

These guidelines pertain to courses in catalogs 2019-20 or prior.

Area C: Arts and Humanities

Lower-Division Introduction

C1, C2, & C3: Educational Objectives (C1 and C2 are both writing intensive)

C1, C2, & C3: Course Criteria

C4: Upper-Division Elective (writing intensive)

C5: Arts and Humanities Elective (C1 — C5)

Lower-Division Introduction

Areas C1: Literature, C2: Philosophy, and C3: Fine and Performing Arts provide a basic understanding of the traditions, values, and achievements found in literature, philosophy, and the fine and performing arts. Courses in this area foster, encourage, and improve students' ability to understand and respond — cognitively and affectively — to cultural achievements in both verbal and non-verbal forms.

Courses in the Arts and Humanities prepare students to see achievements within their broad historical and cultural context. These courses seek to improve and encourage students' ability to read with critical judgment and write with clarity, emphasizing writing as an integral part of the process of learning and discovery. They also cultivate an awareness of language and the arts as forms of expression valuable both in themselves and for developing critical awareness. By placing basic knowledge in a larger context, these courses provide a vision of why this area is an important component of general education.

C1, C2, & C3: Educational Objectives

Lower-division courses in C1, C2, and C3 must fulfill EACH of the following objectives:

After completing the foundation courses in Area C, students should have an enhanced ability to:

EO 1 — Understand the possibilities and limitations of language as a symbolic and expressive medium; differentiate between formal and metaphorical language;
EO 2 — Read with insight, engagement, detachment, and discrimination; sustain an extended line of reasoning through both narrative and thematic development;
EO 3 — Recognize crucial historical developments within the arts and humanities; appreciate the significance of major literary, philosophic, and artistic works;
EO 4 — Understand the historical development of issues in the humanities in significant periods prior to and including the twentieth century; understand the ways that historical context can illuminate current problems and concerns;
EO 5 — Grasp relevant aspects of the relationship of the arts and humanities to science and technology;
EO 6 — Appreciate non-verbal forms of understanding and expression; appreciate the aesthetic and historical development of one or more of the visual or performing arts; understand the relationship between form and content;
EO 7 — Understand currently accepted critical standards; understand the advantages and limitations of various schools of reasoning;
EO 8 — Appreciate the relative cultural significance of canonical and non-canonical works of literature, philosophy, and the arts.

C1, C2, & C3: Course Criteria

C1: Literature — Course Criteria

Lower-division courses in C1 must meet EACH of the following criteria: The expanded course proposal and course outline must clearly indicate how the course:

CR 1 — Provides broad historical perspective on several significant literary periods (usually covering two or more centuries);
CR 2 — Encourages a comprehensive understanding of literary achievements and their relationship to other literary achievements and to the social, cultural, and historical context in which they were written;
CR 3 — Considers works from more than one genre and provides perspective on literary classification and conventions;
CR 4 — Develops the skills of reading with insight, engagement, discrimination, and detachment;
CR 5 — Develops the skills to analyze and evaluate a variety of literary approaches;
CR 6 — Focuses on significant accomplishments by diverse writers from various world cultures;
CR 7 — Serves as a writing-intensive course in GE;
CR 8 — Completion of Area A.

C1: Literature — Course Criteria for Courses in a Language other than English

CR 1 — Cultivates language skills that are advanced rather than basic;
CR 2 — Emphasizes critical thinking and cultural understanding of a language other than English;
CR 3 — Includes a significant amount of culture specific to the language being studied;
CR 4 — Emphasizes an in-depth understanding of language, to include the difference between formal and metaphorical uses of the language being studied;
CR 5 — Emphasizes a significant amount of literature in the language being studied, and focuses on these literary readings as the primary source of the in-depth, metaphorical understanding of the language being studied.

C2: Philosophy — Course Criteria

Lower-division courses in C2 must meet EACH of the following criteria; additionally, the expanded course proposal and course outline must clearly indicate how the course:

CR 1 — Provides broad historical perspective on philosophy (including at least one ancient or medieval work, at least one modern work, and no more than one work from the twentieth century);
CR 2 — Encourages an expansive understanding of philosophic achievements and their relationship to other philosophic achievements;
CR 3 — Provides perspective on the implications of holding a particular philosophical position;
CR 4 — Develops the skills of reading with insight, engagement, discrimination, and detachment;
C5 — Develops the skills to analyze and evaluate a variety of philosophical positions;
C6 — Relies upon primary texts for readings;
C7 — Focuses primarily on major, recognized accomplishments in philosophy;
C8 — Serves as a writing-intensive course in GE.

C3: Fine and Performing Arts — Course Criteria

Courses in C3 must meet EACH of the following criteria:

The expanded course proposal and course outline must clearly indicate how the course:

CR 1 — Provides broad historical perspective on one or more of the fine or performing arts;
CR 2 — Applies critical standards to the aesthetic appreciation of art;
CR 3 — Includes critical analysis in the evaluation of the artistic endeavor;
CR 4 — Presents the ways in which the art form has had an impact on cultural development;
CR 5 — Applies appropriate learning strategies to the understanding of art forms;
CR 6 — Provides perspective on the relationship of technology to the arts;
CR 7 — Incorporates a significant amount of material from world cultural achievements;
CR 8 — Provides practice in a specific art form, if the course includes an activity or a laboratory in studio or performance art;
CR 9 — Provides assignments in writing that will form at least 25% of the students' total grade.

C4: Arts and Humanities Upper-Division Elective

Introduction

C4 courses must be integrative in nature, requiring the application and generalization of knowledge and/or understanding from foundation Area C courses (as appropriate) to the advanced study of a subject or to new, but related, areas of inquiry within the arts and humanities. These courses may be interdisciplinary in nature, and should focus on achieving depth rather than breadth. Courses in this area also emphasize writing as an integral part of the process of learning and discovery. Attention to relevant issues of gender and diversity is encouraged.

C4: Arts and Humanities — Educational Objectives

Upper-division courses in C4 must fulfill EACH of the following educational objectives:

After completing an upper-division course in the arts or the humanities, students should have an enhanced ability to:

EO 1 — Apply knowledge and understanding acquired in lower-division coursework in the arts or the humanities to the advanced study of a subject or to new, but related, areas of inquiry;
EO 2 — Respond in depth to the kinds of arts-or-humanities issues approached in lower-division study;
EO — Appreciate the implications of a focused area of study;
EO 4 — Appreciate the way in which relationships between one area of study and another provide perspective on knowledge.

C4: Arts and Humanities — Upper-Division Course Criteria

Upper-Division courses in C4 must meet EACH of the following criteria:

The course proposal and expanded course outline must clearly indicate that the course is at the 300-level, and have as prerequisites the completion of Area A and at least one or more foundation courses from Area C. Courses in this area also emphasize writing as an integral part of the process of learning and discovery. The course proposal and expanded course outline should also clearly indicate how the course:

CR 1 — Explores in depth a subject in the arts or humanities;
CR 2 — Provides perspective on the subject's relationship to other cultural achievements and to relevant issues of gender and diversity;
CR 3 — Serves as a writing intensive course in GE.

C5: Arts and Humanities Elective (C1-C5)

Introduction

Specified lower-division courses for Area C5 satisfy many of the educational objectives and course criteria as listed for Areas C1-C3 but are not foundational courses. As such, they are appropriate as secondary courses (electives) in arts and humanities. Courses specifically approved for Area C5: Elective are provided as additional choice options. Alternatively, to fulfill the C Elective requirement, students may choose any approved C1, C2, C3 or C4 course, if it is not already being used to satisfy one of those areas.

C5: Arts and Humanities Elective — Educational Objectives

Lower-division courses in C5 must fulfill EACH of the following objectives:

After completing the elective, students should have an enhanced ability to:

EO 1 — Communicate effectively in real target-language situations with an understanding of the various registers of language, including formal and metaphorical;
EO 2 — Recognize cultural development reflected in changing language use; understand the significance of major historical events and movements, including evolving technology, in the development of the target language;
EO 3 — Understand the historical/cultural development of issues in the humanities in significant periods prior to and including the twentieth century; understand the ways that historical context can illuminate current problems and concerns;
EO 4 — Appreciate the differences between various cultural registers, such as popular, traditional, indigenous, Western, non-Western, as they are expressed in the target cultures.

C5: Arts and Humanities Elective — Course Criteria

Lower-division courses in C5 must meet EACH of the following criteria:

The course proposal and expanded course outline must clearly indicate that the course is at the 121 level or above, as well as how the course:

CR 1 — Provides training in the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing at an intermediate level or above;
CR 2 — Emphasizes analysis of the structures of the target language together with contrast analysis when appropriate between the target language and English;
CR 3 — Emphasizes an understanding of language in its socio-cultural context, to include the difference between various registers of language use;
CR 4 — Includes a significant amount of cultural understanding specific to the language being studied; furthermore, cultivates in students an awareness of different perspectives based on linguistic and cultural heritage;
CR 5 — Provides opportunities to develop communicative and cultural competency so that students can function appropriately and be active participants in the target language culture.

General Education

Template and Curriculum