www.generaleducation.appstate.edu
Ted Zerucha, Director
Kristin M. Hyle, Assistant Director
A degree from Appalachian State University begins with the General Education Program. Its interdisciplinary curriculum provides a challenging liberal education through which students learn to adapt to new environments, integrate knowledge from diverse sources, and continue learning throughout their lives. The General Education Program draws on nationally identified best educational practices, as well as what employers demand from today’s graduates.
The General Education Program has four goals for students: thinking critically and creatively, communicating effectively, making local to global connections, and understanding responsibilities of community membership.
The General Education Program accounts for 44 semester hours of a student’s degree program. A total of 17 semester hours come from the program’s Integrative Learning Experience and Science Inquiry - with multi-disciplinary themes from which students select their courses. An additional 12 hours come from the Liberal Studies Experience.
The program also includes a first year seminar course; writing courses at the freshman, sophomore, and junior level; quantitative literacy courses to develop reasoning and numerical skills; and a wellness literacy requirement to enhance students’ knowledge and management of their personal health in all its dimensions. The General Education Program culminates with a capstone experience in the student’s major.
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)
www.wac.appstate.edu
Georgia B. Rhoades, Director
The Writing Across the Curriculum Program (WAC) works closely with General Education, the University Writing Center, the RC Program, and faculty in the disciplines (WID) to support faculty development for the vertical writing curriculum and assessment of writing. WAC consultants offer individual, group, and program workshops in writing pedagogy and have worked with faculty in all programs in the university. WAC also offers Don’t Cancel That Class, an on-going project that allows faculty to invite a WAC consultant to teach a writing-focused class when the faculty member must be absent. Since 2009, we have offered Writing Across Institutions, a free conference on writing pedagogy for community college faculty and taken responsibility for community college faculty development for ENG 112, the WAC course. WAC’s outreach programs include Women’s Writing Pilgrimage, which offers a monthly writing session and annual performance, and Writers’ Cafe, support for community writers. With UWC and RC, WAC was awarded the CCCC Certificate of Excellence in 2011. We also offer campus visits and WAC workshops: for more information, email rhoadesgd@appstate.edu.
First Year Seminar
www.firstyearseminar.appstate.edu
Martha McCaughey, Director
First Year Seminar is a first year course in the General Education Program designed to introduce new students to rigorous academic study at the University level through interdisciplinary engagement with a broad topic or question. Instuctors engage FYS students in a shared process of inquiry in small seminar-style classes. First Year Seminar helps students make the transition to academic life at Appalachian by introducing them to a variety of library research tools and to the wide range of resources Appalachian provides its students. FYS classes have students practice creative and critical thinking and communicating effectively, and cultivate intercultural competence by examining a single issue from multiple perspectives.
For more information and descriptions of the many topics offered as First Year Seminars, see www.firstyearseminar.appstate.edu.
First Year Seminar Policy for Transfer Students
Students who transfer to Appalachian State University with 0-29 semester hours and/or who enter Appalachian within one year of high school graduation will be required to take UCO 1200 - First Year Seminar (3) or its equivalent in HON or WRC.
Students who transfer to Appalachian State University at least one year after high school graduation and who have 30 or more semester hours of transferable work will be exempted from the First Year Seminar requirement. This may result in a reduction of 3 semester hours in the general education requirements for each of these students. If a student completes all other graduation requirements and falls short of the minimum number of hours for graduation, they will be required to make up the shortage of hours by completing other coursework.
Students who have earned 60 or more semester hours at any combination of institutions will not be allowed to enroll in UCO 1200 . If a student with 60 or more semester hours wishes to enroll and has a pedagogically sound reason for wanting to do so, she or he may request permission to enroll in UCO 1200 from the Office of General Education. For students affected by this policy, the Office of Transfer Articulation will add to the record of transfer work a course of UCO MET with a grade of CR. UCO MET will serve as an equivalent to UCO 1200 for purposes of major declaration and enrollment in RC 2001 - Introduction to Writing Across the Curriculum (3) .
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