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Archived
November 05, 2015

 

General Education: Upper Division

 

General Education Table of Contents
General Education: Lower Division

 

Student Learning Outcomes have been developed for every area of General Education and a link to them can be found on the General Education website.

 

Upper Division General Education — 9 units minimum

General Requirements

Students must:

1. Begin their upper division General Education coursework no earlier than the semester they achieve upper division standing and have completed a course in Area A4 with a C- or better. (60 units minimum)
2. Complete at least 9 units of upper division General Education course work in residence at SF State
3. Complete one of two pathways for upper division General Education: Topical Perspectives or Study Abroad.
4. Complete the equivalent of one 3-unit course in each of the three domains of knowledge: Physical/Life Sciences (UD-B), Arts/Humanities (UD-C) and Social Sciences (UD-D).

 

Overlay Requirements

Overlay courses fulfill graduation requirements, but do not have specific unit requirements. They are meant to ensure that students take at least one course in areas that the campus feels are important to graduates of our university. There are four overlay requirements that students must meet: American Ethnic and Racial Minorities (AERM), Environmental Sustainability (ES), Global Perspectives (GP) and Social Justice (SJ). Overlay requirements that are met in the upper division GE courses listed below are indicated after the course title.

 

Topical Perspectives

Upper Division GE courses are organized around themes called Topical Perspectives. Students are encouraged to complete all three courses within one Topical Perspective, although it is not required. A brief description of each topic is given before its course list.

 

Topical Perspectives course lists

Creativity, Innovation and Invention

Students will explore significant acts of creativity, innovation, and/or invention along with the processes that lead to them and their consequences. Some courses may provide an opportunity for students to apply their knowledge through one or more creative media, modes of expression, or methods of discovery. Creativity, Innovation and Invention courses address such subjects as principles and models that give rise to scientific and technological breakthroughs; the origins and nature of artistic or literary creativity; social/political experiments; creative resistance and transformation; historical, social, cultural, and economic forces that influence creativity and invention; creativity and invention during periods of censorship or in societies that discourage free thought and expression; and the impact on societies, cultural traditions, or environmental factors of major innovations in various fields of human endeavor.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Creativity, Innovation and Invention should take one course from each domain.

 

 

Enduring Ideas, Values and Achievements

Students will clarify and deepen their understanding of what unites human beings—despite cultural difference and geographical distance—from ancient to contemporary times. Enduring Ideas, Values and Achievements courses address such subjects as human beings’ sense of connection to spiritual or transcendent forces, the relationship between the natural world and humankind, kinship and community bonds, the games people play, the transformation of experience into art, stories taking the form of quests or tragedies, the nature and implications of the distinctively human capacity for language, notions of identity and agency, democratic values, the development and character of cities, and technological advancement.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Enduring Ideas, Values and Achievements should take one course from each domain.

 

 

Environmental Interconnections

Students will examine interconnections among humans and other aspects of the natural world. Environmental Interconnections courses address such subjects as environmental influences on human experiences, abuse and restoration of the environment, bioethics, ecosystems, environmental stability and change, sustainable designs and processes in a global world, environmental racism and justice, environmental laws and policies, green business practices, ecotourism, global consequences of environmental crises, artistic or literary representations of human connections to the rest of the natural world, and environmental ethics.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Environmental Interconnections should take one course from each domain.

 

 

Ethical Reasoning and Action

Students will examine values that inform distinctions between right and wrong. Courses will explore the deliberative processes of ethically-minded people in situations where these distinctions are debated, contested, or unclear, and will foster an appreciation of the necessity of making individual or collective ethical choices, as well as the burdens often entailed in living with the consequences of such choices. Ethical Reasoning and Action courses address such subjects as ethical theory, human rights in the contemporary world, similarities and/or differences in ethical stances across communities, ethical issues in literature and the arts, feminist perspectives on ethics and morality, wartime political decisions, ethics and social policy, environmental ethics, freedom and social responsibility, ethical issues in health care, and the ethics of scientific or scholarly research.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Ethical Reasoning and Action should take one course from each domain.

 

 

Human Diversity

Students will focus on multiple forms and variations of human diversity, from the physiological to the cultural, and will situate these in relation to time and place. Courses encourage a respectful appreciation of differences among individuals and groups of people. Human Diversity courses address such subjects as variations in age, ability, ethnic and racial categorization, gender and sexual orientation, psychological makeup, religion, ideology, worldview and epistemological framework, custom and tradition, creative expression, socioeconomic status, and family and community organization.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Human Diversity should take one course from each domain.

 

 

Life in San Francisco Bay Area and/or California

Students will examine issues, natural phenomena, human achievements, lifestyles, etc., that contribute to defining the distinctive character of the San Francisco Bay Area and/or California. Life in the SF Bay Area/CA courses address such subjects as the physical environment and natural life, urban and other communities, neighborhoods, socio-cultural characteristics of different communities, immigration and globalism, cultural institutions, arts and literature, scientific and technological enterprise, regional history, government and politics, progressive or populist movements, and social activism. Since ours is a region inextricably linked—culturally, environmentally, and economically—to much of the world, many courses will connect local realities to national and/or global issues and phenomena.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Life in the San Francisco Bay Area and/or California should take one course from each domain.

 

 

Personal and Community Well-Being

Students will acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote personal and community well-being for both current and future generations. Well-being includes emotional, psychological, intellectual, creative, spiritual, social, economic, physical, occupational, and environmental components. Personal and Community Well-Being courses address such subjects as environmental sustainability, equitable interactions, philosophical and religious conceptions of the good life, the relationship between or interdependence of mind and body, nutrition and health, artistic and literary contributions to personal and societal well-being, environments that are fit habitations for human beings, community revitalization, and intellectual and emotional development across the life span.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Personal and Community Well-Being should take one course from each domain.

 

 

Social Justice and Civic Knowledge/Engagement

Students will explore their responsibility to work toward social justice and equity by contributing purposefully to the well-being of their local communities, their nations, and the people of the world. Social Justice and Civic Knowledge/Engagement courses address such subjects as social power and privilege, characteristics and dynamics of systemic oppression, economic exploitation within societies and beyond their borders, the personal and social consequences of phenomena like racism or sexism, scientific and pseudoscientific accounts of racial or gender differences, art or literature that represents or resists social injustice, liberation movements and political strategies aimed at eradicating injustice, freedom of the press and civic knowledge/engagement, and community activism and advocacy.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of Social Justice and Civic Knowledge/Engagement should take one course from each domain.

 

 

World Perspectives

Students will examine transnational issues and themes or those that are global in scope, and compare natural phenomena, behavior, social and political institutions and processes, or cultural traditions, in the present or the past, involving at least two nations, peoples, or world regions. World Perspectives courses address such subjects as global climate change, epidemics and pandemics, the worldwide impact of changes in information technology, international trade, comparative historical or political study of revolutions, international conflicts and resolutions, transnational exploitation and resistance, colonialism/post-colonialism, diasporas, immigrants and refugees, world religions, modern art and/or literature of the Americas, and comparative aesthetic styles and forms.

 

Students wishing to focus on the topic of World Perspectives should take one course from each domain.

 

Visit our General Education Table of Contents or go back to review General Education Program, Lower Division