General Education
The core foundation for all students.
Applied Liberal Arts and Sciences
WNMU’s ALAS Program
Purpose of General Education
Western New Mexico University recognizes its obligation to ensure that each student acquires the foundation necessary to function fully in our complex and evolving society. The University believes the development of the educated person goes beyond the foundation and must include an appreciation and understanding of broad aspects of human knowledge. Through the General Education Program, the University encourages each student to explore the world in which he or she lives from a variety of perspectives. The University seeks to develop each student as a whole person capable of contributing to society and appreciating its diversity.
Using an applied liberal arts framework, we encourage students to master essential competencies while applying them to their own experiences using intellectual inquiry to answer to four questions: What is truth? What is justice? What does it mean to be human? and What is the good life?
Click here for more information about our unique ALAS program.
WNMU General Education Student Learning Outcomes
Alignment of Component Skills with Essential Skills https://hed.state.nm.us/resources-for-schools/public_schools/general-education
By the end of their general education program, students should exhibit theoretical understanding of the concepts of audience, purpose, context, and genre and be able to apply this knowledge in responding to a diverse range of audiences, purposes, and contexts with appropriate texts and performances in various media.
| Communication Component Skills | |
|---|---|
| Genre and Medium Awareness, Application, and Versatility | Identify and communicate in various genres and mediums (oral, written, and digital) using strategies appropriate for the rhetorical situations (i.e., attending to audience, purpose, and context). |
| Strategies for Understanding and Evaluating Messages | Apply strategies such as reading for main points; seeking key arguments, counterarguments, rebuttals; locating supportive documentation for arguments; reading with a specific stakeholder lens; applying a theoretical lens (e.g. cultural, political, economic) to understand and evaluate messages in terms of the rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, and context). |
| Evaluation and Production of Arguments | Evaluate the authority of sources in their own arguments and those of others; distinguish among supported claims, unsupported claims, facts, inferences, and opinions. In arguments, integrate support for their own claims with information from sources that are used and cited ethically and appropriately (using a major citation system such as MLA and APA). |
By the end of their general education program, students should utilize the four steps of critical thinking—problem identification, evidence acquisition, evidence analysis, and drawing evidence-based conclusions—and apply them across disciplines.
| Critical Thinking Component Skills | |
|---|---|
| Problem Setting | Delineate a problem or question. Students state problems/questions appropriate to the context. |
| Evidence Acquisition | Identify and gather the information/data necessary to address the problem or question. |
| Evidence Evaluation | Evaluate evidence/data for credibility (e.g. bias, reliability, and validity), probable truth, and relevance to a situation. |
| Reasoning/Conclusion | Develop conclusions, solutions, and outcomes that reflect an informed, well-reasoned evaluation. |
By the end of their general education program, students should critically consider information formats and digital environments/platforms, recognize the authority and value of information, and engage in research as inquiry.
| Information and Digital Literacy – Address 3 of the 4 Component Skills | |
|---|---|
| Authority and Value of Information | Recognize the interdependent nature of the authority and value of information and use this knowledge ethically when selecting, using, and creating information. |
| Digital Literacy | Understand, communicate, compute, create, and design in digital environments. |
| Information Structures | Select, use, produce, organize, and share information employing appropriate information formats, collections, systems, and applications. |
| Research as Inquiry | Engage in an iterative process of inquiry that defines a problem or poses a question and through research generates a reasonable solution or answer. |
By the end of their general education program, students should represent and communicate quantitative information, analyze and formulate their own quantitative arguments, and solve quantitative contextual word problems.
| Quantitative Reasoning Component Skills | |
|---|---|
| Communication/Representation of Quantitative Information | Express quantitative information symbolically, graphically, and in written or oral language. |
| Analysis of Quantitative Arguments | Interpret, analyze and critique information or a line of reasoning presented by others. |
| Application of Quantitative Models | Apply appropriate quantitative models to real world or other contextual problems. |
By the end of their general education program, students should collaborate and engage in civic discourse with others and critically reflect on global, social, political, ethical, and cultural issues.
| Personal and Social Responsibility Component Skills – (choose 2 of 5 ) | |
|---|---|
| Intercultural reasoning and intercultural competence | Explain a range of personal, social, cultural, or social justice issues as they relate to one’s own or others’ perspectives. |
| Sustainability and the natural and human worlds | Examine the relationship among environmental, socio-cultural, political, and economic systems as they interact with and affect the sustainability of the natural and human worlds. |
| Ethical Reasoning | Describe shared ethical responsibilities or moral norms among members of a group. Explain ethical issues or propose solutions based on ethical perspectives or theories. |
| Collaboration skills, teamwork and value systems | Demonstrate effective and ethical collaboration in support of meeting identified group goals. (Accountability is implied with “ethical.”) |
| Civic discourse, civic knowledge and engagement – local and global | Explain and support one’s own position on specific local or global issues while recognizing that there may be multiple valid perspectives. |
General Education Curriculum
| Area I: Communication (6 hours required) |
| Students must complete ENGL 1120 and may choose one of the following COMM courses: |
| COMM 1130 – Public Speaking (3 hours) |
| COMM 1140 – Introduction to Media Writing (3 hours) |
| COMM 2140 – Small Group Communication (3 hours) |
| Area II: Mathematics (3-5 hours required) |
| MATH 1010 – Math for School Teachers (3 hours) |
| MATH 1130 – Survey of Mathematics (3 hours) |
| MATH 1220 – College Algebra (4 hours) |
| MATH 1350 – Introduction to Statistics (3 hours) |
| MATH 1510 – Calculus (5 hours) |
| Area III: Laboratory Science (4 hours required) |
| BIOL 1110 – Biology for Diversity of Life (3 hours) |
| BIOL 1110L – Biology for Diversity of Life Lab (1 hour) |
| BIOL 1140 – Biology for Health Sciences (3 hours) |
| BIOL 1140L – Biology for Health Sciences Lab (1 hour) |
| BIOL 2110 – Principles of Biology: Cellular and Molecular Biology (3 hours) |
| BIOL 2110 L – Principles of Biology: Cellular and Molecular Biology Lab (1 hour) |
| BIOL 2210 – Human Anatomy and Physiology (3 hours) |
| BIOL 2210L – Human Anatomy and Physiology Lab (1 hour) |
| BIOL 2642 – Plant Form, Function, and Diversity (3 hours) |
| BIOL 2642L – Plan Form, Function, and Diversity Lab (1 hour) |
| CHEM 1120 – Introduction to Chemistry (non-majors) (3 hours) |
| CHEM 1120L – Introduction to Chemistry (non-majors) lab (1 hour) |
| CHEM 1215 – General Chemistry (for STEM majors) (3 hours) |
| CHEM 1215L – General Chemistry (for STEM majors) Lab (1 hour) |
| GEOL 1110 – Physical Geology (3 hours) |
| GEOL 1110L – Physical Geology Lab (1 hour) |
| GEOL 1120 – Environmental Geology (3 hours) |
| GEOL 1120L – Environmental Geology Lab (1 hour) |
| GEOL 2130 – Introduction to Meteorology (3 hours) |
| GEOL 2130L – Introduction to Meteorology Lab (1 hour) |
| PHSC 1120 – Forensic Science (3 hours) |
| PHSC 1120L – Forensic Science Lab (1 hour) |
| Area IV: Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 hours required) |
| ANTH 1140 – Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (3 hours) |
| ECON 1110 – Survey of Economics (3 hours) |
| ECON 2110 – Macroeconomic Principles (3 hours) |
| ECON 2120 – Microeconomic Principles (3 hours) |
| GEOG 1120 – World Regional Geography (3 hours) |
| GEOG 1130 – Human Geography (3 hours) |
| POLS 1110 – Introduction to Political Science (3 hours) |
| POLS 1120 – American National Government (3 hours) |
| PSYC 1110 – Introduction to Psychology (3 hours) |
| SOCI 1110 – Introduction to Sociology (3 hours) |
| SOCI 2310 – Contemporary Social Problems (3 hours) |
| SOWK 2110 – Introduction to Human Services and Social Work (3 hours) |
| Area V: Humanities (3 hours required) |
| ENGL 1410 – Introduction to Literature (3 hours) |
| ENGL 2310 – Introduction to Creative Writing (3 hours) |
| HIST 1110 – United States History I (3 hours) |
| HIST 1120 – United States History II (3 hours) |
| HIST 1150 – Western Civilization I (3 hours) |
| HIST 1160 – Western Civilization II (3 hours) |
| PHIL 1115 – Introduction to Philosophy (3 hours) |
| PHIL 2117 – Ethics and Sustainability (3 hours) |
| Area VI: Creative & Fine Arts (3-4 hours required) | |||
| ARTS 1240 – Design I (4 hours) | |||
| ARTS 1250 – Design II (4 hours) | |||
| ARTS 1410 – Introduction to Photography (4 hours) | |||
| ARTS 1610 – Drawing I (4 hours) | |||
| ARTS 1630 – Painting I (4 hours) | |||
| ARTS 2321 – Appreciation of Clay (4 hours) | |||
ARTS 2841 – Appreciation of Sculpture (4 hours)
|
| Applied Liberal Arts and Sciences (9 hours required) |
| *As indicated above, students enrolled in the A.A.S. programs are required to select only one of the ALAS courses. |
| ALAS 1810 – Humanities (3 hours) |
| ALAS 1820 – Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 hours) |
| ALAS 1825 – Career Exploration and Financial Independence (3 hours) |
| ALAS 1830 – STEM (3 hours) |
| ALAS 1835 – Creative & Fine Arts |
| ALAS 1993– Ethnic Studies (proposed; C&I and HED approval pending) |