ADVISOR’S BRIEF GUIDE TO GE2000

General Education 2000 is designed to do four things:

  1. Help students develop key basic skills for academic success in college and for life beyond college as well (Writing--Basic and Advanced; Oral Proficiency; Computer Literacy; Critical Thinking);
  2. Expose students to a wide array of knowledge areas (scholarly disciplines) so that they will understand how specialists in different fields make sense of the world (Knowledge Foundations);
  3. Develop the students’ knowledge and understanding of American history and cultural diversity and of Western civilization and non-Western cultures as well ( America & the Western Heritage; Foreign Language; Human Diversity); and
  4. Engage students in the exploration of complex issues, using insights and perspectives from different disciplines (Intellectual Issues).

In addition to emphasizing the value of this General Education program (broad liberal education; intellectual versatility; etc.), as well as the student’s major (field of specialization, mastery), the advisor should note that Gen Ed and the major overlap in several ways. Courses can count for Gen Ed and major requirements at the same time; some parts of Gen Ed (e.g., Advanced Expository Writing) are purposely embedded in the major; while other parts can or must be satisfied (e.g., Human Diversity and Intellectual Issues, respectively) with upper-division course work. Gen Ed is not to be viewed as simply a collection of lower-division courses to be “gotten out of the way” so that work in the student’s “real” area of interest – the major – can proceed.  Student and advisor both should focus on the curricular opportunities and value to be found in the Gen Ed program. And every advisor should be an advocate for Gen Ed as well as an expert on the particulars of academic work in one department or discipline.

I. ALL-COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS

II. NEW STUDENTS & TRANSFER STUDENTS – NON-DEGREE HOLDING*

Suggested sequence for determining appropriate courses in the first years:

  1. AP or Transfer Credits? — Check to avoid unnecessary duplication.
  2. GE Math Qualified? MAT106/206 requires a Competency Exam
    1. YES – Place in appropriate course
    2. NO – Recommend MAX100/MAX101.
  3. GE English102
    1. Determine if designated for Fall or Spring.
    2. Determine if designated for ENG101.
    3. Inform students with outstanding Regents/SAT scores of waiver exam. Refer them to the English department.
  4. GE Computer Literacy— Inform student of waiver exam. Otherwise, suggest appropriate course. Check for major cognate in this area.
  5. GE Critical Thinking— Inform student of waiver exam. Otherwise, suggest appropriate course. Check for major cognate in this area.
  6. GE Foreign Language— Check high school record for 1 year beyond Regents 3. Otherwise, suggest 101 or 102 level, depending on previous study.
  7. Hart Hall —Select a course from the approved list.
  8. Gateway/Core courses in the major and/or minor.
  9. Knowledge Foundations courses— Check for exemptions based on major.
  10. American History and/or Western Civilization

Students should strive to complete the Basic Skills (Writing; Computer Literacy; Critical Thinking) and Foreign Language requirements first— i.e., during the first year of course work at Oswego. These skills are designed to prepare the student for success in college-level courses across the board.

Foreign language proficiency can also prove to be useful in other courses. But in addition, the student should be encouraged to fulfill that GE2000 requirement relatively early on because that makes it possible to build effectively on language study completed during high school. The longer a student waits before resuming foreign language study, the less he or she is likely to remember from those prior years of instruction. Postponing college-level language study till the second or third year only makes sense if, for whatever reason, the student has little or no prior experience with or proficiency in the language chosen (and thus nothing to “build on”).

After Basic Skills and Foreign Language, the Knowledge Foundations requirements should get priority. These should all be completed (taking the student’s area of exemption into account) during the first two years of course work at Oswego. These courses, as the requirement’s label suggests, are designed to be “foundational” in at least two senses: first, they introduce the student to the ways in which particular scholarly disciplines ask and answer questions about the world and thus they serve as a basis for further course work in those disciplines; second, they set the stage for more advanced course work in the General Education program itself. For instance, the Intellectual Issues courses are designed for students who have satisfied their Basic Skills and Knowledge Foundations requirements in full.

Of all the Knowledge Foundations requirements, that in Mathematics is the most likely to be put off or neglected by the incoming student. For that reason, and because— like foreign language instruction—the college-level Math courses approved for Gen Ed depend on proficiency acquired in high school study of the subject, it is important for the advisor to encourage the student to satisfy this requirement as early as possible. Remember that enrolling in any Math 106/206 course for this Gen Ed requirement has a prerequisite, namely the demonstration of “math competency” by passing the Math Department’s competency exam.

*For transfer students who matriculated prior to Fall 2000 but lack a degree, advisors should consult with the Director of General Education as to which GE Program is deemed most appropriate.

III. TRANSFER STUDENTS – DEGREE-HOLDING WHO MATRICULATED FALL 2000 AND LATER

SUNY-wide policy dictates that every graduate of a baccalaureate program who matriculated or will matriculate at a SUNY school in Fall 2000 or later will have to have satisfied the 10 requirements and 2 competencies of the SUNY-GER.

Students graduating from community colleges and going on to four-year colleges and universities will often arrive at Oswego having already satisfied some of the requirements (and both competencies) if they come to us with an associate’s degree. However, they will be expected to satisfy the remaining General Education requirements.

With respect to Oswego’s local general education requirements, above and beyond the SUNYGER, every transfer student from schools with whom SUNY Oswego has a general articulation agreement, who comes to us with an AA, AS, or AAS degree, should:

IV. TRANSFER STUDENTS – DEGREE-HOLDING WHO MATRICULATED PRIOR TO FALL 2000

Transfer students holding an A.A. or an A.S. degree, who matriculated prior to Fall 2000 from schools with whom SUNY Oswego has a general articulation agreement, will have all general education requirements waived with the exception of:

 Last Updated: 7/9/07