General Education at the
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
(modified 10 August 2000)
Guiding Principles
The College Faculty adopted the following 9 Guiding Principles in developing the design of one campus-wide general education program that incorporates alternative curricula for each undergraduate major. Each curricula will meet the required outcomes standards and build on an appropriate portion of the general education requirement within their professional or science curricula, thereby reinforcing and enriching, rather than diverting from mission and accreditation concerns.
2) Natural Sciences
3) Social Sciences
7) Humanities
10) Basic Communication.
6) Other World Civilization
8) The Arts.
Rationale
The high value of an ESF undergraduate education is well known. The accomplishments of graduates from its array of programs are remarkable across a wide range of societal need in relatively specialized areas of science, management and policy, engineering and design. Increasingly, the ability of ESF graduates to deal with new knowledge and societal change and its global context calls for improved ways to deliver and validate student success in their general education as well as in their curricula’s relatively specialized aspects.
Shaping the future through new expectations for student learning in general education at ESF requires understanding of the influence of ESF’s specialized mission on its undergraduate curricula. ESF is not a university and it need not become merely a copy of one. Rather, in relatively specialized areas its undergraduate program degrees include only the Bachelor of Science and the professional Bachelor of Landscape Architecture. This mission and program context provide excellent grounds for distinctive programs that celebrate those emphases while achieving the learning outcome goals of general education in the spirit of and within the parameters defined by State University Trustees. In so doing, ESF can significantly impact the progress of higher education in and beyond the State University of New York.
While ESF is not a liberal arts college and it does not offer a Bachelor of Arts degree, its scientific and professional programs are profoundly influenced by its societal-based mission. Thus ESF has many excellent faculty whose principal contributions include instruction in the humanities and the social sciences. Such ESF general education offerings are complemented as appropriate with accessory instruction from Syracuse University. By this approach, each graduate of an ESF bachelor’s level degree program will possess a thorough grounding in specialized areas and the ability to solve complex problems in cooperation with others. Each will comprehend worldwide implications of parochial decisions and communicate effectively to make contributions as well-educated citizens in a changing world.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL AREAS
Students will show competence in the following quantitative reasoning skills:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: Across programs at the lower division, the number of mathematics credits required ranges from 3 to 15, but no more than six credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area.
At least one course must be chosen from among the following:
APM 105 Survey of Calculus and its Applications I (4)
APM 106 Survey of Calculus and its Applications II (4)
APM 391 Introduction to Probability and Statistics (3)
MAT 111 Basic Algebra (3)
MAT 112 Algebraic Operations and Functions (3)
MAT 117 Foundational Mathematics via Problem Solving I (3)
MAT 118 Foundational Mathematics via Problem Solving II (3)
MAT 121 Probability and Statistics for the Liberal Arts I (3)
MAT 122 Probability and Statistics for the Liberal Arts II (3)
MAT 194 Precalculus (3)
MAT 295 Calculus I (4)
MAT 296 Calculus II (4)
Students will demonstrate:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: Across programs at the lower division, the number of natural sciences credits required ranges from 11 to over 30, but no more than six credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area.
All programs require EFB 226 General Botany (4) and at least one other course chosen from among the following:
EFB 120 Global Environment (3)
EFB 226 General Botany (4)
EFB 285 Principles of Zoology (4)
EFB 320 General Ecology (4)
EFB 321 Fundamentals of Ecology for Designers and Planners (3)
FCH 150/151 General Chemistry I (3)(1)
FCH 152/153 General Chemistry II (3) (1)
FCH 210 Elements of Organic Chemistry (3)
FCH 221/222 Organic Chemistry I (3)(1)
FCH 223/224 Organic Chemistry II (3)(1)
GOL 101 Introduction to Geology (4)
PHY 211/221 General Physics I (3)(1)
PHY 212/222 General Physics II (3)(1)
Students will demonstrate:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: Across programs at the lower division, the number of social sciences credits required ranges from 3 to 12, but no more than six credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area. Courses must be chosen from among the following:
EST 221 Introduction to American Government (3)
EST 225 Introduction to Legal Processes (3)
EST 366 Attitudes, Values and the Environment (3)
EST 390 Social Processes and the Environment (3)
FOR 202 Introduction to Sociology (3)
FOR 207 Introduction to Economics (3)
GEO 103 Population and Environment (3)
MAX 132 Global Community (3)
PAF 101 An Introduction to the Analysis of Public Policy (3)
PSC 123 Comparative Government and Public Policy
PSC 124 International Relations (3)
PSC 125 Introduction to Political Theory (3)
PSY 205 Foundations of Human Behavior (3)
SOC 248 Ethnic Inequalities and Intergroup Relations (3)
SOC 281 Sociology of Families (3)
Students will demonstrate:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: the equivalent of at least one credit hour chosen from among the following courses, but no more than three credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area:
For all students:
HST 101 American History to 1865 (3)
HST 102 American History Since 1865 (3)
For students scoring above 84 of Regents:
EIN 371 American Landscape History (3)
EST 361 History of the American Environmental Movement (3)1
ETS 116 U.S. Literary History (3)
Students will demonstrate:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: the equivalent of at least one credit hour chosen from among the following courses, but no more than three credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area:
ANT 229 Tradition and Change in Europe (3)
EIN 471 History of Landscape Architecture (3)
ETS 211 Early European Literary History (3)
FIA 105 Arts and Ideas (3)
FIA 106 Arts and Ideas (3)
HST 111 Early Modern Europe, 1350-1815 (3)
HST 210 The Ancient World (3)
HST 211 Medieval and Renaissance Europe (3)
HST 212 Religion in Medieval and Reformation Europe (3)
LIT 203 Greek and Roman Epic in English Translation (3)
LIT 211 Greek and Roman Drama in Translation (3)
PHI 111 Plato’s Republic (3)(moved from Humanities)
PSC 125 Introduction to Political Theory (3)
REL 205 Ancient Greek Religion (3)
REL 206 Greco-Roman Religion (3)
REL 214 The Bible (3)
REL 215 Jewish Scriptures (3)
6. OTHER WORLD CIVILIZATIONS
Students will demonstrate:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: the equivalent of at least one credit hour chosen from among the following courses, but no more than three credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area:
AAS 241 African Religions: An Introduction (3)
ANT 121 Peoples and Cultures of the World (3)
ANT 185 Global Encounters: Comparing World Views and Values
Cross-Culturally (3)
ANT 324 Modern South Asian Cultures (3)
ANT 326 Africa Through the Novel (3)
GEO 172 World Cultures (3)
HIS 320 Traditional China (3)
HIS 321 Modern China (3)
REL 101 Religions of the World (3)
REL 285 Hinduism (3)
REL 286 Buddhism (3)
7. HUMANITIES
Students will demonstrate:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: the equivalent of at least one credit hour chosen from among the following courses, but no more than three credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area:
AAS 231 African American Literature to 1900: An Introduction (3)
AAS 235 African American Drama (3)
CLL 290 Perspectives on the Environment (3)
EST 245 Nature and Popular Culture (3)
ETS 107 Living Writers (3)
ETS 141 Readings and Interpretation I: From Language to Discourse (3)
ETS 151 Interpretation of Poetry (3)
ETS 153 Interpretation of Fiction (3)
ETS 192 Gender and Literary Texts (3)
LIN 201 The Nature and Study of Language (3)
LIT 203 Greek and Roman Epic in English Translation (3)
PHI 107 Theories of Knowledge and Reality (3)
REL 217 The New Testament (3)
REL 231 Judaic Literature (3)
REL 235 Judaism (3)
REL 248 American Religious Thought (3)
REL 252 Religious Ethics and Social Issues (3)
REL 256 Christianity (3)
Students will demonstrate:
All programs require at least one of the following courses: All programs require the equivalent of at least one credit hour chosen from among the following courses, but no more than six credits may be used to meet this knowledge and skill area:
APH 241 Art Photography, Introduction (3)
ETS 215 Sophomore Poetry Workshop (3)
ETS 217 Sophomore Fiction Workshop (3)
FIA 105/106 Arts and Ideas (3)(3)
FIA 115 The Arts in North America (3)
FIA 125 Introductory Music Theory (3)
FIA 165/166 Understanding Music I, II (3)(3)
FIA 281 The Symphonies of Beethoven (3)
FIA 301 Masterpieces of Art (3)
FIA 317 Nineteenth-Century American Painting and Sculpture (3)
LSA 182 Drawing Studio (3)
Students will demonstrate:
The College has no campus-wide knowledge requirement for proficiency in the understanding and use of a foreign language and knowledge of the distinctive features of culture(s) associated with such a foreign language. A waiver of this knowledge and skill area has been requested.
Students will:
All programs require CLL 190 Writing and the Environment (3).
COMPETENCIES
The following two competencies should be infused throughout the General Education program:
Students will:
Through the integration of courses, programs, and capstone experiences, all programs at ESF seek to achieve the stated Vision for our students which is that "ESF graduates posses a thorough grounding in their specializations, think broadly, have the ability to solve complex problems in cooperation with others, comprehend worldwide implications of parochial decisions, and communicate effectively to make contributions as well-educated citizens in a changing world".
Students will:
All programs require at least one computing methods or applications course and most all programs require a course in information management. Additionally, students will need the skills and insights learned in these courses to complete many other of the required courses in their major.
Footnotes:
1
One credit of this course may be applied to meet the knowledge and skill area for Social Science and two credits may be applied to meet the knowledge and skill area for American History.
2
One credit of this course may be applied to meet the knowledge and skill area for Western Civilization and two credits may be applied to meet the knowledge and skill area for Other World Civilizations.
3
One credit of this course may be applied to meet the knowledge and skill area for Western Civilization and two credits may be applied to meet the knowledge and skill area for The Arts.
Operational Activities