General Education Program

Foundation: Foundations for Lifelong Learning
Foundation courses are mostly taken in the first year and are intended to help you develop the skills necessary to succeed personally, academically, and professionally as well as increase your familiarity with campus resources. In these five courses, you will focus on college-level reading, writing, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, and speaking and listening (through speech or World Languages).

• FYE
• First Year Writing Program
• Mathematics
• Speech (English Studies)
• World Languages (Humanities)
• Lifelong Learning
  • ALFA
  • Center for Italian Culture

Benefits:

• Foundational skills
• Cohesive first year to help build a toolkit for student success

Exploration: Critical and Creative Thinking across the Disciplines
Exploration courses will allow you to experience topics from different viewpoints and use a variety of methods to think about our world - past, present, and future - as well as build upon the skills you develop in the Foundation. In these nine courses, you will be exposed to a number of artistic, civic, diverse, ethical, historical, literary, and scientific perspectives while expanding your approaches to thinking and wellness. 

• Personal Wellness
  • Campaign Resources
  • Counseling Services
  • Disability Services
  • Recreation Services
• Civic Learning
  • Constitution Day

Benefits: 

• Building on Foundation skills
• Breadth of exploration and exposure
• Balance of interdisciplinary and disciplinary

Integration: Advancing and Applying Liberal Arts and Sciences Learning
Integration courses provide the opportunity to combine what you have learned in the General Education program and your major to think about more advanced ideas and problems. In these three courses, you will learn how to take knowledge and skills from different perspectives and apply them in new ways. You will also participate in a high-impact, experiential learning experience, ranging from community engagement and study abroad to independent research and internships.

• Undergraduate Conference for Research and Creative Practice 
• Douglas and Isabelle Crocker Center for Civic Engagement
• Office of International Education: Study Abroad

Benefits:

• Continued development of Exploration learning
• Ability to choose focus
• Potential to take a minor to satisfy requirement
• High-impact practice
  • Civic Engagement
  • Experiential Learning/Internship
  • Student-Faculty Research Project
  • Student-Faculty Creative Project
  • Study Abroad
  • Team Teaching/Learning Community
  • Writing Intensive

In the Fitchburg State General Education program, you will …

• develop skills for personal, academic, and professional success
• increase your familiarity with campus resources
• gain knowledge about our world—past, present, and future—across many fields and through a variety of methods 
• explore artistic, civic, diverse, ethical, historical, literary, and scientific perspectives while expanding your approaches to thinking and wellness
• develop skills that complement your major and prepare you to tackle more complex problems and ideas connect thinking with doing and apply your learning beyond the classroom walls in experiences that range from community engagement and study abroad to student/faculty collaborative research and internships

General Education Program Requirements

Foundation

Foundations for Lifelong Learning    15 credits minimum
Reading/Information Literacy: First Year Experience (R&IL)    3 credits
Writing: Writing I (W)    3 credits
Writing/Information Literacy: Writing II (W&IL)    3 credits 
Quantitative Reasoning: Math and Developmental Math, if required (QR)    3 credits 
World Languages, Speaking and Listening (WS)    3 credits 

Exploration

Critical and Creative Thinking Across the Disciplines    27 credits minimum
Civic Learning (CV)    3 credits
Diverse Perspectives (DP)    3 credits
Ethical Reasoning (ER)    3 credits
Fine Arts Expression and Analysis (FA)    3 credits 
Historical Inquiry and Analysis (HI)    3 credits 
Literary Inquiry and Analysis (LI)    3 credits
Personal Wellness (PW)    3 credits
Procedural and Logical Thinking (PL)    3 credits
Scientific Inquiry and Analysis (SI)    3 credits

Through their complete educational experience, Fitchburg State graduates will be creative and critical thinkers who integrate and communicate their learning from a variety of disciplines and experiences in ways that enhance their civic, personal, and professional lives. 

Fitchburg State University values the education that you have completed prior to enrolling with us. The number of General Education courses that you will need to complete at Fitchburg State will be determined by the number of transfer credits accepted. The university has a tiered approach to General Education requirements for transfer students:

1-29 Credits

• Students must meet all General Education requirements.

30-59 Credits

• Students must complete all Foundation courses other than the First Year Experience (FYE). 
• Students must complete eighteen (18) credits of Exploration coursework.

60 or More Credits

• Students must complete all Foundation courses other than FYE as well as nine (9) credits of Exploration coursework.

Associate Degree or 90 Credits

• If students transfer in at least thirty-four (34) credits of general education-equivalent courses (courses that satisfy the breadth of the General Education Program), the General Education requirements are considered fulfilled.

Bachelor’s Degree

• General Education requirements are considered fulfilled.

Please note that transfer credit will apply if equivalent to Fitchburg State courses.

General Education Program Requirements

Foundation

Foundations for Lifelong Learning    15 credits minimum
Reading/Information Literacy: First Year Experience (R&IL)    3 credits
Writing: Writing I (W)    3 credits
Writing/Information Literacy: Writing II (W&IL)    3 credits 
Quantitative Reasoning: Math and Developmental Math, if required (QR)    3 credits 
World Languages, Speaking and Listening (WS)    3 credits 

Exploration

Critical and Creative Thinking Across the Disciplines    27 credits minimum
Civic Learning (CV)    3 credits
Diverse Perspectives (DP)    3 credits
Ethical Reasoning (ER)    3 credits
Fine Arts Expression and Analysis (FA)    3 credits 
Historical Inquiry and Analysis (HI)    3 credits 
Literary Inquiry and Analysis (LI)    3 credits
Personal Wellness (PW)    3 credits
Procedural and Logical Thinking (PL)    3 credits
Scientific Inquiry and Analysis (SI)    3 credits

Majors may have selected up to three General Education requirements from the EXPLORATION portion of the curriculum to fulfill with major courses. See your advisor and/or your major’s four-year plan of study for this information.

Through their complete educational experience, Fitchburg State graduates will be creative and critical thinkers who integrate and communicate their learning from a variety of disciplines and experiences in ways that enhance their civic, personal, and professional lives.

• Liberal Arts and Sciences Program (students admitted prior to Fall 2021)
• Resources
  • Academic Coaching and Tutoring Center

• Teaching Resources
  • Syllabi materials: Learning outcomes and skills icons
  • General Education Learning Outcomes, Rubrics and Guidance Documents
  • Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)
• Advising Resources
  • General Education Program Requirements
  • General Education Program for Transfer Students Requirements
  • Liberal Arts and Sciences Program (students admitted prior to Fall 2021) 
  • Interactive Advising Tool 
  • Prior to Fall 2026: How to Guide: Integration
• Courses with Designations
  • Courses with Approved Designations 
  • MAJ Approved Courses
• AUC Resources
  • Forms and Procedures
  • General Education Learning Outcomes and Guidance Documents

The Fitchburg State University General Education Program Area is designed to serve as the centralized site for general education as a discrete yet interconnected university program. It facilitates the overarching goals and maintenance of the program, including systematic assessment of learning outcomes, builds relationships with departments and offices across campus in order to manage implementation, and emphasizes how the program intersects with and supports majors. To achieve this purpose, the Program Area seeks to communicate the value of a liberal arts and sciences general education curriculum to all university stakeholders. It consistently evaluates the program as a whole in order to improve its effectiveness in helping students achieve learning outcomes and ensure that the program is aligned with the University Strategic Plan and Institutional Learning Priorities. 

Procedures

• The core membership is comprised of the Program Area Chair, the Dean of Arts and Sciences, the AUC General Education Subcommittee Chair, the First-Year Experience Coordinator, the Director of Assessment, three Department Chairs representing different schools, and three faculty members representing the three tiers of the program.
• Regular meetings are open to any university personnel with a vested interest in the General Education program, especially faculty teaching courses in the curriculum.
• Programmatic modifications to the General Education program are proposed through the AUC governance process. Departments maintain control over developing and scheduling General Education courses, and governance committees maintain control over approving individual courses.

Program Area Members

• Özge Özay, Chair, General Education Program Area
• Ana Mesquita-Emlinger , Assistant Coordinator, General Education Program Area
• Jannette McMenamy, Associate Provost
• Denise Simion, FYE Coordinator
• Sara Levine, Dean of Arts and Sciences

Ambassador and Assessment Program 2026-27

• TBA

Fall 2026 Meetings

• Dates will be announced soon

• General Education Ambassador and Assessment Program
• General Education Learning Outcomes Assessment Report 2023 (PDF)
• General Education Learning Outcomes Assessment Report 2024 (PDF)

Note: General Education Learning Outcomes Assessment Reports which were created before April 26, 2027, shall be deemed archived for reference, research, or recordkeeping purposes, without meeting WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards.