General Education Requirements

FKL General Education

The General Education portion of the FKL Core Curriculum consists of six Core Areas of Knowledge and Inquiry. These Core Areas are:

English Composition
Fine Arts and Humanities
Human and Cultural Diversity in a Global Context
Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning
Natural Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences


The FKL Core Curriculum is further characterized by a set of fourteen "Dimensions" or areas of emphasis, including intellectual strategies, approaches to knowledge and processes of acquiring knowledge, perspectives and their contexts, and the basic academic competencies required of all baccalaureate degrees. Their purpose is to assure that students have the opportunity to develop an array of knowledge, skills, and understandings that help them grasp the expansive and interdisciplinary nature of the liberal arts education. These fourteen dimensions will be incorporated into courses that are certified as meeting the general education core curriculum:

Critical Thinking
Inquiry-Based Learning
Scientific Processes
Creative and Interpretive Processes and Experiences
Global Context
Human Historical Context and Process
Environmental Perspectives
Human and Cultural Diversity
Ethical Perspectives
Inter-relationships among Disciplines
Written Language Skills
Oral Language Skills
Information Literacy
Quantitative Literacy


The components of the FKL Core Curriculum appear on the Component Matrix. On the left hand side of the matrix are the general areas of study (Core Areas of Knowledge and Inquiry). The numbers following each designation denote the number of required courses in each area. The items across the top of the Component Matrix denote the Dimensions of the program and correlate with the desired goals and outcomes. These Dimensions are to be emphasized in one or more courses of the program as appropriate. Each course approved for the General Education portion of the FKL Core Curriculum must meet a minimum of four dimensions and must also satisfy the criteria from the appropriate Core Area of Knowledge. Capstone Learning Experience courses must meet a minimum of three dimensions and must also satisfy the criteria for Capstone Learning Experience courses. Criteria for the Core Areas of Knowledge and Inquiry, for the Capstone Learning Experience, and for the Dimensions are provided. These are requirements that courses must meet to gain approval for inclusion in the FKL Core Curriculum.