Foundations Outline and Purpose

The Foundations program is the College’s general education program. Details about requirements in the Foundations program can be found in the Catalog under Courses of Study, Requirements for Graduation.

Suggestions on fulfilling Foundations program requirements can be found at the Foundations Requirements page.

Regardless of their particular degree program, all students in the College must complete courses in the Foundations program. If you take a moment to familiarize yourself with the structure of the general education program, it becomes easier to comprehend and satisfy the requirements.

There are six components of the Foundations program:  first-year foundations, intellectual and cultural foundations, intercultural foundations, skills foundations, disciplinary foundations, and scholarship foundations. 

First-year, intellectual and cultural, and intercultural foundations are primarily concerned with introduction and acculturation into the academic and intellectual community, with the goal of fostering habits of thinking and inquiry both in and out of the classroom. In particular, the intellectual and cultural events requirement assists in the development of intellectual and cultural understanding and provides the College community with a venue for shared experiences and discussion.

Skills foundations emphasize expression through written, spoken, artistic, or mathematical literacy.  By developing basic competency in a creative art, a foreign language, mathematics, and writing, students have the skills necessary for successful future coursework.

Disciplinary foundations provide the student with an introduction to several core disciplines in order to develop a broad understanding of different modes of problem solving and inquiry.

The above components culminate in the Scholarship foundations requirement, in which all students participate in a scholarly senior seminar or project, and a senior conference, where students present their work in a public forum.

For suggestions on fulfilling Foundations program requirements, see the Foundations Requirements page.