General Education Curriculum

General Education Mission Statement

The mission of the General Education Program at Tusculum University builds and enhances the foundational skills and content knowledge necessary for the academic success, career preparation, and personal development of an informed, engaged citizen, regardless of their chosen major. These competencies include effective written and verbal communication, critical thinking and analytical reasoning for problem solving, knowledge of self and diversity in their communities, and civic engagement by way of traditional instruction and service learning that extends beyond the classroom.

General Education Design

Tusculum’s General Education Curriculum is designed:

1. To be an integrated and coherent core curriculum that establishes intellectual common ground through a series of courses and experiences employing both theory and practice;
2. To incorporate innovative pedagogies that will develop students’ abilities as engaged learners in both the classroom and the community, and
3. To develop the knowledge, skills, perspectives and practical wisdom crucial to effective citizenship. Most specifically, Tusculum seeks to graduate individuals who will become engaged in their communities in various ways and who will know how to most effectively achieve the common good and justice in a global context.

General Education Course Outcomes

In the general education curriculum, Tusculum students will develop the following:

University Success Skills

• Students will create pathways for success leading up to and post-graduation by fostering early connections to institutional personnel and resources.
• Students will develop the ability to become an informed participant in civic processes.

Communication

2A Writing

• Students will develop writing facility in a variety of modes for distinct audiences.
• Students will evaluate the credibility of sources in using them to construct written arguments.

2B Public Speaking

• Students will structure evidence to convincingly support their arguments.
• Students will create messages appropriate to the audience, purpose, and context.
• Students will evaluate personal communication strengths and weaknesses

Mathematics

• Students will explain information presented in mathematical forms.
• Students will solve equations at the appropriate course level.

Arts and Humanities

• Students will identify their place within broader cultural and artistic traditions.
• Students will describe how different mediums have been used to affect the transmission of culture over time.

Natural Science

• Students will graph scientific data.
• Students will produce a scientific laboratory report using the IMRAD structure.

Social Science and Behavioral Wellness

• Students will explain the core concepts of their chosen field of study in the social sciences.
• Students will appraise relevant arguments from their chosen field of study in the social sciences.

History

• Students will explain historical change using chronological arguments.
• Students will evaluate how the presentation of events in primary sources is shaped by the authors’ perspective.

Religion

• Students will evaluate arguments arising from various authoritative religious texts.
• Students will recognize their own theological commitments on the basis of informed self-reflection.

Civic Studies

• Students will appraise citizen participation in civic processes.
• Students will summarize the disparate viewpoints prevalent in contemporary American Society pertaining to community relations.

General Education

The University-wide General Education courses are listed below. In many cases, programs of study have elected to establish an individualized list of required general education courses more appropriate for study in the major. Please refer to the individual programs for major-specific general education requirements. Unless specified as required by the major, core requirement deficiencies, except Composition II, Mathematics, Science, Religious Studies and Civic Studies are waived for students who have earned an associate of arts or associate of science degree from a regionally accredited institution.  General Education requirements, except religious studies and any program specific requisite coursework, are waived for Teacher Education students who have earned an A.S.T. in Elementary Education from a regionally accredited institution.

Total Credits: 41-42  - depending upon specific program requirements

English and Mathematics Placement

Placement Testing for English 110, English 110 Lab, and English 111

The English Department has chosen Accuplacer© as its placement tool in conjunction with ACT/SAT scores beginning Fall 2021. Students will be able to take Accuplacer online through Examity© no matter where they reside. Students will take two parts of Accuplacer-Reading and WritePlacer.  Below are the guidelines and standards:

Standards:

• Students with an ACT English sub-score of 26* or higher or an SAT Verbal sub-score of 600+ will be placed in English 111 and will not need to take English 110.
• Students scoring less than 20 on the ACT English sub-score or 470 on the SAT Verbal will be required to take Accuplacer. Students making at least an ACT 20 English sub-score (or the SAT equivalent) will automatically be placed in English 110 without a lab requirement.
• Students who wish to take Accuplacer to determine their English placement may do so; students with no national test scores must take Accuplacer.
• Students who score below a “4” on WritePlacer will be required to take English 110 with a lab component.
• Students who score a “6” on WritePlacer will take English 111.  
• Any student who does not take Accuplacer (except for those bringing in high standardized test scores) will automatically be placed into English 110 with a lab.

*The English Dept. is considering raising the scores on standardized testing for direct admittance to English 111.

Guidelines:

1. Students will be charged a $30 testing fee connected to English 110.
2. Tusculum will be charged $20 for each student who takes the two tests in Accuplacer. (There is an additional charge for taking the exams in more than one sitting so this will not be our practice.)
3. Accuplacer scores will be sent directly to TU and Vicky Johnson will oversee the placement of students into the correct English sequence.
4. TU will only pay for one chance at the placement exams for each student.
5. There are no guidelines for the Reading test on Accuplacer; the English Department wishes to study the scores and make appropriate recommendations about reading instruction, if warranted.

Math Placement (ALEKS)

All students must enroll in mathematics, but the exact requirements will vary, based on placement testing at the time of entrance to Tusculum University. Students satisfy the General Education mathematics requirement by passing the mathematics course required in their major program of study. An equivalent or higher-level transfer math class will be accepted in lieu of placement testing.

Students will access our math placement testing via Tusculum’s learning management system.