Mission

D'Youville students will gain knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts as well as through integrative and applied learning including synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general-education and specialized studies.

Course Requirements

Students take ten courses (30 credits) as an introduction to the University, a variety of academic disciplines, and the skills and approaches that will continue to be essential in their major programs and in their lives. 

First Year Courses (12 credits)

All First Time in College students will take the following four courses over their first year of study. These courses introduce students to the D'Youville University Mission, academic disciples, and most of the General Education Learning Outcomes. 

• First Year Experience - FYE 100 (2 credits) 
• Humanities Seminar - ENG 112 or HIS 112 (3 credits)
• Ethics: Religious and Philosophical Perspectives - PHI 103 or RS 103 (3 credits)
• Topics in Critical Inquiry - a lecture and lab connected by topic, but taught by faculty from different disciplines (4 credits)

General Education Courses at the 200 and 300 Level (18 credits)

Students complete six courses (18 credits) beyond the First Year Courses to add disciplinary breadth and to complete the remaining General Education Learning Outcomes. 

General Education Learning Outcomes

These outcomes represent the skills and characteristics of each D'Youville Graduate. Students will complete at least one course that focuses on each of these outcomes prior to graduation. 

PRACTICAL SKILLS

Oral Communication

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will prepare and confidently deliver purposeful engaging informative or persuasive presentations designed to increase knowledge, foster understanding, or promote change in the listeners’ attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors. They will actively listen to others, acknowledge others’ ideas and perspectives, pose questions for clarification or more information, maintain professional composure, and pay attention to non-verbal cues in their own and others’ body language.

Teamwork

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will adapt and control their own behaviors in cooperative and collaborative team settings, such as the effort they put into team tasks, their manner of interacting with others on their team, and the quantity and quality of contributions they make to team discussions and products.

Technological Competence

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will present and analyze electronic data; realize the grand, wide-reaching capabilities of electronic communications; and apply their knowledge to learn technologies that are unknown, new, or unique to their chosen career path.

Written Communication

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will compose and express their ideas clearly and concisely in writing in a variety of genres and styles. They will develop content for specific contexts, audiences, and purposes—to inform, persuade, or entertain--while following the conventions of genres and disciplines; and they will provide evidence from quality reputable sources to define, shape, explain, and argue with their ideas.

INTELLECTUAL SKILLS

Creative Thinking

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will have the capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and be able to think, react, and work in imaginative ways characterized by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk-taking.

Quantitative Literacy

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will demonstrate the habit of mind to competently, confidently, and comfortably reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. They will understand and be able to create sophisticated arguments supported by quantitative evidence and clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of formats (for examples: using words, tables, graphs, and mathematical equations)

Scientific Reasoning 

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will employ systematic processes for exploring issues, objects, or works through the collection and analysis of evidence that results in informed conclusions or judgments. They will be able to break complex topics or issues into parts to view them from multiple perspectives and gain more in-depth understanding of them.

Thinking Process 

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will demonstrate a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of information, evidence, issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion, conclusion, or solution.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Civic Engagement

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will be prepared to participate in activities of personal and public concern that are both individually life enriching and socially beneficial to the community.

Cultural Competence in a Global Society

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will meaningfully engage with culturally different others; place social justice in historical and political context; and employ a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.

Ethical Reasoning and Action

Graduates of D’Youville’s General Education Program will assess their own ethical values and the social context of problems, recognize ethical issues in a variety of settings, think about how different ethical perspectives might be applied to ethical dilemmas, and consider the ramifications of alternative actions.

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Sources: D’Youville’s general education student learning outcomes were adopted from the LEAP standards and were articulated using language from the VALUE rubrics, which are utilized to assess and improve the delivery of student learning in outcomes-aligned courses.