Program Overview

General Education Program

The General Education Program (GE) is the core of a University of the Pacific undergraduate education. The GE program cultivates habits of intellectual inquiry grounded in the liberal arts tradition and enriches a specialized field of study with an understanding of its scientific, humanistic, and artistic contexts. General education courses allow undergraduate students to collaborate across diverse intellectual and disciplinary boundaries and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to succeed in a diverse, complex, and constantly changing world.

Student Learning Outcomes

The general education program helps students become:

• Critical and integrative thinkers: Students should be able to synthesize and transfer learning to new, complex situations within and beyond the Pacific community.
• Creative problem solvers: Students should demonstrate an understanding of what it takes to move from ambiguous goals with incomplete information to design, evaluate, and implement strategies to achieve their desired goals.
• Effective communicators: Students should be able to write, speak, and present their ideas and conclusions through a variety of mediums to diverse audiences.
• Globally aware and ethically engaged citizens: Students should be able to articulate their own cultural understandings and how they differ from others, adapt empathically and ethically to unfamiliar ways of being, and participate in society in ways that are personally enriching and socially beneficial to their communities.

Coursework

The course of study described below is required for all students completing a bachelor's degree from the University. Students must complete two CORE seminars and a breadth program consisting of seven categories as well as diversity and inclusion coursework. Students must also satisfy the fundamental skills requirements in writing and quantitative analysis.

The CORE Seminars

The Pacific General Education CORE courses introduce and develop transferable skills in critical thinking, problem solving, and oral and written communication that are crucial for personal, academic, and professional success.

CORE 001: Problem Solving and Oral Communication

(3 seminar units) CORE 001 introduces students to the demands of interdisciplinary, university-level inquiry. In CORE 001, students begin to acquire the skills necessary to become self-motivated learners who can work independently and collaboratively to solve complex problems.

CORE 002: Writing and Critical Thinking

(4 seminar units) Students will develop the writing and critical thinking skills necessary for college-level academic writing and careful reasoning. Individual course sections will be thematic in nature and will vary to allow for focused exploration of complex issues and contexts though the active and engaged close reading of literary and other texts.

CORE Seminar Exemption Policy

All students who enter the University as first-year students must complete CORE 001 and CORE 002. Students who enter Pacific having completed 28 or more units of transferable, classroom college work after receiving their high school diploma are exempt from taking CORE 001 and CORE 002.

The Breadth Program (Areas of Inquiry)

(7 Categories, 3-5 Units Each) The General Education Program beyond the CORE Seminars provides students with considerable choice but within a framework that ensures they gain essential knowledge and skills. With the help of their advisors, students choose Areas of Inquiry courses that interest them or that relate to other courses in their planned course of study.

Diversity & Inclusion Requirement

The Diversity & Inclusion course requirement serves as a key curricular component of the University of the Pacific's commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence. The diversity and inclusion requirement contributes to students' intercultural competencies and to an understanding of the complex connections among domestic diversity, globalism, and democracy.

Fundamental Skills

As part of the General Education Program, all students are required to be competent in two fundamental skills at entrance: writing and quantitative analysis. Students may demonstrate competence in these skills in one of three ways:

1. Completion of approved, college-level courses at an accredited college or university;
2. Satisfactory performance on an approved, nationally administered examination; or
3. Satisfactory performance on examinations administered through Pacific.

Requirements for Transfer Students

Transfer students who have completed 28 or more units of transferable, classroom college work after receiving their high school diploma are exempt from CORE 001 and CORE 002. Individual schools and colleges may impose general education graduation requirements, including skills requirements, beyond the University's general education program.

Breadth Course List for General Education

The courses listed below are approved as counting toward the breadth program requirement in each of the seven Areas of Inquiry categories.

• Artistic Process & Creation
• Civic & Global Responsibility
• Language & Narratives
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Scientific Inquiry
• Social Inquiry
• World Perspectives & Ethics

Artistic Process & Creation

• ARTS 005: Drawing
• ARTS 007: Principles of 2-D Design and Color
• ARTS 009: Principles of 3-D Design
• ARTS 011: Digital Photography
• ARTS 023: Painting I
• ARTS 037: Sculpture
• ARTS 075: Introduction to Graphic Design

Civic & Global Responsibility

• BIOL 035: Environment: Concepts and Issues
• BUSI 053: The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business
• COMM 045: Communication & Health
• COMM 117: Public Advocacy
• ECON 051: Economic Principles and Problems
• ECON 055: Introductory Macroeconomics: Theory and Policy

Language & Narratives

• ASIA 124: Society, Gender and Culture in East Asia
• CHIN 011A: First-Year Chinese, First Semester
• CHIN 011B: First-Year Chinese, Second Semester
• CHIN 023: Intermediate Chinese, Third Semester
• CHIN 025: Intermediate Chinese, Fourth Semester

Quantitative Reasoning

• COMP 025: Computers and Information Processing
• COMP 041: Great Ideas in Computing
• COMP 047: Discrete Math for Computer Science
• COMP 051: Introduction to Computer Science
• COMP 061: Introduction to Programming for Data Science

Scientific Inquiry

• BIOL 011: Human Anatomy and Physiology
• BIOL 041: Introduction to Biology
• BIOL 051: Principles of Biology
• BIOL 061: Principles of Biology
• BIOL 074: Biology of Insects

Social Inquiry

• COMM 031: Media, Culture, & Society
• COMM 043: Introduction to Interpersonal Communication
• COMM 143: Intercultural Communication
• ECON 053: Introductory Microeconomics
• HIST 020: United States History I

World Perspectives & Ethics

• ANTH 053: Cultural Anthropology
• ARTH 007: Survey of World Art to 1400
• ARTH 009: Survey of World Art After 1400
• ARTH 101: Design Thinking
• ARTH 114: 20th Century Art and Film

Requirements for Readmitted Students

Students who originally enter Pacific as freshmen are required to complete CORE 001 and CORE 002, even if the student chooses to leave Pacific and applies for readmission at a later date.

Requirements for Post Baccalaureate Students

Students who completed a Bachelor's degree elsewhere and who are seeking an additional Bachelor's degree at Pacific do not need to complete CORE 001 or CORE 002 to satisfy the GE and Fundamental Skills requirements. Students who completed a Bachelor's degree elsewhere and who are seeking an additional Bachelor's degree at Pacific are exempt from the Diversity and Inclusion Requirement.