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Mason Core

George Mason University
Virginia , United States
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Bachelors
Major
English Literature | Anthropology | Sociology
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Social Sciences | Humanities
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English
About Program

Program Overview

Mason Core

Mason Core is George Mason's general education program that builds the foundation for the Mason Graduate – an engaged citizen and well-rounded scholar who is prepared to act. Mason Core is a set of required courses that create the foundation of a student's undergraduate degree. It provides a breadth of liberal education courses, complementing the depth of knowledge and skills students build in their majors and minors. All undergraduates seeking a baccalaureate degree must complete Mason Core requirements.


Overview

Mason Core prepares students for work in their majors and minors, for their careers, and for life-long learning. Foundation courses build key knowledge and skills needed for academic success. Exploration courses provide a breadth of learning across the university. Integration courses include upper-division courses that are designed to integrate knowledge and skills learned from Foundation and Exploration courses into the major. Courses are designed around learning outcomes that help develop the qualities we expect of all students graduating with a Bachelor's degree from George Mason University.


Foundation Requirements (12 credits)

Foundation requirements help ensure that students master the tools and techniques necessary to succeed in college and throughout their lives and careers. These courses emphasize skills—in writing, speaking, and working with numbers and technology—that can be applied to any major field of study and career.


Written Communication (lower-level, 3 credits)

The Mason Core curriculum offers students a unique opportunity to develop writing competencies across their educational experience that prepares them to participate in academic, professional, and civic communities. It does so in part by providing students with a "vertical" writing curriculum: a carefully sequenced series of courses designed to facilitate the long-term growth of writers as they develop expertise in the production and circulation of knowledge across a range of contexts and audiences.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing the Written Communications (lower-level) course, students will be able to:


  1. Analyze and respond to a range of rhetorical situations with increased awareness of the purposes, audiences, and contexts of writing.
  2. Develop strategies for anticipating and using audience response as they engage in and reflect upon a recursive writing process that includes exploration, inquiry, and invention, as well as drafting, organizing, revising, peer-reviewing, and editing.
  3. Gain emerging college-level proficiency in critically reading and writing nonfiction genres to develop analysis, reflection, exposition, argumentation, and research skills.
  4. Use research strategies for topic exploration and refining research questions; locate, select, evaluate, synthesize, and document sources; and incorporate outside facts, perspectives, and ideas in their writing to complicate and extend their own ideas.
  5. Develop knowledge of linguistic structures and writing conventions through critical reading and practice (writing and revision) by composing different types of texts based on genre and audience.

Required:

One approved course.


  • ENGH 100: Composition for Multilingual Writers (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • ENGH 101: Composition (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 123: Language-Enhanced Composition for Multilingual Writers (Mason Core) - 4 credits

Oral Communication (3 credits)

Oral Communication courses provide foundational skills in public speaking and interpersonal communication that are applicable across disciplines and careers. Through this category, students will be able to develop and deliver well-organized presentations that are supported by credible evidence and tailored to specific audiences, purposes, and contexts.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing an Oral Communication course, students will be able to:


  1. Use high-quality evidence to effectively support the speaker's message in oral presentations.
  2. Demonstrate effective verbal and nonverbal communication in presentations.
  3. Adapt oral communication messages so that they are appropriate for specific audiences, purposes, and contexts.
  4. Explain the principles of interpersonal communication that can be used when presented with perspectives that may differ from one's own.

Required:

COMM 101 should be taken by students unless their degree program specifies a different requirement.


  • COMM 100: Public Speaking (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • COMM 101: Fundamentals of Communication (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 454: Methods of Teaching Dance (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • INTS 101: Narratives of Identity (Mason Core) - 6 credits
  • INTS 202: Public Speaking and Critical Thinking Skills (Mason Core) - 4 credits

Quantitative Reasoning (3 credits)

Quantitative Reasoning courses develop critical thinking skills using mathematical and statistical concepts to analyze and make sense of data, patterns, and relationships. By learning to evaluate problems using quantitative reasoning, students will be better equipped to make well-supported decisions in personal, academic, and workplace situations.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing a Quantitative Reasoning course, students will be able to:


  1. Interpret quantitative information and draw inferences from them.
  2. Formulate a given problem quantitatively and use appropriate arithmetical, algebraic, and/or statistical methods to solve the problem.
  3. Evaluate logical arguments using quantitative reasoning.
  4. Communicate and present quantitative results effectively.

Required:

One approved course.


  • BUS 210: Business Analytics I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CDS 292: Introduction to Social Network Analysis (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • EDRS 220: Introduction to Applied Quantitative Analysis (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HNRT 125: Applied Quantitative Reasoning (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MATH 106: Quantitative Reasoning (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MATH 108: Introductory Calculus with Business Applications (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MATH 110: Introductory Probability (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MATH 111: Linear Mathematical Modeling (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • MATH 113: Analytic Geometry and Calculus I (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • MATH 115: Analytic Geometry and Calculus I (Honors) (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • MATH 124: Calculus with Algebra/Trigonometry, Part B (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MATH 125: Discrete Mathematics I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MATH 272: Mathematics for the Elementary School Teachers II (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SOCI 213: Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • STAT 250: Introductory Statistics I (Mason Core) - 3 credits

Information Technology and Computing (3 credits)

Information technology and computing can significantly augment humans' ability to produce, consume, process, and communicate information. Thus, students need to understand ways to use such technology to enhance their lives, careers, and society, while being mindful of challenges such as security, source reliability, automation, and ethical implications.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing an Information Technology and Computing course, students will be able to:


  1. Understand the principles of information storage, exchange, security, and privacy and be aware of related ethical issues.
  2. Consume digital information critically, capable of selecting and evaluating appropriate, relevant, and trustworthy sources of information.
  3. Use appropriate information and computing technologies to organize and analyze information and use it to guide decision-making.
  4. Choose and apply appropriate algorithmic methods to solve a problem.

Required:

One approved course that meets all IT&C requirements or an approved sequence of courses that meet all IT&C requirements.


  • ANTH 395: Work, Technology, and Society: An IT Perspective (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 110: Digital Design Studio (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 180: New Media in the Creative Arts (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CDS 130: Computing for Scientists (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • COMM 320: Digital Innovations in Professional Communication (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CS 100: Principles of Computing (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CS 108: Intro to Computer Programming, Part A (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CS 112: Introduction to Computer Programming (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • CYSE 130: Introduction to Computing for Digital Systems Engineering (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ELED 257: Integrating Technology in PreK-6 (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 210: Equitable AI (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GOVT 300: Research Methods and Analysis (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • HIST 390: The Digital Past (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • INTS 203: Inquiry for Action: Facilitating Change (Mason Core) - 6 credits
  • INTS 249: Digital Literacy (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • IT 104: Introduction to Computing (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MIS 303: Introduction to Business Information Systems (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 259: Music in Computer Technology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • PHYS 251: Introduction to Computer Methods in Physics (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SOCI 410: Social Surveys and Attitude and Opinion Measurements (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SYST 130: Introduction to Computing for Digital Systems Engineering (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • UNIV 182: AI for All: Understanding and Building Artificial Intelligence (Mason Core) - 3 credits

Exploration Requirements (22 credits)

Exploration requirements help ensure that students become acquainted with the broad range of intellectual domains that contribute to a liberal education. By experiencing subject matter and ways of knowing in a variety of fields, students will be better able to synthesize new knowledge, respond to fresh challenges, and meet the demands of a complex world.


Arts (3 credits)

George Mason courses in the film making, visual, and performing arts stress generative, inquiry-based learning through direct aesthetic and creative experience in the studio environment. Art history courses address the intrinsic relationship of personal and cultural creativity, and the manifestation of aesthetics, visual culture, and visual narrative within historical contexts.


Learning Outcomes:

Courses in the Arts category must meet the first learning outcome and a minimum of two of the remaining learning outcomes. Upon completing an Arts course, students will be able to:


  1. Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship among artistic process, a work's underlying concept, and, where appropriate, contexts associated with the work.
  2. Identify and analyze the formal elements of a particular art form using vocabulary and critique appropriate to that form.
  3. Analyze cultural productions using standards appropriate to the form, as well as the works cultural significance and context.
  4. Analyze and interpret the content of material or performance culture through its social, historical, and personal contexts.
  5. Engage in generative artistic processes, including conception, creation, and ongoing critical analysis.

Required:

One approved course.


  • ARTH 101: Introduction to the Visual Arts (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 102: Symbols and Stories in Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 103: Introduction to Architecture (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 104: Design in the 20th Century (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 200: History of Western Art I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 201: History of Western Art II (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 203: Survey of Asian Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 204: Survey of Latin American Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 206: Survey of African Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 303: National Traditions (Mason Core) - 1-3 credits
  • ARTH 311: Design of Cities (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 315: Modern Architecture (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 317: The Black Pharaohs: Art and Archaeology of Ancient Nubia (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 321: Greek Art and Archaeology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 322: Roman Art and Archaeology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 324: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra: The Hellenistic World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 333: Early Christian and Byzantine Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 334: Western Medieval Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 335: Arts of Medieval England (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 340: Early Renaissance Art in Italy (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 341: Northern Renaissance Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 342: High Renaissance Art in Italy (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 343: The Art of Venice (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 344: Baroque Art in Italy, France, and Spain (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 345: Northern Baroque Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 350: History of Photography (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 360: Nineteenth-Century European Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 362: Twentieth-Century European Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 370: Arts of the United States (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 371: American Architecture and Material Culture (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 372: Studies in 18th- and 19th-Century Art of the United States (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 373: Studies in 20th-Century Art of the United States (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 375: Indigenous Arts of the US and Canada (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 376: Twentieth-Century Latin American Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 382: Arts of India (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 383: Arts of Southeast Asia (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 384: Arts of China (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 103: Introduction to the Artist's Studio (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 104: Two-Dimensional Design and Color (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 105: Three-Dimensional Design and Beyond (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 215: Typography (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 222: Drawing I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 232: Painting I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 243: Printmaking I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 252: Darkroom Photography I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 253: Digital Photography I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 262: Sculpture I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • AVT 385: EcoArt (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 101: Dance Appreciation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 119: Dance in Popular Culture (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 125: Modern/Contemporary Dance I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 131: Beginning Jazz Technique (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 145: Ballet I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 161: Beginning Tap Dance (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 225: Modern/Contemporary Dance II (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 231: Intermediate Jazz Technique (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 245: Ballet II (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 301: What is Dance? (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 331: Advanced Jazz Dance (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 390: Dance History I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • DANC 425: Advanced Modern/Contemporary Dance I (Mason Core) - 1-3 credits
  • DSGN 102: Design in the Modern World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 270: Introduction to Screen Cultures (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 315: Folklore and Folklife (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 370: Documentary and Non-Fiction Film/Media (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 371: Global TV (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 372: Introduction to Film (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 374: Screening the Global City (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 396: Introduction to Creative Writing (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FAVS 204: Film Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FAVS 225: Introduction to World Cinema (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FAVS 280: Screenwriting: Introduction (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GAME 101: Introduction to Game Design (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 316: History of Modern Architecture (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • INTS 103: Human Creativity: Science and Art (Mason Core) - 6 credits
  • INTS 245: Visual Culture and Society (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • INTS 346: Art as Social Action (Mason Core) - 4 credits
  • MUSI 100: Fundamentals of Music (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 101: Introduction to Classical Music (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 102: Popular Music in America (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 106: Fundamentals of Rock, Blues, and Jazz (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 107: Jazz and Blues in America (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 280: Athletic and Ceremonial Ensemble (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • MUSI 301: Music in Motion Pictures (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 302: American Musical Theater (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 380: Wind Symphony (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • MUSI 381: University Chorale (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • MUSI 382: Piano Ensemble (Mason Core) - 1 credit
  • MUSI 383: Symphonic Band (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • MUSI 385: Chamber Singers (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • MUSI 387: Symphony Orchestra (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • MUSI 389: Jazz Ensemble (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • MUSI 485: Chamber Ensembles (Mason Core) - 0-1 credits
  • PHIL 156: What Is Art? (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 237: Religion and Art (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 101: Theater Appreciation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 150: Global Theater Histories I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 151: Global Theater Histories II (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 210: Acting I (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 230: Fundamentals of Production (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 411: Great Film Directors (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 412: Great Film Performances (Mason Core) - 3 credits

Global Contexts (3 credits)

The goal of the Global Contexts Mason Core requirement is to enable students to explore global connections through a disciplinary lens and to understand how global systems have created both interdependence and inequalities that engaged citizens must understand in order to work toward an equitable and sustainable future.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing a Global Contexts course, students will be able to:


  1. Identify and explain how patterns of global connections across nations and/or cultures have shaped societies to create interdependence and inequality.
  2. Use a disciplinary lens to demonstrate knowledge of how at least one nation and/or culture participates in or is affected by global contexts.
  3. Apply an understanding of one's own positionality within a globally interdependent and unequal world to analyze solutions to global problems.

Required:

One approved course.


  • ANTH 309: Peoples and Cultures of India (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 313: Myth, Magic, and Mind (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 317: East Asian Cultures (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 320: Global Africa (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 331: Refugees (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 382: Urban Anthropology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARTH 320: Art of the Islamic World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • BUS 200: Global Environment of Business (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CEIE 100: Environmental Issues and Solutions Around the World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • COMM 305: Foundations of Intercultural Communication (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CONF 340: Global Conflict Analysis and Resolution (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CRIM 405: Law and Justice around the World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CULT 320: Globalization and Culture (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 270: Introduction to Screen Cultures (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 374: Screening the Global City (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • EVPP 336: Tackling Wicked Problems in Society the Environment (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FAVS 300: Global Horror Film (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FOLK 100: Global Folklore (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GCH 205: Global Health (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GGS 101: Major World Regions (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GGS 317: Geography of China (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GLOA 101: Introduction to Global Affairs (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GOVT 132: Introduction to International Politics (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GOVT 133: Introduction to Comparative Politics (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GOVT 134: Grand Challenges to Human Security (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 261: Survey of African History (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 262: Survey of African History (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 271: Survey of Latin American History (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 272: Survey of Latin American History (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 308: Nineteenth-Century Europe (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 317: Nazi Germany (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 318: Holocaust: History and Meaning (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 329: Modern Russia and the Soviet Union (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 346: Sport History and Film (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 356: Modern Japan (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 357: Postwar Japan (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 364: Revolution in Latin America (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 377: The Vietnam War (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 378: History of Aviation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 384: Global History of Christianity (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • INTS 390: International Internship (Mason Core) - 1-6 credits
  • INTS 406: Global Leadership (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • INYO 105: U.S. American Cultures (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • INYO 261: Mentoring Multilingual Learners (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • MUSI 103: Musics of the World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • NEUR 355: Cross-Cultural Studies in Scientific Inquiry (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • PSYC 379: Applied Cross-Cultural Psychology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 100: The Human Religious Experience (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 211: Introduction to Religions of the "West" (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 212: Introduction to Religions of Asia (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 310: Judaism (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 312: Islam (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 313: Hinduism (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 322: Religions of Africa (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 368: Islam, Democracy, and Human Rights (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 383: Holocaust: History and Meaning (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 384: Global History of Christianity (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SOCI 120: Globalization and Society (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SOCI 320: Globalization and Social Change (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SOCI 332: The Urban World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SPAN 212: Intermediate Spanish II: Local and Global Contexts (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SPMT 346: Sport History and Film (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SYST 202: Engineering Systems in a Complex World (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • THR 359: World Stages (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • TOUR 210: Global Understanding through Travel and Tourism (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • WMST 100: Global Representations of Women (Mason Core) - 3 credits

Global History (3 credits)

By focusing on historical experiences that reflect the diversity of George Mason's student body, students will be able to see how their families and communities fit within, and contribute to, global history from the pre-modern period to our present day. These courses offer a long-term historical perspective on structural issues challenging our world today, including demographic and environmental changes, national and global inequalities, and the underrepresentation of marginalized groups.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing a Global History course, students will be able to:


  1. Identify major chronological developments in global history from the pre-modern period (before 1400 CE) to the present.
  2. Communicate a historical argument through writing, speech, and/or digital media using a variety of primary and secondary sources.
  3. Apply historical knowledge and historical thinking to contemporary global issues.

Required:

One approved course.


  • HIST 125: Introduction to Global History (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 394: Globalization and History (Mason Core) - 3 credits

Literature (3 credits)

Courses in the Literature category develop students' abilities to read for comprehension, detail, and nuance; identify specific literary qualities of language as employed in texts they read; analyze the ways specific literary devices contribute to the meaning of a text; identify and evaluate the contribution of the social, political, historical, and cultural contexts in which a literary text is produced; and evaluate a critical argument in others' and one's own context.


Learning Outcomes:

Courses in the Literature category must meet a minimum of three learning outcomes. Upon completing the Literature category, students will be able to:


  1. Read for comprehension, detail, and nuance.
  2. Identify the specific literary qualities of language as employed in the texts they read.
  3. Analyze the ways specific literary devices contribute to the meaning of a text.
  4. Identify and evaluate the contribution of the social, political, historical, and cultural contexts in which a literary text is produced.
  5. Evaluate a critical argument in others' writing as well as one's own.

Required:

One approved course.


  • ARAB 325: Major Arab Writers/Stories (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ARAB 365: Black and Minority Cultures in Arabic Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CHIN 310: Survey of Chinese Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CHIN 311: Modern Chinese Literature in Translation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CHIN 325: Major Chinese Writers (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CHIN 328: Asian American Women Writers (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CLAS 250: Classical Mythology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CLAS 260: The Legacy of Greece and Rome (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CLAS 340: Greek and Roman Epic (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CLAS 350: Greek and Roman Tragedy (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CLAS 360: Greek and Roman Comedy (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CLAS 380: Greek and Roman Novels (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ELED 258: Children's Literature: Exploring Stories, Art, and Power of Picturebooks (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 201: Reading and Writing about Texts (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 202: Texts and Contexts (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 203: Western Literary Tradition (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 204: Western Literary Traditions (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ENGH 206: Literature in the Creation of Just Societies (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FREN 325: Major French Writers (Topic Varies) (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FREN 329: Problems of Western Civilization in French Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • FRLN 330: Topics in World Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • GERM 325: Major Writers (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 334: American Scriptures (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 381: Remembering Histories of Violence: Narrative Engagements with Difficult Pasts (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • HIST 403: Revolutionary Era in American History (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • INTS 101: Narratives of Identity (Mason Core) - 6 credits
  • INTS 363: Social Justice Narratives (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ITAL 320: Topics in Italian Film and Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ITAL 325: Major Italian Writers (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • JAPA 340: Topics in Japanese Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • KORE 311: Modern Korean Literature in Translation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • PHIL 253: Philosophy and Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 235: Religion and Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 333: Spiritual Autobiography (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 334: American Scriptures (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 338: Qur'an and Hadith (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RELI 339: The Bible as Literature (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RUSS 325: Major Russian Writers (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RUSS 326: 19th-Century Literature in Translation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • RUSS 327: 20th-Century Literature in Translation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SEED 370: Young Adult Literature in Multicultural Settings (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • SPAN 325: Major Hispanic Writers (Mason Core) - 3 credits

Natural Science (7 credits total)

Natural Science courses engage students in scientific exploration; foster their curiosity; enhance their enthusiasm for science; and enable them to apply scientific knowledge and reasoning to personal, professional, and public decision-making. Natural Science Lab courses must meet all five learning outcomes. Natural Science Overview (non-lab) courses must meet learning outcomes 1 through 4.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing the Natural Science courses, students will be able to:


  1. Understand how scientific inquiry is based on investigation of evidence from the natural world, and that scientific knowledge and understanding: a) evolves based on new evidence, and b) differs from personal and cultural beliefs.
  2. Recognize the scope and limits of science.
  3. Recognize and articulate the relationship between the natural sciences and society and the application of science to societal challenges (e.g., health, conservation, sustainability, energy, natural disasters, etc.).
  4. Evaluate scientific information (e.g., distinguish primary and secondary sources, assess credibility and validity of information).
  5. Participate in scientific inquiry and communicate the elements of the process, including: a) making careful and systematic observations, b) developing and testing a hypothesis, c) analyzing evidence, and d) interpreting results.

Required:

Seven (7) credits in total. Four (4) credits must include laboratory experience, either as an approved combination of lecture and lab or as a 4 credit course with lab. The remaining 3 credits are fulfilled by any approved Natural Science course, with or without lab.


Social and Behavioral Sciences (3 credits)

Students will develop the ability to explain how individuals, groups, or institutions are influenced by contextual factors; demonstrate awareness of changes in social and cultural constructs; and use appropriate methods and resources to apply social and behavioral science concepts, terminology, principles, and theories in analysis of significant human issues, past or present.


Learning Outcomes:

Upon completing a Social and Behavioral Science course, students will be able to:


  1. Explain how individuals, groups, or institutions are influenced by contextual factors.
  2. Demonstrate awareness of changes in social and cultural constructs.
  3. Use appropriate methods and resources to apply social and behavioral science concepts, terminology, principles, and theories in the analysis of significant human issues, past or present.

Required:

One approved course.


  • AFAM 200: Introduction to African American Studies (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 114: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 120: Unearthing the Past: Prehistory, Culture and Evolution (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 121: People of the Earth: Humanity's First Five Million Years (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 135: Introduction to Biological Anthropology (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 363: Humans, Disease, and Death (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 365: Scientific Racism and Human Variation (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • ANTH 396: Issues in Anthropology: Social Sciences (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • BUS 100: Business and Society (Mason Core) - 3 credits
  • CONF 101: Conflict and Our World (Mason Core) -
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