GE Requirement Area Outcomes
Courses carrying GE designations must fulfill the course-level learning outcomes for each requirement area. Utah Code R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes defines course-level learning outcomes for the GE requirement areas.
General Education Core Designations
*Please note that GE Core designations (AI, QL, and WR1/2) are not open for application and require prior authorization from both the Office of General Education and the course’s home college.
General Education Breadth Designations
GE Core Designations
![]()
![]()
Writing
Upon successful completion of the General Education Written Communication requirement, students will be able to:
Sources and Evidence: Locate, evaluate, and integrate credible and relevant sources to achieve various writing purposes;
Genre Awareness: Demonstrate critical and conceptual awareness of genre in reading and writing—including organization, content, presentation, formatting, and stylistic choices;
Context and Purpose: Analyze rhetorical situations and adapt to the audience, purpose, modalities, and the circumstances surrounding a range of reading and writing tasks;
Language Awareness and Usage: Recognize and make intentional, critical, and contextually-informed language choices across a range of rhetorical contexts/situations; and
Recursive Writing Processes: Develop flexible, iterative, and reflective processes for invention, drafting, workshopping, and revision.
This requirement can be fulfilled by completion of both ENGL 1010 and either ENGL 2010 or ENGL 2020, or other institutionally approved courses.
![]()
American Institutions
Upon successful completion of the General Education American Institutions requirement, students will be able to:
Synthesize: Analyze, contextualize, and interpret primary and secondary source documents to understand the history, principles, form of government, and economic system of the United States;
Sources and Evidence: Locate, evaluate, and use historically, politically, and economically relevant information and data to develop and enhance information literacy and research skills;
Communicate: Communicate effectively about the history, principles, form of government, multicultural populations, and economic system of the United States; POLICY R470 APPENDIX 2
Examine: Engage diverse viewpoints that contribute to a constructive dialogue about the history, principles, form of government, and economic system of the United States; and
Apply: Apply historical, political, and economic perspectives and methods as appropriate to address big questions or threshold concepts pertaining to the history, political system, and economic system of the United States.
This requirement can be fulfilled by completion of ECON 1740, HIST 1700, HIST 2700 & HIST 2710, POLS 1100, or another institutionally approved course.
![]()
Quantitative Literacy
Upon successful completion of the General Education Quantitative Literacy requirement, students will be able to:
Communicate: Use correct terminology and proper notation to explain quantitative or mathematical relationships (equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, data) and to support an argument, assertion, or purpose using quantitative or mathematical evidence;
Mathematization: Convert quantitative or mathematical information into appropriate mathematical representations and/or models such as equations, graphs, diagrams, or tables, including making and evaluating important assumptions as needed;
Calculation: Use algebraic skills and techniques to solve problems, including the ability to identify and correct errors in calculations and understanding the role and proper use of technology in assisting with calculations;
Analysis: Draw appropriate conclusions through quantitative or mathematical analysis of data or models, including understanding and evaluating important assumptions in order to recognize the limits of the analysis; and
Application / Creation: Solve concrete and abstract problems across multiple disciplines.
This requirement can be fulfilled by completion of MATH 1030, MATH or STAT 1040, MATH 1050, or another institutionally approved course.
GE Requirement Area Learning Outcomes
![]()
Fine Arts
Upon successful completion of the General Education Arts requirement, students will be able to:
Understand: Explain the creative artistic process as an iterative and recursive practice culminating in an expression of human experience and emotion through a medium;
Appreciate: Apply artistic concepts and ideas drawn from traditions of artistic creation and theory to better engage with, analyze and understand a creative work;
Connect: Examine connections between art and society and articulate how the arts are a historical and cultural phenomenon.
![]()
Humanities
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the humanities, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Humanities requirement, students will be able to:
Examine: Examine how humanities artifacts (such as oral narratives, literature, philosophy, media, and artworks) express the human condition;
Explain: Explain how humanities artifacts take on meaning within networks or systems (such as languages, cultures, values, and worldviews) that account for the complexities and uncertainties of the human condition;
Analyze: Analyze humanities artifacts according to humanities methodologies, such as a close analysis, questioning, reasoning, interpretation, and critical thinking;
Compare and Contrast: Compare and contrast diverse humanistic perspectives across cultures, communities, and/or time periods to explain how people make meaning of their lives;and
Apply: Using humanities perspectives, reflect on big questions related to aesthetics, values, meaning, and ethics and how those apply to their own lives.
![]()
Life Science
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the life sciences, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Life Sciences requirement, students will be able to:
Apply Scientific Methods: Describe and apply approaches to scientific discovery and interpretation of experimental data;
Understand: Demonstrate understanding of matter, energy, and their influence on biological systems;
Apply Knowledge: Describe and apply evolutionary concepts in terms of inheritance, adaptation, and diversity of life;
Explain: Explain the mechanisms of information storage, expression, and exchange in living organisms or eco-systems; and
Reflect: Reflect on the relevance of life sciences in a broader context.
![]()
Physical Science
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the physical sciences, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Physical Sciences requirement, students will be able to:
Explain scientific methods: Explain science as a process and as a way of understanding the physical world;
Understand: Demonstrate understanding of matter, energy, and their influence on physical systems;
Evaluate: Evaluate the credibility of various sources of information about science-related issues; and
Apply: Describe how the Physical Sciences utilize their foundational principles to confront and solve pressing local and global challenges, shaping historical, ethical, or social landscapes in the process.
![]()
Social/Behavioral Science
Students satisfy this requirement by demonstrating a foundational understanding of the social sciences, as defined by the essential learning outcomes for the designation in Board Policy R470 Appendix, Essential Learning Outcomes.
Upon successful completion of the General Education Social and Behavioral Sciences requirement, students will be able to:
Examine: Examine institutions and human behavior through social and behavioral concepts, methods, or theories;
Analyze: Identify diverse perspectives to explore and examine social and behavioral phenomena; and
Apply: Apply discipline-relevant and scientific theories and methods to make inferences about or applications to social and behavioral phenomena at personal, institutional, or cultural levels.
Learn More