Academic Foundations and Core Curriculum - 42 semester hours

To achieve the goals of academic foundations the faculty of Midwestern State University has developed a core curriculum for all baccalaureate degrees, which each student is expected to complete well before beginning academic specialization. The following objectives underlie the design of the core curriculum.

1. The curriculum is designed to provide each student a range of knowledge, skills, and intellectual approaches that will support his/her efforts to develop a full and productive life. To meet this objective the University offers a course of study that contributes to the development of a meaningful career and to the continued growth of the student both as an individual and as a rational and ethical member of society.
2. First, the curriculum emphasizes the acquisition of fundamental skills–skills necessary for learning, judgment, and self-expression. Chief among these are reading, analytical and critical thinking, cogent oral and written expression, computation, and quantitative reasoning.
3. Second, the curriculum seeks to develop each student’s understanding of him/herself in relation to others through a study of the liberal arts and sciences. Such study provides exposure to the collective knowledge and experience of mankind; each student learns to gather, organize, and communicate this knowledge and experience in relationships to the cultural, social, and physical environment.
4. In the aggregate, the core curriculum provides a substantial base for the second phase of university education; academic specialization to achieve significant mastery in at least one discipline or interdisciplinary field. The core curriculum not only introduces students to a variety of disciplines (and thus to related career options), but more importantly provides a perspective from which to view specialized study in relation to the whole range of human experience and endeavor. As the student proceeds to academic specialization, each academic department maintains and nurtures this integrating perspective.