• The creative act, in its many manifestations, reflects, defines, and is defined by human experience and endeavors. The Arts curriculum perpetuates this proud heritage. The goal of general arts education is to help students discover, explore and interpret this rich and multi-faceted history and to situate themselves within its traditions.

    The seven world-class Schools of Architecture, Cinematic Arts, Creative Writing at the Dornsife College, Dance, Dramatic Arts, Fine Arts and Music at USC represent a full range of aesthetic and interpretive understanding, providing a comprehensive framework that encourages imagination, individual growth, personal awareness, and technical facility. Each of these schools is uniquely equipped to teach students about creativity today because of USC’s culturally abundant setting. Los Angeles is a living laboratory that both mirrors and predicts our collective global future. This vibrant world city provides a perfect environment in which to nurture aesthetic sensibilities, explore untested ideas and experiment with new forms of creative expression.

    Learning Objectives

    • Analysis: Increase the student’s ability to analyze creative endeavors, including describing them with appropriate vocabulary, examining their formal elements, and engaging in research to understand their contexts.
    • Making: Expand the student’s knowledge about the creative process, as exemplified by specific works studied and, in many cases, by the student’s making creative work.
    • Connectivity: Deepen the student’s appreciation of the connections between creative endeavors and the concurrent political, religious, and social conditions; show how these endeavors fulfill cultural functions or fill cultural needs.
    • Context: Enrich the student’s discernment of creative production by increasing knowledge of its theoretical, historical, and aesthetic bases across history and cultures.
    • Engagement: Increase the student’s understanding of becoming a lifelong supporter or participant in the arts by exposure to creative production in the contemporary environment.

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-A, The Arts

     

  • We all are self-reflective. We try to make sense of what it means to be human and how to relate to one another. We seek to understand ourselves and the world around us, and always we think about how things could be, or should be, or might have been. Humanistic inquiry takes us into realms that lie at the heart of what it means to be a thinking, feeling person, and into realms of interpretation and analysis beyond what facts and figures alone can tell us.

    Courses in humanistic inquiry encourage close engagement with works of the imagination—in words, sight, and sound—understanding what it means to live another life and see over the horizon. We explore language as a medium of artistic expression and communication. We study systems of language and thought. We seek to understand traditions that create different cultures—their concepts, values, and events in history—and see them in relation to one another. Our courses emphasize forms of representation and methods of interpretation, adopting broad perspectives that are chronological, disciplinary, and cross-disciplinary. Students immerse themselves in arts and letters to think about their own place in history and in contemporary society, and inquire into our shared futures.

     

    Learning Objectives

    USC’s Humanistic Inquiry program will introduce you to a broad range of courses and ways of thinking that will take you beyond the specialization of your major and significantly extend your ability to understand the human world and your place in it. The program will help you achieve six principal learning objectives.

    In Humanistic Inquiry courses you will:

    • Reflect on what it means to be human through close study of human experience throughout time and across diverse cultures;
    • Cultivate a critical appreciation for various forms of human expression, including literature, language, philosophy, and the arts, as well as develop an understanding of the contexts from which these forms emerge;
    • Engage with lasting ideas and values that have animated humanity throughout the centuries for a more purposeful, more ethical, and intellectually richer life;
    • Learn to read and interpret actively and analytically, to think critically and creatively, and to write and speak persuasively;
    • Learn to evaluate ideas from multiple perspectives and to formulate informed opinions on complex issues of critical importance in today’s global world;
    • Learn to collaborate effectively through traditional and new ways of disseminating knowledge.

    Having successfully met the learning objectives, you will have acquired both practical skills and more intangible competencies. You will master strategies for finding, reading and understanding relevant information from different genres, for analyzing complex problems, for making and evaluating compelling arguments, and for preparing effective presentations. You will become a clearer thinker and a stronger writer. You will know how to situate current events and ideas in the right historical and cultural context to be able to make better decisions. You will gain new insights and be inspired. You will be ready for a life of learning and creativity.

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-B, Humanistic Inquiry

     

  • At a time of rapid social, economic, and cultural transformation, both in the United States and globally, the insights of social analysis take on critical significance. The social sciences seek to explain the causes and consequences of a wide range of complex phenomena, including how individual and collective human action shapes and is shaped by economic organizations, political institutions, and social and cultural settings broadly understood. These phenomena include the role of gender, sexuality, race, class and other aspects of identity across time and settings in the United States and the world. Courses in this area will introduce students to analytical approaches and methods of social sciences, quantitative and/or qualitative, and how these insights can be brought to bear to better understand our social world.

    Requirement: two courses.

     

    Learning Objectives

    After completing this requirement students will be able to:

    • Apply methods of social analysis from at least one social science discipline to the study of human behavior and experience in economic, political, cultural and/or social settings;
    • Understand the nature of empirical evidence and assess the usefulness of qualitative and/or quantitative evidence in explaining specific social phenomena; and
    • Demonstrate an understanding of the interplay between human action and organizations, institutions, and/or social and cultural settings.

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-C, Social Analysis

     

  • Understanding the nature of scientific inquiry and the operation of the biological, physical, and technological world is essential for making personal and public policy decisions in a technological society. Courses in Life and Physical Sciences train students to understand the basic concepts and theories of science and the scientific method, with a major emphasis on the impact science has on society and the environment. Students learn about the process and methods underlying scientific inquiry, learn how to obtain accurate experimental results, are trained in the formulation of empirically-testable hypotheses, and then develop a basis for understanding the distinction between unsupported assertions versus conclusions based on sound scientific reasoning. As a result, all students should acquire substantive knowledge in science and technology, understand the processes by which scientists investigate and answer scientific questions, and be able to articulate the basic principles used to explain natural phenomena.

     

    Learning Objectives

    The underlying goal of all science education is to learn about natural phenomena, and to explore, understand, synthesize, and develop a sharper perception of science’s influences and applications to society in the past, present and future.

    All USC students should have a basic grasp of scientific methods; to construct models of the natural/living world and to test the validity of these models using empirical evidence. They should have familiarity with many of the major scientific ideas of the modern world. Various forms of research skills characterize different disciplines, but all disciplines seek to foster techniques of research and investigation, analysis and problem-solving, that provides the basis for discovery and validation in their fields. In the sciences, such procedures are at the heart of specific methodologies of discovery and research and provide the means for confirmation and falsification of conjectures and hypotheses. USC students need to understand how data is generated, presented and interpreted and how scientific discovery spurs technology growth and impacts society. A science course at USC will include field, hands-on or laboratory experience in which data are collected, analyzed and interpreted.

    The life sciences are broadly defined as courses that examine aspects of living systems, past or present, that provide a scientific understanding of a full range of living systems, from molecules to ecosystems, prokaryotes to humans, past and present.

    Most GE instructors at USC are Life and Physical Scientists with active laboratory, model-based and field research programs. The USC GE student gets a window into the research world with such a faculty, has opportunities that extend beyond the classroom, and are given an insider’s perspective of cutting-edge research in the sciences.

     

    What makes a Life Sciences course?

    • Courses that deal with living systems may include a broad range of disciplines including: Anthropology, Biomedical Engineering, Biological Sciences, Earth Sciences, Exercise Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Psychology.
    • These classes may involve field, hands-on, laboratory-based problem solving.
    • A life sciences course will explore aspects of biological, evolutionary and/or environmental science with both descriptive and quantitative elements.
    • Life sciences classes are placed in the context of research approaches and specifically how USC scientists are contributing to our understanding of living systems.

     

    Requirements for a General Education Laboratory

    A laboratory component should have twenty-four hours each semester in which a significant part includes students engaging in “hands-on science”. This should involve activities related to the scientific methods of observation and the preparation and testing of hypotheses, including the collection of descriptive or numerical data in the field or laboratory, analysis of data, and the performing of experiments. Some courses may require additional laboratory experiences or field trips, discussion groups and problem solving sessions, or working with faculty in non-classroom settings. At a minimum all hours considered toward a General Education Laboratory must provide students with the opportunity to engage actively in scientific endeavors.

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-D, Life Sciences

     

  • All USC students should have a basic grasp of scientific methods; to construct models of the natural/living world and to test the validity of these models using empirical evidence. They should have familiarity with many of the major scientific ideas of the modern world. Various forms of research skills characterize different disciplines, but all disciplines seek to foster techniques of research and investigation, analysis and problem-solving, that provides the basis for discovery and validation in their fields. In the sciences, such procedures are at the heart of specific methodologies of discovery and research and provide the means for confirmation and falsification of conjectures and hypotheses. USC students need to understand how data is generated, presented and interpreted and how scientific discovery spurs technology growth and impacts society. A science course at USC will include field, hands-on or laboratory experience in which data are collected, analyzed and interpreted.

    The physical sciences deal with analysis of natural phenomena through quantitative description and synthesis. Students will learn to solve scientific problems and to understand the processes by which scientific knowledge is obtained, evaluated and placed in the context of societal relevance.

    Most GE instructors at USC are Life and Physical Scientists with active laboratory, model-based and field research programs. The USC GE student gets a window into the research world with such a faculty, has opportunities that extend beyond the classroom, and are given an insider’s perspective of cutting-edge research in the sciences.

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-E, Physical Sciences

     

  • The Quantitative Reasoning category engages students in the analysis and manipulation of data and information related to quantifiable objects, symbolic elements, or logic in order to help them navigate the complexity and sophistication of the modern world. All Quantitative Reasoning courses, be they formal, abstract, or empirical, are designed to increase the capacity of students to evaluate chains of formal reasoning and to assess the validity of mathematical, logical, or statistical inferences. A course in this category aims to develop one or more of three sets of skills: formal reasoning (the use of formal logic or mathematics), abstract representation (the use or construction of symbolic or diagrammatic representations), and empirical analysis (the use of statistical inference).

     

    Learning Objectives

    Critical Thinking: Students will learn how to use a set of formal tools (e.g., logical or statistical inference, probability, or mathematical analysis) to pose and evaluate hypotheses, claims, questions, or problems within a given (formal) mode of thought.

    Logical Integrity: Students will be able to understand the logical structure of a given formal system, to distinguish between its assumptions and implications.

    Application: Students will be able to identify useful and specific applications of the formal systems they study.

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-F, Quantitative Reasoning

     

     

  • Courses in this category enhance understanding of citizenship and moral agency in today’s increasingly global society, exploring differences and similarities across diverse communities and cultures. Within its particular context, each course considers how the dynamics of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, tribal and/or national identity have led to conflicts, violence, inequality or domination around the world and in the contemporary United States.

    In an ever-connected world, today’s leaders must develop a range of cultural literacies. The courses in this category develop such literacies by foregrounding the experiences of marginalized groups in U.S. history and around the world.  Relevant issues include systemic racism, sexism, dis/ability, religious intolerance, and other forms of discriminatory power relations.

    The particular focus of each course may vary by discipline, but attention to social relations between cultural groups should comprise at least one third of the weekly schedule, including at least two dimensions of difference across social groups.  At least one significant assignment should require students to engage these dynamics as they shape the contemporary situation of the culture/s examined.

    While these conflicts occur in every society where different groups of people come together, USC is an American university and each course must include some attention to the contemporary United States. Students should not think these issues are relevant only for people living long ago and far away.  Each course should also include some attention to the international context.

    Courses that meet this requirement may cover a diverse range of issues, such as political, legal, ethical, or cultural aspects of the U.S. and other societies in a global context.  They can draw upon various disciplinary perspectives or methods, such as political, social or economic analyses, moral philosophy and social justice, cultural studies, and critical theory. However, all courses must engage questions of social responsibility, equity, and citizenship confronting political, social, legal, or economic institutions during the present global era.

     

    Learning Objectives

    Upon completion of their Equity in a Diverse World course, students should be able to:

    • Identify social, political, economic, and/or cultural forces in the U.S. and around the world that have led to present day conflicts and efforts to resolve them
    • Identify and critically analyze the causes and/or consequences of those forces
    • Articulate a coherent understanding of the role/s that race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, tribal and/or national identity have played in establishing institutions that perpetuate inequality among different groups of people
    • Articulate an understanding of historical examples wherein previously marginalized groups have been successful in gaining access to a broader array of rights, along with an understanding of the philosophical and rhetorical arguments, and accompanying societal shifts, that allowed for that progress
    • Articulate a definition of citizenship and offer a critical analysis of its accessibility and importance as it varies in both U.S. and global societies
    • Articulate a definition of globalization/globalism and offer a critical analysis of its impact on human life in the U.S. and around the world
    • Offer informed contributions to debates about how to improve the quality of life in the U.S. and around the world

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-G, Equity in a Diverse World 

     

  • Courses in this area examine the historical and cultural foundations of contemporary and past societies by studying enduring and influential literary, political, economic, philosophical, legal, ethical or religious traditions. Courses can examine multiple aspects of a single culture (for example, the literary and philosophical heritage of classical Greece or imperial China) or can trace the development of a fundamental idea or tradition across multiple cultures.

     

    Learning Objectives

    Students finishing a course in this area will be familiar with intellectual traditions extending back to the Greeks and Romans, as well as the other great intellectual traditions from across the globe. They will understand some of the major ways in which humans relate to the past in their present.

     

    GE Courses Approved to Satisfy GE-H, Traditions and Historical Foundations

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