University College

The General Education Program at Appalachian seeks to provide students with a first-rate liberal arts education. Our goal is well-rounded students with the knowledge and skills important for professional and personal success at Appalachian and after graduation: abilities to think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, make local-to-global connections, and understand the responsibilities of community membership. Furthermore, as an experience shared by our undergraduate students and our faculty, it is important that the General Education Program represents Appalachian's identity. It is also important for our General Education program to adapt and evolve in response to emerging challenges, changes, and opportunities.

A revised General Education Program will go into effect for Fall 2025. The revised program was approved by General Education Council and the Undergraduate Academic Policies and Procedures (AP&P) Committee in Spring 2023. This revised program is a result of campus-wide efforts beginning during Fall 2020. A summary of those efforts is:

• The General Education Listening Task Force (2020-21) hosted campus-wide listening sessions to hear perspectives from the campus community on a range of topics related to General Education at the program level, and to help plan for its future.
• The General Education Revision Task Force (2021-22) developed a proposal for a revised General Education Program based on the recommendations of the General Education Listening Task Force final report.
• The General Education Financial Literacy Feasibility Committee (Fall 2022) reported on the feasibility of including a required Financial Literacy component in the General Education Program.

The revised General Education Program, the Appalachian Experience, has been designed to provide more flexibility to students and to align with Appalachian’s stated mission to shape students into globally minded, responsible members of society who engage with and actively contribute to their communities. This new General Education Program includes required coursework in Sustainability and Climate Literacy (SCL) and Intercultural Literacy (ICL). These curricular components ensure that the General Education Program also reflects Appalachian’s core values of: Diversity, equity and inclusion; Sustainability and resilience; and Global perspective. The new General Education Program also aligns well with Appalachian’s new Quality Enhancement Plan, Climate Literacy and Response-Ability: Cultivating Resilient and Just Communities. A summary of the new General Education Program can be found here.

During the 2023-24 academic year, the General Education Program looks forward to working with departments and other stakeholders across campus to prepare for implementation of General Education 3: The Appalachian Experience in Fall 2025. Please note that as part of this revision, the AP&P Proposal Form – Part C (for General Education Courses) has also been updated.