Approved Courses in Behavioral, Social, or Cultural Perspectives 

Goals & Outcomes

Students should understand the social context within which they live, and understand how the social dynamics of human behavior and the structures of social institutions influence beliefs and actions.

• Students should be able to understand the dynamics of human behavior in social interactions.  They should recognize the fundamental factors that shape themselves in relationship to others.
• Students should understand the nature of human social relationships.  They should know how people construct relationships within family, schools, work, and communities.
• Students should be able to understand how major social institutions organize and regulate social life, and allocate resources according to prevailing and alternate cultural values. They should be able to examine the balance of collective and individual interests and examine how social systems and cultural values are used to perpetuate patterns of privilege and inequality.
• Students should be able to analyze the impact of major social institutions such as the family, economy, education, government, and religion.
• Students should be able to gather information, analyze data, and draw conclusions in selected areas of the social sciences.

Civic Responsibilities Definition

Students should have an understanding of the nature of race and ethnicity, gender, and global communities, and the impact of each on our lives in the contemporary world.  The fulfillment of these goals is achieved by completing major or liberal learning courses designated as meeting each requirement.  Each goal may also be met through an approved program or equivalent sustained experience.  Also, students should seek to sustain and advance the communities in which they live by engaging in an informed and academically based service experience.  The fulfillment of the goal is achieved by completing a course in the major or liberal learning designated as meeting the requirement, or through an approved program or equivalent sustained experience. No single course, program, or sustained experience may satisfy more than two of the four civic responsibility categories.