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GE Student Learning Outcomes

Sonoma State's General Education Program has 13 student learning outcomes designed to provide Seawolves with an intentional, coherent, inclusive undergraduate experience across multiple disciplinary perspectives. The program fosters broad transferable skills and integrated, engaged learning that positions students to create and participate meaningfully and ethically in our interconnected and interdependent world. 

Upon completion of General Education coursework, Seawolves will be able to:

  • Actively analyze texts in a variety of forms, genres, and disciplines (Critical Reading)
  • Iteratively formulate questions for research by gathering diverse types of information; identifying gaps, correlations, and contradictions; and using sources ethically toward a creative, informed synthesis of ideas (Information Literacy)
  • Advance cogent and ethical arguments in a variety of genres with rigor and critical inquiry (Argument)
  • Communicate clearly and eloquently in written, oral, and/or performative forms in a variety of genres and disciplines (Communication)
  • Interpret, evaluate, and employ quantitative analysis and arguments (Quantitative Reasoning)
  • Identify, interpret, and apply methods, intellectual approaches, and fundamental concepts from disciplines within the social sciences, natural and physical sciences, arts, and humanities (Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Knowledge)
  • Synthesize and apply theoretical and practical perspectives from multiple disciplines to develop an understanding of complex issues (Integration)
  • Attain and apply knowledge of social power and difference in relations between self, other people, and social structures locally and nationally while honoring contributions of people of different identities (Diverse Cultural Competencies)
  • Drawing on the past and present, develop knowledge and skills that promote active citizenship, with the capacity to deliberate, act and lead in a democratic society (Civic Responsibility)
  • Explore past and present relationships among humans and between societies and environments and create new ways to cultivate a more secure and resilient future for all of our planet (Sustainable Development)
  • Develop knowledge of past and present political, economic, and cultural relations operating at international to global scale (Global Awareness)
  • Apply knowledge, skills, and multiple perspectives in new situations to analyze and formulate solutions to complex problems with confidence and creativity (Creative Problem Solving)
  • Produce new work through performance, design, construction, art, or creative writing that is characterized by innovation, divergent thinking, and intellectual risk taking (Creative Expression)

The GE Student Learning Outcomes (GELOs) align with the campus Strategic Plan, the CSU Chancellor's Executive Order (EO 1100) as well as Sonoma State's distinctive identity as a liberal-arts institution. They provide the program with a tool to guide learning and programmatic improvement. These outcomes are measured through annual assessment efforts to ensure the campus' commitment to quality education.