Goal 4: Culture and Diversity
Respect human diversity and expand cultural understanding and global awareness
Participating in 21st century society means acquiring knowledge and understanding of the world beyond our immediate experience and culture, showing consideration and enhanced understanding for human and cultural diversity, and reexamining our own lives in a global context. Students will learn to analyze regional and international issues and perspectives, enabling them to engage with the languages, cultures, customs, beliefs, and/or behaviors from the world's various communities.
Goal 4 Learning Outcomes
Upon reaching this goal, students will be able to investigate the diversity of human experience within the United States, considering for example, age, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, sexual orientation, and social class, and appreciate the contributions of different social groups.
- This learning outcome requires one course of at least 3 credit-hours or an approved educational experience.
Courses and educational experiences approved as meeting this outcome must achieve the following:
- Devote a majority of content to ensuring student understanding of basic human diversity within the United States, such as biological, cultural, historical, linguistic, social, economic, sexual, and ideological diversity.
- Generate discussion among students, leading to examination of students’ own value assumptions in the context of various value systems within the United States.
- Integrate other-cultural readings and academic research on cultural competency to define and analyze issues and other-cultural key words and concepts, and practices within the United States.
- Evaluate student work that documents and measures their grasp of diverse cultures and value systems within the United States through reflective written or oral analysis.
Upon reaching this goal, students will be able to examine a variety of perspectives in the global community, distinguish their own cultural patterns, and respond flexibly to multiple world views.
- This learning outcome requires one course of at least 3 credit-hours, an approved educational experience, or a combination of a course/educational experience and a significant study abroad experience.
Courses and educational experiences approved as meeting this outcome must achieve the following:
- Devote a majority of content to other-cultural material in order to raise student awareness of, engagement with, and analysis of various elements of other-cultural understanding of communities outside the United States.
- Develop the ability of students to discuss, debate, and analyze non-US cultures in relation to the student’s own value assumptions.
- Sensitize students to various cultural beliefs, behaviors, and practices through other-cultural readings and academic research on cultural competency so that students may be better prepared to negotiate cross-cultural situations.
- Evaluate student work that documents and measures their grasp of global cultures and value systems through reflective written or oral analysis.