General Education

The Program

The General Education Program at Watkins serves a fundamental and foundational role
in the institution’s pursuit of its mission (see page 6). Specific required and elective
courses in communications, humanities, and the sciences enable students to progress
comprehensively through the curriculum, entering the advanced courses in their major
programs as critical, analytical thinkers able to understand and solve problems. These
students will have also developed a perspective relative to those problems in their
historical, cultural, and physical context, and they will be able to express their thinking
about those problems as effective writers and speakers. Other specific required and
elective courses in General Education provide a fundamental Visual Arts Core
curriculum that, taken together, insures that students understand and are proficient in
the basic principles and applications that form the necessary foundation for students to
succeed in their major programs as artists, designers, photographers, or filmmakers.

Each course in General Education is designed to focus specific learning objectives to
meet the goals outlined above. Similar and complementary learning objectives are also
found within all courses offered in the academic major programs. The learning
relationship between General Education and the academic major programs is direct,
significant, and critical to the institution’s commitment to its mission. All degree-seeking
students at Watkins, regardless of their academic major, must successfully complete
the General Education program. Watkins will accept appropriate transfer credit for
courses in General Education.