General Education

General Education

In keeping with the University’s educational mission, all undergraduates are required to complete a program of study that emphasizes the values of what historically has been called “a liberal education.” This consists of the development of a range of skills and an introduction to academic disciplines that span the range of human knowledge. This type of education teaches students to write and think critically and to develop a basic understanding of human society and activity in all its dimensions. The courses and experiences included in this program of study provide a solid and broad education that will equip students to become lifelong learners, while preparing them to complete more focused study in the major.

The Common Curriculum is the twenty-first century version of the traditional liberal arts curriculum, and it is through the Common Curriculum that SMU ensures that all undergraduates meet the general education requirements stipulated by the U.S. Federal Government and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Students are required, based on these standards, to complete, as part of their degree requirements, a general education curriculum that consists of a minimum of 30 credit hours and that ensures breadth of knowledge and introduces students to the humanities and fine arts, the social and behavioral sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics. SMU’s Common Curriculum requires most students to complete a minimum of 34 credit hours of general education, however students with advanced language proficiency, who are able to demonstrate appropriate proficiency on an approved proficiency test, may be able to complete their general education curriculum in 30 hours. The courses in general education, according to these standards, must not focus on the skills, techniques and procedures specific to that student’s occupation or profession. SMU’s Common Curriculum meets these standards while ensuring that students cultivate the knowledge and skills needed to become successful in the workplace and to adapt to the demands of a rapidly changing and increasingly interconnected world.

The Common Curriculum

The motto of Southern Methodist University, Veritas Liberabit Vos (“the truth shall set you free”), epitomizes the ideals of an SMU education and is the guiding principle for the Common Curriculum. The wisdom to acquire and critically reflect on existing knowledge and the insight and capacity to create new knowledge - the hallmarks of an educated person - exemplify the characteristics SMU seeks to instill in its students.

The Common Curriculum contains both general education and graduation requirements. The general education component of the Common Curriculum comprises approximately one-third of the baccalaureate degree plan for all SMU students. It consists of two main coursework components, Foundations and Breadth. The Foundation requirements include two semesters of Writing and Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and a Second Language requirement of intermediate proficiency in a language other than English. These Foundation requirements serve to build on the diverse educational backgrounds of students who enter the university and ensure that all students have the knowledge and skills required to complete an SMU degree. The seven Breadth requirements introduce SMU students to the known range of academic disciplines and give students a variety of intellectual frameworks from which to approach the world and solve the problems they encounter in it. These requirements are Creativity and Aesthetics, Exploring Science, Historical Contexts, Literary Analysis and Interpretation, Philosophical, Religious, and Ethical Inquiry, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Technological Advances and Society.

In addition to the general education requirements, the Common Curriculum also contains eight graduation requirements. These are Civics and Individual Ethics, Community Engagement, Global Perspectives, Human Diversity, Global Proficiency, Oral Communication, Quantitative Applications, Writing, and Writing in the Major. These “proficiency and experience” requirements give students the soft skills necessary to be compassionate and engaged citizens of the world, and they may be met with coursework or with the completion of co-curricular activities. These requirements are often satisfied in tandem with either general education or major requirements.

The number of courses and/or credit hours required to complete the Common Curriculum will vary according to the individual student’s academic background, preparation, major and curricular choices. The list of Common Curriculum courses will vary by term, and will be listed on the Common Curriculum page, as well as in the course search function of my.smu. Each student has access to a regularly updated and individualized Degree Progress Report that charts their progress and identifies courses the student is using to meet the various requirements. Students are advised to work closely with divisional/departmental and University advisers in navigating the Common Curriculum requirements and planning their coursework each term.

Summary of Common Curriculum Requirements

General Education Requirements

Common Curriculum Foundations

A university education must provide students in all majors with the tools to embark on a lifetime of learning. Common Curriculum Foundations courses assure that students read and write, think critically, and possess basic awareness of multi-faceted nature of our complex world. Because these skills are essential for a successful college experience, Foundations courses should be completed within a student’s first four terms of enrollment.

Writing and Reasoning (6-9 credits, typically 6)

Students will develop competency, clarity, coherence, and organization in their writing and will demonstrate university-level critical reasoning proficiencies through written expression The Common Curriculum emphasizes academic writing and critical reasoning in the first-year Writing and Reasoning sequence. The Writing and Reasoning sequence introduces students to academic thought and written communication in seminars in which students work closely with faculty. All Writing and Reasoning seminars share the goal of assisting students in the development of critical reading and expository and analytical writing.

Students will satisfy this requirement by taking WRTR 1312  in the fall term and WRTR 1313  in the spring. Students scoring lower than a 580 on the SAT-R or lower than 21 on the ACT English section will begin in WRTR 1311  and go on to complete WRTR 1312  and WRTR 1313 . Students scoring at or above 580 (SAT-R) or at or above 21 (ACT English) will begin in WRTR 1312 . Students scoring a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement (AP) English Language/English Literature Test and students scoring 5, 6 or 7 on the International Baccalaureate (IB) English A Literature higher-level exam will receive credit for their scores, but must still take both WRTR 1312  and WRTR 1313  at SMU. Transfer students who transfer in at least 24 hours of credit and who have SMU transfer credit for two semesters of Freshman writing may apply those credits toward completion of the Academic Writing and Critical Reasoning requirements. No student may fulfill the Writing and Reasoning requirement through AP/IB or other exam credit or through dual or concurrent enrollment credit.

Students participating in the University Honors Program satisfy this requirement with WRTR 2305  and WRTR 2306  in the fall and spring of their first year. Students in the Hilltop Scholars Program may fulfill the requirement with WRTR 2303  in the fall term, and WRTR 2304  in the spring. Each term, students must be enrolled in and may not drop Writing and Reasoning until they have completed the requirement. A minimum grade of C- is required to pass each course.

• WRTR 1311 - Foundations of Written and Oral Discourse  
• WRTR 1312 - Introduction to Academic Writing   
• WRTR 1313 - Writing and Critical Reasoning  
• WRTR 2303 - Hilltop Scholars Academic Writing  
• WRTR 2304 - Hilltop Scholars Writing and Critical Reasoning  
• WRTR 2305 - University Honors Humanities Seminar I  
• WRTR 2305 - University Honors Humanities Seminar II  

Quantitative Reasoning (3 credits)

Quantitative reasoning refers to the ability to understand, evaluate and use quantitative information. Quantitative information takes many forms, and quantitative reasoning skills span a vast spectrum from basic numerical manipulations to advanced statistics and mathematics. One three-credit course is required to ensure that students possess these necessary skills. Students scoring a 4 or 5 on the Calculus AB, Calculus BC or Statistics AP tests and students scoring 5, 6 or 7 on the IB Mathematics higher-level exam will place out of this requirement. Students may petition to count qualifying Math or Statistics transfer or dual or concurrent enrollment courses toward this requirement. Math placement testing is also available through SMU’s Mathematics credit examinations.

Second Language (0-8 credits)

Students will demonstrate an ability to negotiate meaning in a language other than English in familiar contexts and will demonstrate cultural competence in the related target culture. Second-language learning is a multi-faceted intellectual endeavor that promotes enhanced communication skills in both the native and target language and that fosters cross-cultural communication and understanding. Second-language learners analyze the nature of language through comparison between the target language and their own language. Second-language learners also evaluate information and diverse perspectives that are available through the language and its cultures and engage in critical analysis of culture and identity; they are therefore more readily able to participate in multiple, multicultural communities and are, as a result, adaptable to the challenges of a changing world.

SMU students fulfill the Second Language Foundation Requirement by demonstrating proficiency in second language at the intermediate level, which is equivalent to the level of proficiency attained at the end of the first-year’s study of language at the university level.

SMU students are required to have enrolled in at least one course toward the fulfillment of the Second Language requirement by the fall term of their Junior year.

At SMU, proficiency can be achieved in one of the following ways, after matriculation:

1. Students placing into and successfully completing a course in the second semester level of a language (or above) will be able to satisfy their Second Language Requirement with that course. SMU offers Arabic, Chinese, Classical Greek, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, American Sign Language, and Spanish
2. Placing into the fourth term or beyond on the SMU World Languages placement test and also earning an appropriate score on an SMU designated Second Language Proficiency Test. (You will need to pay a non-refundable registration fee for your proficiency test and take the test within one year of matriculation at SMU.)
3. Taking two additional Global Perspectives tagged courses beyond the one required of all students, if this substitution is recommended by the Office of Disability Accommodations and Success Strategies (DASS).
4. Achieving a score of Intermediate-Mid or above on the ACTFL OPI examination in a language not taught at SMU.
5. Transferring in two sequential college-level second-language courses or one that is the equivalent to 1402 or a higher-level course. For first-year students, these courses must have been taken after high school graduation.

Students can fulfill the Second Language Foundation requirement prior to matriculation in one of the following ways:

1. Presenting an appropriate score on a recognized second language proficiency exam (4 or 5 on AP exam; 5, 6, or 7 on IB HL exam).
2. Demonstrating an existing proficiency in a language other than English as documented by:
   1. Matriculation as an International Student from a non-English-dominant country AND providing high school transcripts from a non-English-medium high school;
   2. Successful completion of one or more semesters of ESL WRTR.
3. Completion of two consecutive semesters of the same language (other than English) at an accredited college or university, prior to matriculation at SMU but after high school graduation

Please visit the Second Language site for more information.

While students in their first year of college may receive credit for dual and/or concurrent enrollment credit earned prior to matriculation at SMU, these credits will not satisfy SMU’s Second Language requirement. 

Common Curriculum Breadth Requirements (maximum of 23 credits)

Students are required to complete Breath courses in seven distinct areas of university study that reflect fundamental ideas and approaches associated with core academic disciplines: Creativity and Aesthetics; Exploring Science; Historical Contexts, Literary Analysis and Interpretation; Philosophical, Religious, and Ethical Inquiry; Social and Behavioral Sciences; and Technological Advances and Society. In completing the Exploring Science requirement, students must take both lecture and lab courses (if they are offered separately). Students may elect to take two Exploring Science classes and use the second to satisfy the Technological Advances and Society requirement. Students must take both lecture and lab courses (if they are offered separately) to use an Exploring Science course to fulfill the Technological Advances and Society requirement. Breadth courses may satisfy Proficiency and Experiences requirements as well (see below), and some of these courses may also count for major or minor credit. The maximum of 23 credits reflects the fact that lab-based science courses may be four credits.

Creativity and Aesthetics

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the conventions of a particular art form in a specified context through production and/or analysis of that form. To develop an understanding of and appreciation for the creative impulse in a variety of artistic contexts, graduates of SMU will demonstrate an understanding of the conventions of arts forms and artistic analysis. They will be able to identify, explore and explain concepts fundamental to the visual, communicative, and performing arts through critical analysis, performance or the act of personal creation. Creativity and Aesthetics courses also seek to expose students to the fundamental role that creativity plays in maintaining a robust, adaptive and prosperous society. Students take one course from the Creativity and Aesthetics category.

Exploring Science

Students will demonstrate an ability to engage in scientific inquiry. To be active, engaged citizens in a global society, graduates of SMU will demonstrate an ability to engage in scientific inquiry. They will apply the scientific method in order to understand and interpret scientific information in a variety of contexts. Students should be aware of the evidence-based, empirical methods of science, and of the ways that scientific fields have shaped and informed the world around us. Students take one course from the Exploring Science category.

Historical Contexts

Students will demonstrate an ability to engage in historical thinking. Historical thinking is an acquired (learned) form of analytical reasoning that allows students to analyze data from the past and recognize patterns of cause and effect, and action and consequence. It requires factual knowledge of past events and allows students to use that information to infer consequences and to understand the relationship between past action and present or future action. Moreover, because historical thinking involves a recognition that there are multiple ways of interpreting historical data, it allows for an appreciation of diverse viewpoints on any given topic. However, because it is a fact-based type of analysis, it also teaches students to evaluate arguments and critically assess sources of information. Students must take one course from the Historical Contexts category.

Literary Analysis and Interpretation

Students will be able to analyze texts through close readings, and demonstrate an understanding of the text’s underlying historical, social, political, and cultural contexts, in pursuit of an individually-developed and well-argued analysis and interpretation. In order to expand their understanding of the world and the modes of communication in it, students will demonstrate an ability to analyze texts through contextualized close reading. Students will analyze meaningful texts such as novels, poems, plays, and films. Students must take one course from the Literary Analysis and Interpretation category.

Philosophical, Religious, and Ethical Inquiry

Students will demonstrate an understanding of philosophical, religious, or ethical concepts, traditions, or practices and their corresponding methods of inquiry. Philosophical and religious inquiry and ethics are related fields of analysis that invite students to explore and engage critically with the concepts, problems, traditions, and practices that constitute those fields of inquiry. These fields provide students with the tools to understand and evaluate philosophical, religious, and ethical claims, to ask pointed questions about the world, and to discover how to attend to the philosophical, religious, and/or ethical convictions or assumptions that inform diverse peoples and traditions. Beyond this, these fields all build students’ analytical and communicative skills and cultivate an ability to engage in respectful dialogue. Students must take one course from the Philosophical, Religious, and Ethical Inquiry category.

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Students will demonstrate an understanding of theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of human behavior, culture, and/or institutions. Almost every challenge humankind has ever faced, or will ever face, depends on the actions of people. Whether studying why people built pyramids across the ancient world, how people decide to spend their money, why people vote for one candidate over another, why people cheat on tests, or how groups and organizations alter individual trajectories, we must understand people’s behavior to answer these questions. Exploring how and why people and societies think and behave is fundamental to understanding our past, present, and future. The social and behavioral sciences provide students with the knowledge, methods, and tools to better understand individuals and societies, by advancing generalizable theories about human behavior based on empirical evidence. Undergraduate students at SMU must take one course from the Social and Behavioral Sciences category.

Technological Advances and Society

Students will describe, analyze, and evaluate the impact of technology on society within a domain. Technological changes have driven societal change since ancient times. These changes continue to accelerate in the contemporary world, creating both opportunities and challenges. Technological literacy is essential to navigating the challenges humanity faces. Technological Advances and Society courses explore how the dynamics of technological advancements impact society on almost every level and in all areas of our lives. The classes will provide students the necessary background to describe, analyze, and evaluate the effects of these technological changes. The students will see just how these advances have reshaped domains in both narrow and broad contexts Students must take one course from the Technological Advances and Society category.

Common Curriculum Graduation Proficiency and Experience Requirements (maximum of 24 credits)

To prepare SMU graduates for both career development and lifelong learning, the Common Curriculum requires all undergraduates to develop and refine a set of life skills that extend beyond the introductory level. These Proficiencies and Experiences (P&E) graduation requirements must be fulfilled by all undergraduate students and may be met through credit-bearing coursework or approved, noncredit, co-curricular activities that have been identified as meeting that requirement:

Civics and Individual Ethics

Students will demonstrate an ability to engage in ethical reasoning about civic and individual life. Moral judgments confront us everywhere. Ethical reasoning provides students foundational skills to reflect rigorously on ethical issues and to apply ethical reasoning in civic and individual life. It allows students to identify their own ethical convictions, think self-critically about them, and reflect on their merits. This is a key component of a liberal arts education. Undergraduates at SMU are required to take one course or participate in one, approved, sustained experience that requires them to reflect meaningfully on the nature of what is right, wrong, moral, immoral,

Community Engagement

Students will demonstrate the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation necessary to contribute to the civic life of communities. Undergraduate students at SMU are required to complete one approved community engagement activity, through a course, a cultivated experience, or, with approval, on their own. Community engagement encompasses actions wherein individuals participate in activities of personal and public concern that are both individually life enriching and socially beneficial to the community; it prepares students for their public lives as citizens, members of communities, and professionals in society. Through the process of community engagement, students gain experience participating in multiple types of civic action and skills, and they are given the opportunity to integrate their academic learning with direct action and involvement. In this way, students develop collaborative skills and enhanced perspectives that will serve them throughout their lives. Matriculated students seeking to fulfill Community Engagement through an independent activity must obtain the approval of the Office of General Education prior to starting their service activity. Students who live in or are affiliated with a Residential Commons have the opportunity to complete the Community Engagement requirement through the Engage Dallas program; students are strongly encouraged to explore and avail themselves of this opportunity.

Global Perspectives

Students will demonstrate an informed perspective on the challenges contemporary societies face in the broader global context. Effective and transformative global learning gives students an ability to analyze and explore complex global challenges, collaborate respectfully with diverse others, apply learning to take responsible action in contemporary global contexts, and evaluate the goals, methods, and consequences of that action. Global learning enhances students’ sense of identity, community, and perspective taking. The Global Perspectives requirement challenges students to participate in a reflective way by partaking in activities outside or inside the classroom or by engaging intellectually with cultures outside the U.S. or in immigrant communities inside the U.S. This requirement may be satisfied by participating in an SMU Abroad program.

Human Diversity

Students will demonstrate an understanding of human diversity and the systems of structural inequality that shape human experiences and behaviors. Understanding human diversity gives students the ability to navigate and appreciate the realities of diverse communities and nations that exist in a multi-faceted world. Cultivating this understanding requires knowledge of a variety of cultures, subcultures, and social systems, in local, regional, national and global contexts. Courses and experiences that fulfill the Human Diversity requirement help students to better understand the factors that contribute to individual identity as well as the environmental and historical circumstances in which social and cultural systems and provide students with insights into the ways in which inequalities are created, enacted and upheld.

Oral Communication

Students will demonstrate an ability to engage in clear and concise live communication. Oral communication consists of both extemporaneous and prepared communication, and it is intended to increase knowledge, to foster understanding, or to promote change in the listeners’ attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors. Oral communication is fundamental to individual, professional, and social growth. It enables the free expression and exchange of ideas, allowing individuals, organizations, and communities to understand and learn from one another through expression. SMU undergraduate students are required to develop their oral communication skills through substantial activities, inside or outside the classroom. 

Quantitative Applications

Students will demonstrate an ability to interpret mathematical models in the form of formulas, graphs, and/or tables and draw inferences from them in a specified domain. SMU undergraduate students are required to participate in Quantitative Applications courses and experiences that provide students the ability to use and apply the tools of mathematical and/or statistical analysis to a wide range of subject areas. Students use information to solve problems in disciplines ranging from the Sciences and Engineering, Business to the Social Sciences and Humanities. These courses and experiences promote numeracy and data literacy as skills that enhance the understanding of any topic or subject.

Writing

Students will demonstrate university-level writing proficiencies appropriate to their coursework. We write not only to communicate what we know, but to understand ourselves better, to comprehend our world more fully, and to discover what we think. The ability to write well promotes success in college regardless of major; after college it enhances success in any field that involves sustained thought. Being able to write well is the mark of an educated person. But writing well is a skill that takes time to develop and requires practice. The Writing Proficiency or Experience requirement gives students further opportunities to practice what they have learned in the first-year Writing and Reasoning sequence (WRTR 1312  and WRTR 1313 ) and to advance their skills.

Writing in the Major

Students will demonstrate university-level writing and critical reasoning proficiencies in the discipline of their undergraduate majors. Majors vary widely: a major may be primarily practical, speculative, empirical, interpretive, creative, or some mixture, depending on the discipline(s) from which it draws. Learning to write well in a major means learning to understand the ways of thinking characteristic of its discipline, as well as the specialized vocabulary and idiom used by its scholars and professionals. It also means engaging critically, in writing, with what scholars or professionals in the field have written; or offering one’s own knowledge, informed by work in a discipline, according to the conventions of that discipline; or conveying highly specialized knowledge in language a non-specialist can understand. SMU undergraduates are required to participate in one course or experience that builds their writing skills and develops their ability to write to the standards of their professional field or academic discipline. 

Co-Curricular Fulfillment of Proficiency and Experience Graduation Requirements

Students may elect to fulfill the Proficiency and Experience graduation requirements through co-curricular activities. A list of pre-approved activities is available on the Common Curriculum website. Students may request, through petition, to fulfill these requirements through other activities by submitting a formal request to the Office of General Education using a form available on the Common Curriculum website. Please note, matriculated students wishing to use a non-approved activity must obtain approval from the Office of General Education prior to starting the activity.

Common Curriculum Protocols

1. Credit earned by examination may be used to fulfill the Second Language and Quantitative Reasoning Foundation requirements, as well as up to three of the required Breadth requirements, in accordance with the university’s Credit by Exam policies.
2. Following SMU matriculation, students must meet the Writing and Reasoning requirement through SMU coursework. 
3. Students who begin their Second Language Requirement at SMU must complete it at SMU.
4. Pre-matriculation transfer work may, in some cases, be used to satisfy the Writing and Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and the Second Language Foundations. Students should consult the Office of General Education for details. Coursework completed through dual-enrollment coursework while in high school may not be used to satisfy Breadth or Foundation requirements, with the exception of the Quantitative Reasoning Foundation requirement.
5. Students must satisfy at least four Breadth requirements through SMU coursework. Only SMU courses approved by the Council on General Education to satisfy Breadth requirements may be used to fulfill these requirements. Students may satisfy up to three Breadth requirements with any combination of pre-matriculation transfer credit, credit by exam, post-matriculation transfer work. Students seeking to fulfill Breadth requirements through pre- or post-matriculation transfer work must complete the appropriate academic petitions (located in the Registrar’s forms library). Coursework completed through dual-enrollment coursework while in high school may not be used to satisfy Breadth requirements. Students who matriculate at SMU after completing at least 24 credit hours at another accredited institution following high school graduation may be subject to different limits and should consult their advisor for details.
6. For Exploring Science courses, if the lecture course has an associated lab, students must take both the lecture and lab courses, and pass both to fulfill the requirement.
7. A minimum grade of C- is required in all WRTR-sequence courses, and students must be enrolled in and may not drop Writing and Reasoning until they have completed the WRTR requirement.
8. Students may request the transfer of coursework taken at another regionally accredited institution after high school graduation either prior to or after matriculation at SMU. Students may further request that such transferred coursework be evaluated for fulfillment of certain CC requirements, subject to the limits described above. All CC student requests for fulfillment through transfer work must include a complete syllabus that contains the name of the instructor, name of the course, daily schedule, assigned readings, assignments, and grade breakdown, as well as concrete evidence that the proposed alternative course or experience satisfies the specific Student Learning Outcomes and Content Criteria associated with the CC requirement being petitioned. These requests will be reviewed and evaluated by the Office of General Education. Appeals of decisions by the Office of General Education may be made to the Committee on Academic Petitions.
9. Students may not request that non-approved SMU courses be allowed to satisfy CC Foundation or Breadth requirements. Only courses proposed by an SMU faculty member and approved by the Council on General Education may be used to satisfy these requirements.

Courses taken to fulfill CC requirements may not be taken pass/fail. SMU faculty, through the Council on General Education, are responsible for determining whether SMU courses meet Foundation, Breadth and Proficiency and Experience requirements.