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20.3.0 General Education Requirements

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The General Education Program at SUNY Canton is designed to provide students, throughout their college years, with a broad set of coherent and focused educational experiences aimed at enabling them to acquire knowledge and skills that are useful and important for all persons, regardless of their jobs or professions. General Education goes beyond the acquisition of the skills necessary to be competent in a field of specialization. It involves the discovery, evaluation, and transmission of essential knowledge that prepares students to lead fulfilled lives and to assume roles as creative and contributing members of society.

In accordance with the SUNY Board of Trustees Policy on General Education, all entering freshmen must meet specific General Education requirements. Faculty and students will periodically be required to engage in assessment activities to ensure that the General Education learning outcomes are being met. At SUNY Canton undergraduate students must complete the following four knowledge and skills areas:

  • Communication – Written and Oral
  • Diversity: Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
  • Mathematics (and Quantitative Reasoning)
  • Natural Sciences (and Scientific Reasoning)

In addition, a minimum of three of the following six knowledge and skills areas are required for AA-, AS-, and all baccalaureate-degree programs:

  • Humanities
  • Social Sciences
  • The Arts
  • US History and Civic Engagement
  • World History and Global Awareness
  • World Languages

These may be completed in separate courses, although some courses may satisfy more than one General Education Requirement. Nevertheless, in order to meet graduation requirements, students enrolled in a SUNY Canton baccalaureate degree program must complete 30 credit hours of general education.

Finally, the following core competencies, which are infused throughout the curricula, are required for all undergraduate degrees:

  • Critical Thinking and Reasoning
  • Information Literacy

Courses meeting specific General Education knowledge and skill areas are so designated in the course description section of the catalog. Students should work carefully with their advisors to ensure they are fulfilling the SUNY General Education Requirements (GER) in order to transfer seamlessly to another SUNY college or to meet SUNY Canton baccalaureate graduation requirements.

20.3.1 SUNY General Education Requirements

  1. Knowledge and Skill Areas (GER 1-11)
    1. Communication Written (Required)
    2. Communication Oral (Required)
    3. Diversity: Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (Required)
    4. Mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning (Required)
    5. Natural Sciences and Scientific Reasoning (Required)
    6. Humanities
    7. Social Sciences
    8. The Arts
    9. U.S. History and Civic Engagement
    10. World History and Global Awareness
    11. World Languages
  2. Infused
    1. Critical Thinking and Reasoning
    2. Information Literacy

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