Mission Statement

GENERAL EDUCATION AT MTSU

Vision
The General Education Program at Middle Tennessee State University will provide all students with the intellectual building blocks that will make it possible to find meaning in an ever-changing world. The Program will focus on the sciences, liberal arts, and fine arts and include the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge and the methods of inquiry demanded in a variety of fields. The Program through lower-division courses, upper-division courses, and a capstone experience will explore cultural diversity, values, ethics, global issues, and the individual's responsibility as a citizen of the community and the world.

Mission Statement
The General Education Program is at the core of Middle Tennessee State University's educational mission. It provides students with a broad knowledge and appreciation of the arts and sciences as well as the intellectual skills that provide a basis for effective communication, problem solving, and evaluation. The General Education experience gives students the opportunity to use various technologies to access and analyze information and to debate competing claims of evidence and systems of thought.
The Program assists students in developing an objective view and understanding of the world, its institutions, and themselves by linking the cultural legacy of the past with the technological demands and global concerns of the contemporary world. Finally, it creates in students an awareness of the diverse nature of the world while encouraging them to become active lifelong learners and participants in society.

Program Goals and Accountability
To increase accountability and maintain integrity of the General Education Program, each component course will undergo periodic evaluation to determine the degree to which the course contributes to the mission of the Program. Continuous monitoring of the Program will allow systematic change based upon student achievement that is relevant to the Program mission. The Program will foster in students the ability to:

• think independently and critically;
• analyze and evaluate beliefs and attitudes, data and ideas, issues and values;
• gather information through various methods of inquiry;
• integrate and synthesize new ideas and information;
• communicate verbally, quantitatively, and artistically in a variety of contexts and media;
• weigh options and make decisions based on rational, ethical, moral, and aesthetic considerations;
• integrate acquired knowledge and personal experience with historical, cultural, and contemporary perspectives in a changing and diverse society; and
• recognize the significance of personal well being and understand the roles, problems, and concerns of an engaged citizen.