General Education and Institutional Learning Goals
General Education provides the foundation of a university education. It is designed to give students a breadth of knowledge and understanding across the major disciplines and to help students develop broadly applicable skills such as critical thinking and writing, enhance their capacity for lifelong learning, and strengthen their ability to contribute effectively within our culturally diverse society.
An undergraduate degree at Lehman College provides students with a Liberal Arts Education, which is a broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. It helps students develop a sense of social responsibility; strong intellectual and practical skills that span all major fields of study, such as communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills; and the demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings. (adapted from AAC&U).
Lehman's Institutional Learning Goals
Characteristics of a Lehman Graduate Upon graduation from Lehman College, students will expand the legacy of Herbert H. Lehman as an educated citizen devoted to lifelong scholarship, to honesty and integrity, including the strength to follow one's conscience, to civic investment, based on the belief that everyone has a duty to help others, to collaboration and empathy with others, and to a willingness to address complex problems.
Lehman College Graduates Are:
- Educated Independent thinkers, who actively and skillfully cultivate the capacity to conceptualize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize and communicate. Specifically, they:
- Utilize critical thinking skills: As self-directed learners with the habit of asking "why," students use evidence-based reasoning and logical argumentation. They synthesize information and knowledge across disciplines to their own perspectives, positions, and interpretations.
- Demonstrate competence within at least one discipline: Students demonstrate understanding of the central theories, core literature, terminology, methods, practices and current issues within their disciplines as well as how their discipline related to other disciplines. They are capable of integrating knowledge from other disciplines as appropriate.
- Demonstrate skills in quantitative reasoning, information literacy, and research: Students capably comprehend, analyze, interpret and present quantitative data. They can, ethically and legally, identify, locate, comprehend, analyze, and evaluate information from a multitude of sources to solve diverse problems. They are capable of conducting primary and secondary research involving the collection, analysis and synthesis of data.
- Empowered
Confident thinkers, who recognize the power of informed inquiry to solving problems. Specifically they:
- Demonstrate outstanding communication skills in diverse media: Students effectively communicate with diverse audiences in diverse settings and through diverse media as well as use appropriate rhetorical strategies with different audiences.
- Engaged
Citizens, who contribute to their local, national and global communities using reason, integrity, empathy, accuracy, humility, and civility. Specifically they:
- Demonstrate multicultural, global and ethical awareness of diverse peoples and communities: Students respect individual differences and demonstrate empathy towards diverse viewpoints, values and experiences.
- Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team: Students contribute as team members to building consensus and share their skills and knowledge.
- Demonstrate the potential for leadership: Students assume leadership roles to build capacity in their communities.
