Dec 14, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog

Core Curriculum


Bridgewater State University’s Core Curriculum was developed to serve as the educational foundation that all Bridgewater State University students will build on to complete their program of study. The Core Curriculum features a skills-centered, outcomes-based distribution model of general education that allows students a wide choice of courses and the flexibility to integrate the requirements of their major with the broader, liberal education that is required of responsible citizens of the 21st century. Students who complete the BSU Core Curriculum will learn a significant body of factual knowledge as well as understand the intellectual foundations, conceptual frameworks, and methodologies of the major academic disciplines.

 

The BSU Core Curriculum is composed of four main areas:

Skill Requirements: All students are required to demonstrate proficiency in the skill areas of writing, logical reasoning, mathematical reasoning and spoken communication.

Seminars: The First and Second Year Seminars are key features of the BSU Core Curriculum. These topic courses will allow students to explore an area of interest in a small, discussion-oriented course. The First Year Seminar is a writing intensive course designed to engage the student in university-level learning. The Second Year Seminar is either speaking or writing intensive and will engage students in the connections between classroom learning and the world. Second Year Seminars may be used for the major or minor, if specifically permitted by the major or minor.

Core Distribution Requirements: All students will learn about the arts, humanities, the natural and social and behavioral sciences, global culture, multiculturalism, application of quantitative skills and the U.S. and Massachusetts Constitutions.

Requirements in the major: To connect the core curriculum with each major, students will complete one writing designated course in their major and will be able to demonstrate information literacy and technology proficiency in their major.

 

NOTES:

  • Only certain BSU courses have been approved for use in the Core Curriculum. This site provides a complete list of approved courses and the most up-to-date information regarding the Core Curriculum.
  • Returning students who completed all of the GER’s (the general education requirements in place prior to fall 2006) before leaving BSU, should contact the Office of Undergraduate Studies at 508.531.1790 or undergraduatestudies@bridgew.edu for more information.
  • Appeals for substitutions of transfer courses of the Foundations of Mathematical Reasoning and the Natural Sciences requirements should be directed to the Associate Dean of Science and Mathematics at 508.531.2418. All other substitutions should be directed to the Associate Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at 508.531.1218.

 

Click on the links below to access the list of courses that fulfills each requirement.

Core Skills Requirements

Seminars 

Writing and Speaking Intensive Requirements 

Core Distribution Requirements

Additional Distribution Requirements