Columbia College

Columbia College’s emphases on the liberal arts and women’s higher education are carried out through the General Education Core Curriculum and many cocurricular activities. Students develop an appreciation for the liberal arts; higher order thinking and communication skills; understanding of both the commonality and diversity of the human experience; increased understanding of themselves as women; understanding of the nature and application of moral, ethical, and religious values; and skills and habits for lifelong learning. At the heart of the core are Liberal Arts 100, the first-year seminar, and two required interdisciplinary seminars: Liberal Arts 101 and 102.

The Center for Engaged Learning coordinates the curriculum development, leadership training, and cocurricular activities for those courses. 

At Columbia College each student is introduced to the liberal arts through the core curriculum, also known as the General Education Core. Students who complete the core will develop:

• An appreciation for the liberal arts (Fine Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences)
• Higher order thinking and communication skills
• Understanding of both the commonality and diversity of the human experience
• Understanding of the nature and application of moral, ethical, and religious values
• Increased understanding of women
• Skills and habits for lifelong learning

During the college years, students cannot learn all they need to know, but they can learn how to learn.

Students should know how to ask questions, how to find answers, how to evaluate these answers, and how to make intellectual, ethical, and responsible decisions and judgments. They need to learn to employ humanistic, artistic, and scientific modes of inquiry. And they should be able to make connections across the disciplines with the knowledge and skills they develop in focused areas of study designed to prepare them for graduate school or work.

How Will This Happen?

At the heart of the liberal arts curriculum are two interdisciplinary courses:

The Power of Ideas: An interdisciplinary course that introduces students to the liberal arts. Unlike traditional interdisciplinary classes that focus primarily on the "Great Books" of literature or Western thought, The Power of Ideas examines the distinct nature and role of each liberal arts discipline.

Students learn, as well, how new ideas developed in one arena influence thinking and innovation in other modes of inquiry. The course emphasizes reading with historical, cultural and gender diversity.

Women: Understanding of themselves as women: Required of all students, this is an introduction to the interdisciplinary field of women's studies.

The course addresses historical and current issues of significance to women, the contributions of women scholars, activists and artists, and the role of women's studies in the advancement of social justice. There also is an emphasis on the intersection of race, class and ethnicity with gender in order to understand the complexity of defining feminisms and cultural models of the feminine.

Both courses offer a wide range of co-curricular activities within the four branches of liberal arts. Such activities include speakers, cultural events, artistic performances, field trips, discussions and presentations.

Columbia College's General Education Core, which requires 45-46 semester hours of coursework, is designed to help students develop the capacity for creative, critical and analytical thought and to foster skills for lifelong learning and continuing personal development.

These courses introduce students to the remainder of the core curriculum and should be completed during the first year. The remainder of the core curriculum focuses on written and spoken communications, mathematics, languages, health and wellness, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and philosophy, and fine arts.

General Education Requirements