General Education Requirements (LACC’s)
The Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (LACC) are for the 2018-2019 Academic year and prior. For 2019-2020 and forward, please follow the link to the General Education page.
Each year there may be slight changes to the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum LACC course work. Please choose the LACC Guide that corresponds to the catalog year for your degree plan. This is usually the year you began attending Western. If you are not sure, please contact the SSA or Registrar’s Office.
What Are the LACC’s?
WOU’s general education curriculum is designed to introduce students to the content and methodology of the principal areas of knowledge – the humanities and creative arts, the natural sciences, mathematics and the social sciences. The Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (LACC) is the central aspect of WOU’s general education program.
Students at WOU will be challenged to achieve their highest potential through a rigorous and stimulating curriculum. Between 2004 and 2005, a set of educational goals called Institutional Aspirations for Learning, were collaboratively developed by our faculty after focused discussions about the fundamental aims of liberal education in the 21st century. These aspirations constitute the core competencies, skills, experiences and values credited to, and expected of, WOU’s educational process and its graduates. We believe that these aspirations are the basic building blocks of a high-quality education as well as the foundations for productive careers, lifelong development, and informed citizenship on a local, national and global level.
1. Students will develop more refined critical thinking skills, including; advanced analytical, logical and quantitative reasoning abilities as well as excellent problem-solving skills.
2. Students will develop effective communicative abilities, including; listening, observing, speaking, writing and dialoguing.
3. Students will become active readers with an enhanced ability to carefully, closely, and thoughtfully read a range of texts.
4. Students will acquire field or discipline specific knowledge and they will understand disciplinary modes of intellectual inquiry.
5. Students will develop an interdisciplinary and integrative perspective as they recognize, explore, appreciate, and engage the interconnections between disciplines.
6. Students will develop advanced research abilities and they will demonstrate improvements in their information and media literacy.
7. Students will learn how to use appropriate technologies.
8. Students will acquire and demonstrate competencies, skills, attributes, and values necessary for successful participation in a diverse, pluralistic, and increasingly interdependent world.
9. Students will be able to work effectively in teams.
10. Students will strive to be well balanced persons, capable of making thoughtful and healthy choices.
11. Students will be able to apply theory in relevant, appropriate, and reflective ways.
Our talented, dedicated, and enthusiastic faculty will support, assist, and encourage students as they pursue and attain these fundamental educational goals. In our culture of accountability, these institutional aspirations will also serve as common guideposts for our on-going assessment and enhancement of learning outcomes. For more information about these educational goals, please refer to the Academic Catalog, or contact our office.
