As a college strongly rooted in the liberal arts tradition, Simpson offers a general education curriculum that encourages a hands-on approach to a foundational liberal education. This program, the Engaged Citizenship Curriculum (ECC), builds on the strengths of the traditional liberal arts approach to undergraduate education and adapts it to the needs of current students and future employers. The ECC responds to theories of student learning, the needs of employers, and the recommendations of higher education organizations, including the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). ECC courses have been designed to meet specific and practical learning objectives; the required courses create a base of understanding and build in skills to help graduates succeed as engaged citizens. This general education program also provides opportunities for experiential learning through service-learning courses, campus leadership positions, labs, internships, and a variety of applied experiences. Simpson’s unique approach links the historic mission of the institution with the very best in learning theory and practice.
The Engaged Citizenship Curriculum promotes an integrative approach to learning that enables students of all ages to develop intellectual and practical skills. The Engaged Citizenship curriculum has four parts:
- Simpson College Foundations: A two semester sequence that integrates students into academic culture and introduces students to the mission and values of Simpson College, specifically those elements related to wellbeing, and civic engagement in an inclusive, just society.
- Areas of Engagement Courses: Courses that prepare students to be engaged citizens by exploring enduring questions from a variety of academic perspectives.
- Embedded Skills Courses: Courses that provide an opportunity for students to work on important life and professional skills.
- The Senior Capstone: A culminating project in the major that allows students to demonstrate their abilities as apprentice practitioners in specific disciplines.
Foundations (SC) (a two-semester sequence required of incoming new students and some transfer students)
Foundations is an introductory two-semester sequence that seeks to integrate new students into the Simpson College community, introduce students to the mission, vision and values of the institution, and integrate students into academic culture during their first year on campus. The courses familiarize students with the tradition of liberal arts education and provides students with a solid foundation for future academic work, both by focusing on essential skills (Written Communication, Critical Thinking, and Information Literacy) and by introducing them to campus resources. Foundations provides students with opportunities to grow personally and intellectually through the student of responsible, engaged citizenship in an inclusive and just society.
Areas of Engagement
The Arts (AR) (one course) The Arts component focuses on learning through participation in artistic creation. By taking a course that engages students in the act of creation, students will develop an understanding of art as a constructed means for communication, designed to reveal certain meanings and ideas or to elicit specific responses. Students are given the opportunity to develop their imaginations and to develop their ability to express themselves.
Diversity and Power in the U.S. (DP) (one course) The Diversity and Power in the U.S. requirement prepares students to be engaged citizens by exploring enduring questions about ourselves, civilization, and the world by developing the knowledge, dispositions, and skills necessary to shape and create diverse and just communities in the
U.S. It is designed to engage students in recognizing and analyzing the perspective of a less powerful (often minority) group and understanding the differences of experience this power differential engenders.
Ethics and Value Inquiry (EV) (one course) Ethics and Value Inquiry courses encourage students to think critically about the sources and meanings of their commitments to personal integrity, moral responsibility, and social justice. These courses introduce students to questions about moral values and actions and how they relate to our responsibilities to ourselves and others.
Global Perspectives (GP) (one course) Global Perspectives courses engage students in an exploration of societies outside of the United States. While some courses may deal with a specific problem (e.g., global warming, genocide, human rights), others focus on larger trends over the course of time (e.g., art, religion, politics, history, economics, literature). By acquainting students with the diversity of thoughts, beliefs and values of a society external to their own, these courses encourage a greater appreciation of and sensitivity to global diversity.
Historical Perspectives in Western Culture (HP) (one course) The Historical Perspectives in Western Culture component focuses on how Western culture has evolved over time through a range of intellectual, philosophical, religious, and historical currents. A study of the development of Western culture and its past is critical to understand, appreciate or critique it. These courses provide context for the current structures of Western society and assist students in making informed decisions as citizens.
Scientific Reasoning (SR) (one course) Scientific Reasoning courses provide experiences working with the methods of science, including hypothesis formation and testing, systematic observation, and analysis of quantitative data. Scientific reasoning- in the natural, behavioral, and social sciences-includes the ability to solve problems through the analysis of quantitative empirical data. These methods help students understand how technology and science may affect their lives in areas such as the environment, medicine, human behavior, and scientific ethics.
Embedded Skills
Collaborative Leadership (CL) (One course) The Collaborative Leadership component increases students’ confidence in working in groups for a shared goal and helps students develop skills and dispositions like team building, delegation, conflict resolution, and effective communication. This skill is essential in a world where problems are complex and interdependent, and where teamwork is often required to unite diverse groups behind a shared goal.
Critical Thinking (CT) (one course) Critical Thinking courses develop the lifelong intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information that is used to guide beliefs and actions. This skill helps with the ability to make sound arguments based on adequate evidence and to rationally examine and assess one’s own arguments and those of others.
Information Literacy (IL) (one course) Information Literacy courses cultivate the habit of asking appropriate questions related to an information need and discovering explanations and specific answers to those questions based on evidence. Information literacy, as a methodology and a set of skills, allows and inspires individuals to be life- long learners.
Intercultural Communication (IC) (one course) The Intercultural Communication requirement prepares students to understand the world through the eyes and words of others. Courses in this category are designed to put students in direct contact with speakers of languages other than their own, since intercultural communication is a daily reality for much of the earth’s population. This skill encourages students to analyze and reflect on the value of using multiple linguistic resources to access other cultural views. Incoming students with three-years of study of the same language with a C- or better in their last semester will have met this requirement.
Oral Communication (OC) (one course) Oral Communication courses engage students in both formal and informal uses of communication. These courses equip students to comprehend, critique, and analyze information in order to be able to effectively and efficiently communicate their ideas to others. These skills enable individuals to become confident and competent speakers
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) (two courses) The Quantitative Reasoning component focuses on how to interpret, evaluate, and use various types of quantitative information in order to support a position or argument. It includes the ability to express quantitative information visually, symbolically, numerically and verbally. These courses incorporate practice in reading and using quantitative data, in understanding quantitative evidence and in applying quantitative skills to the solution of real-life problems.
Written Communication (WC) (two courses: one in the major; at least two above the 100-level) Written Communication courses promote strong writing skills that students need in order to comprehend, analyze, and synthesize a variety of texts in a variety of disciplines. These courses teach students to write in multiple contexts, whether they are exploring and developing their own ideas, responding fairly and responsibly to the ideas and perspectives of others, or crafting polished, compelling and persuasive texts.
Capstone in the Major (CM) To prepare students to be engaged citizens who are able to apply their learning in specific disciplines to the larger community through work and/or service, each major requires a capstone experience that allows students to demonstrate their abilities as apprentice practitioners in their chosen fields of study. Students will share their work with an audience appropriate to the project as determined by the faculty of that department. Senior research projects, senior seminars and senior exhibitions or performances are examples of possible capstone experiences.
The remainder of this section remains in effect for students who entered Simpson College through summer of 2021, before the modified ECC was in effect.
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