Page 4 Description of the General Education Program
Grand Valley State University educates students to shape their lives, their professions and
their societies. The university contributes to the enrichment of society through excellent
teaching, active scholarship, and public service. Liberal education is the best preparation
for life in a fast-changing world. Grand Valley’s liberal education fosters critical thinking,
creative problem solving, and cultural understanding for the benefit of lifelong learning
and global citizenship. Liberal education is achieved through the General Education
Program, courses in the major, and through co-curricular experiences. This handbook
outlines the General Education Program
Philosophy of the General Education Program
Ensuring that undergraduate students receive a broad general education has been a primary goal
of colleges and universities since their inception. In this era of increasing specialization and
growing demand for professional expertise, it is vital that we continue to emphasize the value
of general learning.
Grand Valley State University maintains that a complete education involves more than preparation
for a particular career. A career occurs in the context of a life, and a sound general education helps
one “make a life” as well as “make a living.” The university therefore remains committed to assuring
that all undergraduate students, regardless of academic major or intended profession, receive a
broad education rooted in the arts and sciences.
The focus of our General Education Program is to provide students with an education that balances
depth with breadth, the specialized with the general. The General Education Program helps students
become literate in a sophisticated way in a number of disciplines, and it fosters their ability to make
connections across various domains of knowledge. Such preparation will provide students with the
general knowledge and skills necessary to participate intelligently in the discourses that shape local,
national, professional, and global communities.
Teaching in the liberal tradition is at the heart of Grand Valley’s identity, and this focus is critical
in our General Education Program. Liberal education transcends the acquisition of information; it
goes beyond the factual to ask important evaluative and philosophical questions. Liberal learning
holds the fundamental principles and suppositions of a body of knowledge up to inquiry, question,
and discussion. It helps a person recognize the assumptions under which he/she operates and
encourages the examination and questioning of those assumptions. Liberal learning begins in the
General Education Program and continues through the more specialized studies comprising each
student’s major and minor areas of study.
Grand Valley is dedicated to making sure that our students, via their academic majors, become
competent specialists in their fields of endeavor. An equally pressing priority is that our graduates
also possess the marks of a generally educated person — that they will have acquired the broad
knowledge and life skills that will allow them to be informed and thoughtful people. These ideals
co-exist within our institution, and together they produce people who can contribute to their own
well-being, their communities, their professions, and the world in which they live.
Mission of the General Education Program
The Grand Valley State University General Education Program provides a broad-based liberal
education experience that fosters lifelong learning and informed citizenship. The program prepares
students for intelligent participation in public dialogues that consider the issues of humane living
and responsible action in local, national, and global communities..
General Education Program