Mission Statement

General education provides the core of an undergraduate university education. Oregon Tech's General Education requirements provide breadth and depth to an Oregon Tech education. The requirements are designed to help students widen perspectives, explore relationships between subjects, and develop critical and analytical thinking skills in areas outside the major. All students benefit from knowledge that helps them develop as competent, well-rounded professionals and well-educated citizens.

Through Oregon Tech general education courses, students study an array of topics, principles, theories, and disciplines. The courses are organized within the curriculum in such a manner that students will acquire knowledge, abilities, and appreciation as integrated elements of the educational experience. General education courses teach students to communicate clearly, think critically and globally, identify and analyze problems within and across disciplines, and apply mathematical concepts and scientific reasoning. General Education also addresses the aspirations of the human spirit, the power of creative expression, and the complex interactions of peoples and cultures.

Oregon Tech's goal for General Education is to help students become literate, informed, critical participants in a diverse and rapidly changing global society. The Oregon Tech General Education curriculum is reviewed regularly by Oregon Tech's faculty and by the General Education Advisory Council.

General Education Requirements

File Downloads

Global and Cultural Awareness Requirement Course Approval Form
Second Language Proficiency

Faculty Resources

Essential Studies Course Approval

Requirements

  • SPE 111Z Fundamentals of Speech
  • WRI 121Z English Composition
  • WRI 122Z English Composition or WRI 227Z Technical Writing

Plus six credits from the following list:
COM 205, COM 218Z, COM 320, COM 347, COM 401, COM 402, SPE 314, SPE 321, WRI 123, WRI 214, WRI 327, WRI 328, WRI 345, WRI 350, WRI 410. 


Only the courses listed above count as a Communication Elective

Nine credits selected by student or specified by a major department from the following:

  • ART-Art
  • ENG-English Literature
  • HUM-Humanities
  • LIT-Literature
  • MUS-Music
  • PHIL-Philosophy

Languages (second year/200-level only)


Other transfer courses, defined as "humanities" by the Registrar's Office, maybe used in this category.
NOTE: No more than three credits of activity or performance-based courses may be used toward graduation from this category.

Twelve credits selected by student or specified by major department from the following:
  • ANTH - Anthropology
  • ECO - Economics
  • GEOG - Geography
  • HIST - History
  • PSCI - Political Science
  • PSY - Psychology
  • SOC - Sociology

 

Other transfer courses, defined as "social science" by the Registrar's Office, may be used in this category. GEOG 105, GEOG 115, and GEOG 305 may NOT be used to satisfy social science credits.

One four credit college-level mathematics course for which at least intermediate algebra is the course prerequisite. Plus 12 credits selected by student or specified by major department from biological sciences (BIO, CHE), mathematics (MATH), statistics (STAT), physical sciences (PHY), physical geography (GEOG 105, GEOG 115, or GEOG 305), geology, or physical anthropology (ANTH 101). At least four credits must be completed from a laboratory-based science course in BIO, CHE, GEOG 105, 115, 305 or PHY. Currently ENV does NOT count as Lab Science

 

The Bachelor of Science degree requires the student to opt between completion of 36 credits in mathematics and science or 45 credits in mathematics, science and social science. Students placed at a higher beginning level of mathematics than is published in the curriculum of their major may choose to substitute those mathematics credits surpassed by their accelerated level of placement with electives from any department to attain the required number of general education credits required by the university for graduation.

Students are encouraged to select at least one class from the following lists of intercultural courses. These courses also satisfy general education requirements.

Humanities: COM 205 Intercultural Communication, COM 320 Advanced
Intercultural Communication, ENG 381 Contemporary World Literature, SPAN 201/202/203 Second-Year Spanish.

Social Science: ANTH 103 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, GEOG 106 Cultural Geography I, GEOG 107 Cultural Geography II, GEOG 108 Cultural Geography III, HIST 392 Modern Asia.

Baccalaureate students must complete a minimum of 60 credits of upper-division work before a degree will be awarded. Upper-division work is defined as 300- and 400-level classes at a bachelor's-degree-granting institution.
Specific requirements for demonstrating computer proficiency may be established by the academic department.
If a student holds a baccalaureate degree or higher from a recognized, accredited institution, as determined by Oregon Tech, the general education requirements for the Oregon Tech baccalaureate may be waived subject to departmental program requirements.

Notes

Students who graduated from high school in 1997 or after, who did not complete two years of a foreign language in high school, must complete two terms of college-level foreign or second language in order to receive an Oregon Tech degree.

Students admitted in Fall 2018 and after are not required to meet the college-level foreign or second language requirement.

Remedial or developmental courses, including MATH 100 and WRI 115, cannot be used for graduation.