General Education
General Education Requirement
Graduates of Colorado State University Pueblo are lifelong learners who have developed the intellectual and ethical foundations necessary for an understanding of and respect for humanity as well as the knowledge and skills necessary to adapt to the demands of a rapidly changing society.
As part of our Vision 2028 initiative, graduates of Colorado State University Pueblo will be exposed to our Guiding Principles through the General Education Curriculum. These guiding principles will be anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges. General Education courses will self-select one or multiple principles as part of their content.
- Engagement of Place: Courses embrace our regional histories, diverse cultures, socioeconomic realities, and physical location
- Live Sustainably: Courses emphasize sustainability both regionally and globally
- Cultivate Entrepreneurship: Courses focus on educational, economic, cultural, and global innovation
- Build Knowledge: Courses advance research and scholarship that serves the public good
- Impact Society: Courses highlight our commitment to the health and well-being of our people and our communities
To help students achieve these goals, the skills component of the CSU Pueblo general education program is designed to give students the written communication and quantitative reasoning skills necessary for success in their undergraduate studies and future careers. The knowledge component is designed to give students direct experience in the methods of thought and inquiry in three central areas of academic endeavor: the arts and humanities; the social sciences; and the natural and physical sciences. Through study in the sciences, mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts students will engage with big questions, both contemporary and enduring.
Upon completion of general education courses, students will have intellectual and practical skills. These skills will be practiced extensively across the general education curriculum and include:
- Written Communication: Develop and express ideas in writing, learning to work in many genres and styles, and with many different writing technologies, and mixing texts, data, and images.
- Quantitative Reasoning: Apply numeric, symbolic and geometric skills to formulate and solve quantitative problems.
- Inquiry & Analysis: Explore issues, objects or works through the collection and analysis of evidence that results in informed conclusions or judgments and break complex topics or issues into parts to gain a better understanding of them.
- Oral communication: Prepare purposeful presentations designed to increase knowledge, to foster understanding, or to promote change in the listeners' attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors.
- Critical Thinking: Comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.
- Creative Thinking: Combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative way characterized by a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking.
- Information Literacy: Know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively and responsibly use and share that information for the problem at hand.
- Technical literacy: Use, manage, understand, and assess technology.
- Problem solving: Design, evaluate and implement a strategy to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal ().
- Teamwork: Belong to teams where effort, manner of interacting with others, and the quantity and quality of contributions are valued.
The Colorado guaranteed transfer program (gtPathways) is a set of general education courses that the state guarantees to transfer. Certain courses taken at Colorado public colleges and universities are guaranteed to transfer among all two- and four-year public institutions in the state. Up to 31 credit hours of successfully completed (C- or better) courses in general education will count toward general education or graduation requirements. These courses are not based on equivalencies but meet specific content and competency criteria. Additional information about gtPathways is available at CDHE website. The gtPathways courses offered at CSU Pueblo are identified in the skills and knowledge components below. They are listed according to their appropriate gtPathways code, which is common among all gtPathways courses in Colorado.
The general education requirement for graduation with a BA or BS degree includes a total of 35 semester credits in two categories:
Skills Component: 9 credits
Knowledge Component: 26 credits
TOTAL: 35 credits
Skills Component
Candidates for the baccalaureate BA or BS degree must satisfy institutional and general education requirements, as well as specific requirements for a major. (Students must successfully complete all remedial coursework within their first thirty [30] credits and the Skills Component of general education within their first sixty [60] credits. Transfer students must complete the Skills Component of general education by the end of their second semester at CSU Pueblo.)
Candidate for the Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) degree must complete one course each in skills component area (6 credits). Skills and knowledge component outcomes are further met through the specific course requirements of their program.
To complete the Skills component, students must successfully complete courses in the following content areas with a minimum overall GPA of 2.000 in courses taken at CSU Pueblo. Transfer courses are not computed within this GPA:
Written Communication (2 courses; 1 from each area): 6 credits
Quantitative Reasoning (1 course): 3 credits
TOTAL: 9 credits
A. Written Communication
Take one from each of the following categories:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GT-CO1 (Introductory Writing Course) | ||
| ENG 101 | Rhetoric & Writing I (GT-CO1) | 3 |
| GT-CO2 (Intermediate Writing Course) | ||
| ENG 102 | Rhetoric & Writing II (GT-CO2) | 3 |
| ENG 115 | Introduction to Technical Writing (GT-CO2) | 3 |
| ENG 116 | Introduction to Business Writing (GT-CO2) | 3 |
| ENG 117 | Intro. Scientific/Medical Writing (GT-CO2) | 3 |
B. Quantitative Reasoning
Take one of the following courses:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GT-MA1 (Mathematics) | ||
| MATH 101 | Introductory College Mathematics (GT-MA1) | 3 |
| MATH 109 | Mathematical Explorations (GT-MA1) | 3 |
| MATH 120 | College Algebra (GT-MA1) | 3 |
| MATH 124 | Pre-Calculus (GT-MA1) | 5 |
| MATH 126 | Calculus and Analytic Geometry I (GT-MA1) | 5 |
| MATH 156 | Introduction to Statistics (GT-MA1) | 3 |
| MATH 221 | Applied Calc: An Intuitive Approach (GT-MA1) | 4 |
| Or any MATH course that includes one of these as a prerequisite 1 | ||
- 1
If a MATH course is taken that is not one of the above listed GT-MA1 courses but does contain one of the above courses as a prerequisite, the MATH course taken will count toward the Quantitative Reasoning requirement at CSU Pueblo but will not be guaranteed to transfer among all two-and four-year public institutions in the state.
Knowledge Component
To complete the Knowledge component, students must successfully complete courses in the following content areas:
Humanities: (3 courses): 9 credits
History: (1 course): 3 credits
Social Sciences: (2 courses): 6 credits
Natural and Physical Sciences: (2 courses with labs): 8 credits
TOTAL: 26 credits
Students must take one course that is designated as cross-cultural. Courses taken to meet the Knowledge content area requirements may also be used to meet the cross-cultural requirement if they have a (CC) next to their listing.
Students in a Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) program fulfill general education knowledge component outcomes through the specific course requirements of their program.
Your major may recommend certain courses from this list. Refer to your major’s catalog description for more information.
A. Humanities
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GT-AH1 (Arts and Expression) | ||
| ARH 211 | Global Art I (GT-AH1) CC | 3 |
| ARH 212 | Global Art II (GT-AH1) CC | 3 |
| ART 100 | Visual Dynamics (GT-AH1) CC | 3 |
| ENG 114 | Introduction to Creative Writing (GT-AH1) CC | 3 |
| MUS 118 | Music Appreciation (GT-AH1) CC | 3 |
| SPN 130 | Intro to Spanish-Speaking Cultures (GT-AH1) CC | 3 |
| GT-AH2 (Literature and Humanities) | ||
| ENG 130 | Introduction to Literature (GT-AH2) | 3 |
| ENG/CS 220 | Survey of Chicano Literature (GT-AH2) CC | 3 |
| ENG 221 | Masterpieces of Literature I (GT-AH2) | 3 |
| ENG 222 | Masterpieces of Literature II (GT-AH2) | 3 |
| ENG 240 | Multi-Ethnic American Literature (GT-AH2) CC | 3 |
| GT-AH3 (Ways of Thinking) | ||
| PHIL 102 | Philosophical Literature (GT-AH3) | 3 |
| PHIL 120 | Islam and Non-Western Religions (GT-AH3) CC | 3 |
| PHIL 201 | Classics in Ethics (GT-AH3) | 3 |
| PHIL 204 | Critical Reasoning (GT-AH3) | 3 |
| PHIL 205 | Deductive Logic (GT-AH3) | 3 |
| GT-AH4 (World Languages) 1 | ||
| FRN 201 | Intermediate French I (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
| FRN 202 | Intermediate French II (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
| GER 201 | Intermediate German I (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
| GER 202 | Intermediate German II (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
| ITL 201 | Intermediate Italian I (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
| ITL 202 | Intermediate Italian II (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
| SPN 201 | Intermediate Spanish I (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
| SPN 202 | Intermediate Spanish II (GT-AH4) CC | 3 |
- 1
Must be Intermediate/200 Level.
Humanities Courses not Designated as gtPathways
(Courses that will count for Humanities at CSU Pueblo, but are not guaranteed to transfer among all two-and four-year public institutions in the State.)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| WL 100 | Intro to Comparative Linguistics CC | 3 |
| CID 103 | Speaking & Listening | 3 |
| ASL 101 | Beginning American Sign Language I CC | 3 |
| ASL 102 | Beginning American Sign Language II CC | 3 |
| ASL 201 | Intermediate American Sign Language I CC | 3 |
| ASL 202 | Intermediate American Sign Language II CC | 3 |
| FRN 101 | Beginning French I CC | 3 |
| FRN 102 | Beginning French II CC | 3 |
| GER 101 | Beginning German I CC | 3 |
| GER 102 | Beginning German II CC | 3 |
| ITL 101 | Beginning Italian I CC | 3 |
| ITL 102 | Beginning Italian II CC | 3 |
| SPN 101 | Beginning Spanish I CC | 3 |
| SPN 102 | Beginning Spanish II CC | 3 |
B. History
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GT-HI1 (History) | ||
| CS 101 | Introduction to Chicano Studies (GT-HI1) CC | 3 |
| HIST 110 | World History to 1500 (GT-HI1) CC | 3 |
| HIST 111 | World History since 1500 (GT-HI1) CC | 3 |
| HIST/CS 136 | The Southwest United States (GT-HI1) CC | 3 |
| HIST 201 | U.S. History I (GT-HI1) | 3 |
| HIST 202 | U.S. History II (GT-HI1) | 3 |
C. Social Sciences
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GT-SS1 (Economic or Political Systems) | ||
| ECON 201 | Principles of Macroeconomics (GT-SS1) | 3 |
| ECON 202 | Principles of Microeconomics (GT-SS1) | 3 |
| POLS 101 | American National Politics (GT-SS1) | 3 |
| POLS 201 | International Relations (GT-SS1) CC | 3 |
| SOC 201 | Social Problems (GT-SS1) | 3 |
| SW 205 | Social Welfare in the United States (GT-SS1) | 3 |
| GT-SS2 (Geography) | ||
| GEOG 103 | World Regional Geography (GT-SS2) CC | 3 |
| GT-SS3 (Human Behavior, Culture, or Social Frameworks) | ||
| ANTH 100 | Cultural Anthropology (GT-SS3) CC | 3 |
| CS/SW 230 | Chicano: Social and Psychological Study (GT-SS3) CC | 3 |
| MAE 101 | Media & Society (GT-SS3) | 3 |
| PSYC 100 | General Psychology (GT-SS3) | 3 |
| PSYC 151 | Human Development (GT-SS3) | 3 |
| PSYC 222 | Understanding Animal Behavior (GT-SS3) | 3 |
| SOC 101 | Introduction to Sociology (GT-SS3) | 3 |
Social Science Courses not Designated as gtPathways
(Courses that will count for Social Science at CSU Pueblo; but are not guaranteed to transfer among all two-and four-year public institutions in the State.)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 106 | Language, Thought and Culture CC | 3 |
| POLS 202 | Comparative Politics CC | 3 |
| PSYC 231 | Marriage and Family Relationships | 3 |
| PSYC 251 | Childhood and Adolescence | 3 |
| SCSC 209 | African American Studies CC | 3 |
| WS 100 | Introduction to Women's Studies CC | 3 |
D. Natural and Physical Sciences
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GT-SC2 Lecture and GT-SC1 Required Laboratory | ||
| BIOL 100 & 100L | Principles of Biology (GT-SC2) and Principles of Biology Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| BIOL 121 & 121L | Environmental Conservation (GT-SC2) and Environmental Conservation Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| BIOL 181 & 181L | College Biology I/Organismal Bio (GT-SC2) and College Biology I/Organismal Bio Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| BIOL 182 & 182L | College Biology II/Cellular Biology (GT-SC2) and College Biology II/Cellular Bio Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| BIOL 201 & 201L | Botany (GT-SC2) and Botany Laboratory (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| BIOL 223 & 223L | Human Physiology and Anatomy I (GT-SC2) and Human Physiology and Anatomy I Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| BIOL 224 & 224L | Human Physiology and Anatomy II (GT-SC2) and Human Physiology and Anatomy II Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| CHEM 101 & 101L | Chemistry and Society (GT-SC2) and Chemistry and Society Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| CHEM 111 & 111L | Principles of Chemistry (GT-SC2) and Principles of Chemistry Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| CHEM 121 & 121L | General Chemistry I (GT-SC2) and General Chemistry Lab I (GT-SC1) | 5 |
| CHEM 122 & 122L | General Chemistry II (GT-SC2) and General Chemistry Lab II (GT-SC1) | 5 |
| CHEM 125 & 125L | Environmental Science (GT-SC2) and Environmental Science Laboratory (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| CHEM 160 & 160L | Introduction to Forensic Science (GT-SC2) and Intro to Forensic Science Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| GEOL 101 & 101L | Earth Science (GT-SC2) and Earth Science Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| GEOL 114 & 114L | Oceanography (GT-SC2) and Oceanography Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| PHYS 110 & 110L | Astronomy (GT-SC2) and Astronomy Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| PHYS 140 & 140L | Light, Energy, & the Atom (GT-SC2) and Light, Energy and the Atom Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| PHYS 201 & 201L | Principles of Physics I (GT-SC2) and Principles of Physics Lab I (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| PHYS 202 & 202L | Principles Of Physics II (GT-SC2) and Principles Of Physics II Lab (GT-SC1) | 4 |
| PHYS 221 & 221L | General Physics I and General Physics I Lab | 5 |
| PHYS 222 & 222L | General Physics II and General Physics II Lab (GT-SC1) | 5 |
Natural and Physical Sciences Courses not Designated as gtPathways
(Courses that will count for Natural and Physical Sciences at CSU Pueblo; but are not guaranteed to transfer among all two-and four-year public institutions in the State.)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 101 & 101L | Biological Anthropology and Biological Anthropology Lab | 4 |
| BIOL 202 & 202L | Zoology and Zoology Laboratory | 4 |
| EPER 162 & 162L | Personal Health and Personal Health Lab | 4 |