160-00 Associate Degree Curriculum
Associate majors lead to the following degrees: Associate in Arts, Associate in Engineering Technology, or Associate in Science. (SR:9/13/88) For associate degree majors, the offering unit must indicate a minimum of 7 credits that require a grade of C or better, as specified in Senate Policy 82-44.
160-10 United States Cultures (US) and International Cultures (IL) Course Requirement for Associate Degrees
Associate degree students complete a 3-credit course designated as United States Cultures (US), designated as International Cultures (IL), or designated as both United States Cultures and International Cultures (US;IL).
160-20 General Education Requirements for Associate Degrees
The General Education program for Penn State associate degree students consists of 21 credits distributed among communication and quantification skills (6 credits), the Knowledge Domain areas (15 credits), including courses in the natural sciences (3 credits), arts (3 credits), humanities (3 credits), and social and behavioral sciences (3 credits), and an additional 3 credits in any General Education area, including Health and Wellness (GHW). Up to six credits of Inter-domain courses may be used for any Knowledge Domain requirement, but when a course may be used to satisfy more than one requirement, the credits from the course can be counted only once.
FOUNDATIONS – Build a basis of effective communication and quantitative literacy. (Integrative Studies: Inter-domain courses may not be used for this requirement.)
Total 6 credits
Requirement: Writing/Speaking (GWS)* – 3 Credits
Requirement: Quantification (GQ)* – 3 Credits
*Requires a grade of C or better
BREADTH IN KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS – Practice applying a specific way of constructing knowledge to examine a topic. (Integrative Studies: Inter-domain courses may be used but may only apply to one requirement.)
Total 12 credits
Requirement: Natural Sciences (GN) – 3 Credits
Requirement: Arts (GA) – 3 Credits
Requirement: Humanities (GH) – 3 Credits
Requirement: Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS) – 3 Credits
EXPLORATION- Follow intellectual curiosity to deepen or widen learning
Total 3 credits
In addition to the above Knowledge Domains course requirements, associate degree students must complete 3 credits in any General Education area. Integrative Studies courses may be used for this requirement.
The General Education program extends the concept of flexibility to all aspects of the degree program. Penn State wants students to use General Education as an opportunity to experiment and explore, to take academic risks, to discover, and to learn.
To these ends, students may substitute a 200- to 499-level course for an Arts, Humanities, Natural Sciences, or Social and Behavioral Sciences course found on the General Education list. For example, a student may take a 400-level course in history and use it to meet the General Education requirement satisfied by a comparable lower-level history course.
This policy was previously Student Policy Appendix A.2
Revised: 5/2/18 (based on General Education Planning and Oversight Task Force report 4/28/15)
Moved to Curriculum Policy 160-20: 10/18/2022
Revised 10/18/22
160-25 Intentional Breadth in General Education in Associates Degrees
Students whose academic majors are in the areas of natural sciences, arts, humanities, and social and behavioral sciences may not meet the General Education Knowledge Domains components by taking courses in the department or program identical to that of the academic major. All General Education courses are to help students explore and integrate information beyond the special focuses of their majors.
160-30 Writing Across the Curriculum for Associates Degrees
All associate degree candidates complete at least 3 credits of writing intensive (W) courses offered within General Education or the major.