Undergraduate Requirements

General Education Requirements

Saint Mary’s recognizes that its bachelor’s completion students arrive with educational, work, and life experiences that have already informed their perspectives.  As adult learners, students build upon their prior experiences by engaging in coursework that fosters individual development, humanizes practices in the field, and meets the responsibilities and challenges of 21st century citizenship. Coursework in the five general education thematic areas complements professional program expertise and encompasses critical thinking, ethical deliberation, and communicative sensitivity, reflecting Saint Mary’s mission to “awaken, nurture, and empower learners to ethical lives of service and leadership.”

To earn the B.S. degree, a minimum of 30 semester credits for general education must be distributed among the themes as follows:

Creativity and Human Expression (12 cr.):  To explore and reflect upon the human spirit and condition by imaginative and expressive means through

• humanities and fine arts (6 cr.), and
• oral and written communications (6 cr.).

Global Human Perspectives (3 cr.):  To learn from and with diverse others through

• human diversity, cultural competence, or global viewpoints (3 cr.).

Ethics and Civic Responsibility (6 cr.):  To develop a sense of civic responsibility that promotes ethical leadership directed toward social justice and sustainability through

• ethical and civic responsibility (3 cr.), and
• history, and social or behavioral science (3 cr.).

The Natural World (6 cr.):  To apply quantitative reasoning and evidence-based inquiry to describe or explain the natural world through

• mathematics (3 cr.) and
• science (3 cr.).

Engaging the Future (3 cr.):  To apply integrative problem-solving approaches through

• information literacy, creative problem solving, or interdisciplinary learning (3 cr.).

The general education requirements can be met by

• transferring credit for coursework and/or training (transfer students who have completed the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum with course grades of C or higher are considered to have met Saint Mary’s University general education requirements);
• completing the prior learning assessment (PLA) process to recognize competence through life experiences;
• successfully completing standardized examinations such as CLEP or DSST; and/or
• completing a Saint Mary’s University course aligned with a general education theme.

Creativity and Human Expression

•  

  Humanities and Fine Arts

• GN330 Arts and Social Change (3 cr.)
• GN350 Humanities Studies: The Global Roots of Our American Identity (3 cr.)

•  

  Written Communications

• COM330 Academic Writing (3 cr.)
• COM309 Professional Writing (3 cr.)
• HHSM304 Writing and Research in the Health Professions (3 cr.)

•  

  Oral Communications

• COM310 Professional Communications (3 cr.)
• HHSM303 Communicating in the Health Professions (3 cr.)

Global Human Perspectives

• APSY310 Multicultural Psychology (3 cr.)
• CJ405 Diversity in Criminal Justice (3 cr.)
• GN350 Humanities Studies: The Global Roots of Our American Identity (3 cr.)
• HHSM325 Cultural Competency for Health Professionals (3 cr.)
• MG405 Organizational Culture and Change (3 cr.)

Ethics and Civic Responsibility

• Ethical and Civic Responsibility

• APSY320 Research and Analysis in Practice (3 cr.)
• CJ400 Ethical Decision Making in the Criminal Justice Systems (3 cr.)
• HHSM415 Health Policy and Ethics (3 cr.)
• MG305 Managerial Ethics (3 cr.)

•  

• History and Social or Behavioral Sciences

• APSY305 Lifespan Psychology (3 cr.)
• MG311 Economics for Managers (3 cr.)

The Natural World

• Mathematics

• APSY425 Measurement and Statistics for Health Professionals (3 cr.)
• BU403 Applied Business Statistics (3 cr.)
• CJ300 Criminal Justice Systems (3 cr.)
• CJ305 Criminal Justice Statistics (3 cr.)

•  

• Science

• GN380 Contemporary Environmental Issues (3 cr.)

Engaging the Future

• BU490 Strategic Management Capstone (3 cr.)
• HHSM490 Healthcare Capstone (3 cr.)
• MG495 Bachelor of Science Capstone (3 cr.)

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)

Saint Mary’s University recognizes that many students come to the Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs (SGPP) with college-level learning that has occurred outside of the traditional college classroom.  Students may obtain college credit for this learning by participating in the Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) process.

Students seeking credit through the PLA process must first obtain approval from their program director.  Once approved, students take COM325 Prior Learning Exploration during which they create a portfolio that documents evidence of their learning.  PLA assessors then review the portfolio for college credit.  Students may be granted up to 35 credits for their PLA portfolios. 

Students who transfer PLA credits from other colleges or universities are ineligible for Saint Mary’s University’s PLA process.

Management Core Courses

• MG305 Managerial Ethics (3 cr.)
• MG405 Organizational Culture and Change (3 cr.)
• MG408 Project Management (3 cr.)
• MG410 Applied Leadership and Management (3 cr.)
• MG412 Critical Thinking for Organizational Leaders (3 cr.)
• MG415 Total Quality and Team Development (3 cr.)
• MG450 Operations Management (3 cr.)
• BU415 Advertising Design (3 cr.)