2024-25 Catalog

General Education Requirements

The general education program at Valencia is designed to contribute to the student’s educational growth by providing a basic liberal arts education. A student who completes the general education program should have achieved the following outcomes:

Cultural and Historical Understanding: Demonstrate understanding of the diverse traditions of the world, and an individual’s place in it.

Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning: Use processes, procedures, data, or evidence to solve problems and make effective decisions.

Communication Skills: Engage in effective interpersonal, oral and written communication.

Ethical Responsibility: Demonstrate awareness of personal responsibility in one’s civic, social and academic life.

Information Literacy: Locate, evaluate and effectively use information from diverse sources.

Critical Thinking: Effectively analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and apply information and ideas from diverse sources and disciplines.

Area 1. Communications (3 Credits)

Required Course - There are 3 required credits. Students must take three credit hours of  ENC 1101 FRESHMAN COMPOSITION I or ENC 1101H Freshmen Comp I Honors. The Freshman Composition course must be completed with a minimum grade of C to fulfill the Gordon Rule requirement.

Freshman Composition I (Required)
ENC 1101FRESHMAN COMPOSITION I +*~13
or ENC 1101H FRESHMAN COMPOSITION I - HONORS
1

Students who complete ENC 1101 FRESHMAN COMPOSITION I with a grade of C or better will earn the Fundamentals of Written Communication digital badge. 

Area 2. Humanities (3 Credits)

Required Courses – There are 3 required credits.  Students must take three credit hours from the core offerings.

Core
ART APPRECIATION ~
ART APPRECIATION - HONORS
INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES ~
INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES - HONORS
INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
MUSIC APPRECIATION +*~ (GR)
PHILOSOPHY ~
INTRODUCTION TO THEATER ~

Area 3. Mathematics (3 Credits)

Required Courses – There are 3 required credits of math, and students should select from the core. Any student who successfully completes a mathematics course for which one of the general education core course options in mathematics is an immediate prerequisite shall be considered to have completed the mathematics core. 

Core
COLLEGE ALGEBRA +*~ (GR)
COLLEGE ALGEBRA - HONORS
MATHEMATICAL THINKING +*~ (GR)
CALCULUS WITH ANALYTIC GEOMETRY I +*~ (GR)
CALCULUS WITH ANALYTIC GEOMETRY I - HONORS
STATISTICAL METHODS +*~ (GR)
STATISTICAL METHODS - HONORS

Area 4. Science (3 Credits)

Required Courses - There are 3 required credits of Science, and students should select from the core. Any student who successfully completes a natural science course for which one of the general education core course options in natural science is an immediate prerequisite shall be considered to have completed the natural science core. 

Valencia does not require a science course with a laboratory; however, university majors determine if the student must take one or more laboratory science courses at Valencia. To select the most appropriate science courses for your major or transfer plan, complete an education plan through Atlas.

Core
ASTRONOMY ~
ASTRONOMY - HONORS
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE ~
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE COMBINED ~
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE - HONORS
GENERAL BIOLOGY I +*~
GENERAL BIOLOGY I HONORS
CHEMISTRY IN EVERYDAY LIFE ~
GENERAL CHEMISTRY WITH QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS I +*~
GENERAL CHEMISTRY WITH QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS I -HONORS
EARTH SCIENCES ~
INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE ~
INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE HONORS
PHYSICAL GEOLOGY ~
INTRODUCTION TO OCEANOGRAPHY ~
CONCEPTUAL PHYSICS ~
GENERAL PHYSICS WITH CALCULUS I +*~
GENERAL PHYSICS WITH CALCULUS I - HONORS
COLLEGE PHYSICS I WITH ALGEBRA +*~

Area 5. Social Science (3 Credits)

Required Courses - There are 3 required credits. Students must take three credits from the core offerings.  

Core
UNITED STATES HISTORY TO 1877 ~
AMH 2020U.S. HISTORY 1877 TO PRESENT ~3
or AMH 2020H UNITED STATES HISTORY 1877 TO PRESENT - HONORS
ANT 2000INTRODUCTORY ANTHROPOLOGY ~3
or ANT 2000H INTRODUCTORY ANTHROPOLOGY - HONORS
ECO 2013PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS-MACRO3
or ECO 2013H PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS-MACRO-HONORS
POS 2041U.S. GOVERNMENT ~3
or POS 2041H U.S. GOVERNMENT - HONORS
PSY 2012GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY ~3
or PSY 2012H GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY - HONORS
+

 This course must be completed with a grade of C or better.

*

 This course has a prerequisite; check description in the Valencia catalog.

~

 This is a General Education course.

(GR)

 Denotes a Gordon Rule course