Aerial view of campus

General Education Core Curriculum

Develop skills to move forward in your career and make a difference.

Flexible and Practical. Take courses related to your career path and explore your interests.

Gen Ed at LVC allows students to add a second major or minor, study abroad, or change their major. And transferring to LVC has never been easier!

You’ll learn to communicate clearly and effectively, design and implement a solution to an open-ended question, comprehensively explore issues and ideas before formulating a conclusion, and learn to integrate diverse perspectives in your communications. These skills will benefit you in any career path.

You’ll gain the expertise to apply learning to new complex situations in your first job and beyond or at one of the many acclaimed graduate schools our alumni attend.

You’ll develop skills that support effective and appropriate interaction in various cultural contexts, preparing you to be an active, civically engaged global citizen.

No matter what path you choose in your academic career, you’ll need oral communication skills. Designated courses will enable you to improve those skills in various contexts, including individual and group presentations or professional communications in clinical and internship settings.

What does it mean to be a global citizen and engage civically? Through courses designed to enhance and expand civic engagement skills, you’ll learn to question and critically analyze community and/or global issues using diverse perspectives and relevant sources. Gain advantageous skills of active citizenship.

Every LVC student will participate in at least two high-impact Immersive Experiences before graduation. These immersive experiences allow you to apply your classroom learning to practical and professional situations, bolstering your résumé and career readiness. You can be a team captain, study abroad, help produce a Wig & Buckle Theater Company play or an album for V, complete an internship, or serve a critical campus leadership role such as Resident Assistant, all while meeting a requirement for graduation.

First-year mentor talks to group of new students

First-year Experience (FYE)

Become more comfortable—and successful—as you start your LVC journey through our First-year Experience requirement. You’ll develop personal relationships with faculty mentors, gain lifetime friends with similar academic and social interests, and learn how to navigate life easier at The Valley and after graduating.

You’ll take small, seminar-style courses where you’ll get to know your professors and classmates on topics you choose, like Making Major Decisions, Law & Justice, and The Horror Genre in Film & Literature.

During your transition to college during the first semester, you will learn academic skills, how to cope with stress, plan for your career (whatever that evolves into), manage time, and understand your major and General Education requirements.

Learn More about FYE

Curriculum Requirements

  • FYE 111 – 3 credits
  • FYE 112 – 3 credits
  • FYE Companion (111C, 112C, or 113) – 1 credit
    *Course will be waived for transfer students enrolling with 84 credits or more.
  • Natural Science Analysis (NS) – 3 credits
  • Social Scientific Inquiry (SS) – 3 credits
  • Humanistic Perspectives (HU) – 3 credits
  • Additional Disciplinary Competency from above options – 3 credits
  • Additional Disciplinary Competency from above options – 3 credits

*No more than 2 courses from one area.

*Courses may also fulfill Literacy requirements. 

  • Quantitative Reasoning (QR) – 3 credits
  • Critical Thinking Through Writing (CTW) – 3 credits
  • Oral Communication (OC) – 3 credits
  • Human Diversity (HD) & Language and Culture (LAC) – 9 credits:
    • 1 course/3 credits LAC
    • 1 course/3 credits HD
    • 1 course/3 credits LAC or HD
  • Civic Engagement (CE) – 3 credits

*Courses may also fulfill Disciplinary Competencies requirements, but no course can fulfill more than one Literacy requirement.

*Transfer students who enroll with 28 or more completed credits may substitute an HD course in place of the required LAC course. 

Satisfied through coursework taken in the major.

  • 2 approved immersive courses/experiences – 0–12 credits

*May be courses that also fulfill one Competency/Literacy requirement.

Experiences can be taken in any year. In cases where an experience continues and requires registration over multiple terms, only one instance of the experience may be counted toward the immersive experience requirement.

Non-credit Immersive Experiences are given a grade of Satisfactory (S) or No Grade (NG); experiences given a grade of NG cannot satisfy an Immersive Experience requirement. Credit-bearing Immersive Experiences are graded on a conventional or pass/fail basis (see grading section of the catalog); students must pass the course to fulfill an Immersive Experience requirement.

Credits may satisfy multiple components if learning objectives for each component are met. Students who double-dip will need to ensure that they complete at least 40 total unique credits in general education coursework.

In Their Words

Alumni Outcomes
I came to LVC with no actual clue about what I was doing here or how I’d survive a semester, let alone four years. With my FYE, I immediately felt like I had a team. I wasn’t alone because everyone was going through the same thing. Through my FYE, I explored my passion for horror, learned how to be a college student, and made a large group of friends.
Brandon Seigel ’19, Psychology, Human Resource Generalist, Virginia Commonwealth University
I came to LVC with no actual clue about what I was doing here or how I’d survive a semester, let alone four years. With my FYE, I immediately felt like I had a team. I wasn’t alone because everyone was going through the same thing. Through my FYE, I explored my passion for horror, learned how to be a college student, and made a large group of friends.
Brandon Seigel ’19, Psychology, Human Resource Generalist, Virginia Commonwealth University
Statue on LVC campus in Spring

Why LVC’s New General Education Program?

Course Scheduling

Literacy and Disciplinary Competency designations will be attached to various courses across the LVC curriculum, allowing you to pick courses to meet your interests and career goals while completing General Education requirements. This flexibility will enable you to explore more courses of personal or professional interest and give you greater flexibility in scheduling classes.

Double Major or Minor

We know LVC students have diverse interests, and our General Education program allows students to explore other majors while completing general education requirements. These explorations might easily lead to adding a second major or minor!

Transfer-Friendly

Don’t take a step backward if you transfer into LVC. Our revised Gen Ed curriculum makes it easier to transfer and keep moving forward on your degree path.

*LVC’s new General Education curriculum meets all Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) requirements.