2021-2022 Catalog

General Education Requirements

Marymount’s General Education is unique and innovative. It rests upon three solid foundations. 

First, it is grounded in the College’s mission and tradition.  Part of our mission is to provide our students with an educational experience that allows them to “develop an awareness of social, political, cultural and ethical issues, in the belief that this awareness will lead to concern for, participation in, and improvement of society.”  The General Education curriculum puts this mission into action by requiring students to explore these social, political, cultural, and ethical issues in a variety of courses. It also invites them to extend their study beyond the classroom through experiential learning.  Thus, our students gain the kind of knowledge that leads to active and informed citizenship.

Second, it is in General Education that the faculty’s diverse areas of interest and expertise come together to offer our students a unique interdisciplinary experience. For this reason, our General Education is not limited to lower-level, introductory courses; rather, it also invites students to engage in advanced-level work in courses that underscore the value of interdisciplinary study. In this way, the General Education cultivates students who are able to think critically across varied bodies of knowledge, identify connections between ideas and practices, dialogue productively across difference and diversity of all kinds, and respond to social issues from informed and ethical positions. Students thus learn to engage the larger questions of our world from different disciplinary and critical perspectives.

Third, our General Education is informed by our geographical location in the heart of New York City.  This vibrant urban environment provides myriad opportunities for learning and is deeply fused into our students’ educational experience. One of the central goals of our General Education is to help our students understand their place in an ever-integrating global community.  While much of this preparation for global citizenship happens in the classroom, it also takes place in local communities in New York City where students learn, contribute, and cultivate a closer understanding and appreciation for the increasingly urban world in which we live and work.

Marymount’s General Education Requirement has three components totalling 42 credits:

Foundation Courses 9 credits
Disciplinary Studies 15 credits
Advanced Interdisciplinary Perspectives 18 credits

Information is also available on the MMC Web site at  https://www.mmm.edu/academics/curricular-requirements.php