Advanced Interdisciplinary Perspectives (AIP)

As students advance to higher-level (AIP) study in the General Education, they move from courses that are discipline-based to those that are organized around various interdisciplinary perspectives. This transition requires students to utilize the knowledge and skills they have already acquired as they hone their ability to think across and between disciplines. These courses are also designed to reinforce the critical skills that students develop in their lower-level courses.

Some of these courses are offered through specific departments, reflecting the shift towards an interdisciplinary approach that has occurred in many disciplines. Other courses are identified as Advanced Interdisciplinary Perspectives (AIP) courses. Such courses may explore their topics through a variety of disciplinary lenses or they may adopt an entirely new approach as they cross disciplinary boundaries. Students are required to complete a total of six courses at the 300- or 400-level, at least one from each of the perspectives listed below. For a list of courses that fulfill this requirement, see Advanced Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

Students must have completed 45 credits or be scheduled to complete 45 credits at the end of the current semester in order to be eligible to register for a course that fills an AIP requirement.

1. Cultural Perspectives (CP)

This perspective investigates the practices that allow for the production and reproduction of the systems of meaning (e.g., art, ritual, and beliefs) through which groups and individuals define and express themselves.

Learning Goals:

Students will demonstrate knowledge of the ways through which culture is produced.
Students will demonstrate knowledge of how people participate in and are influenced by individual, group, and social action.
Students will recognize their contribution to the production, consumption, and reproduction of culture.

2. Ethical Perspectives (EP)

This category examines the beliefs and values that underlie human responses to moral issues.

Learning Goals:

Students will identify ethical issues and controversies in various contexts.
Students will analyze and articulate multiple perspectives on ethical issues.
Students will construct arguments that are grounded in ethical and other analytical or scholarly perspectives in support of their own judgments.

3. International Perspectives (IP)

This category has a comparative focus on nations and peoples outside the United States to promote an understanding of and sensitivity to international communities and perspectives.

Learning Goals:

Students will demonstrate a comparative understanding of communities outside the United States.
Students will identify and evaluate contemporary or historical issues from global perspectives.
Students will demonstrate an awareness of international communities and perspectives to encourage engagement with the world and its citizens.

4. Natural Science Perspectives (NP)

This category studies the natural and physical world through the methods of scientific inquiry.

Learning Goals:

Students will articulate and recognize the contribution of scientific developments to human endeavors.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the scientific method as it applies to the natural and physical world.
Students will identify the relevant key aspects of the evolution of scientific thought.
Students will gain experience working with empirical data.

5. Racial and Ethnic Diversity Perspectives (REP)

This category focuses on racial and ethnic diversity to promote understanding of its historical and contemporary role in shaping local and global communities.

Learning Goals:

Students will articulate an understanding of the history of racially and/or ethnically based discrimination;
Students will explain how racial and/or ethnic hierarchies are constructed and how these hierarchies distribute political, social, and economic power.
Students will analyze creative expressions and cultural productions in relation to social, historical, and political formations of racial and/or ethnic identities.

6. U.S. Perspectives (UP)

This category focuses on issues central to the United States, from either a local or national view.

Learning Goals:

Students will identify and analyze issues central to the United States experience.
Students will articulate and analyze the plurality of experiences in the United States.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of diversity on the United States experience.