Framework

A liberal arts education at Kalamazoo College typically includes all components of the Kalamazoo Plan: on-campus coursework, career development experiences, study abroad, and the Senior Individualized Project. Students progress through this education within a developmental framework of Foundations, Explorations, and Connections. Foundations refer to skills upon which further intellectual and personal development depends. Explorations broaden and deepen knowledge and understanding, whether through course work or off-campus experiences. And Connections mean discovering ways in which knowledge, skills, and ideas from one course or discipline inform those from another, as well as ways in which the interplay of academic study and off-campus experience provides fresh insight and deepened comprehension of one's self and the world. Through this guiding framework, Kalamazoo College seeks to cultivate among its students intellectual and personal growth in attributes consistent with the College's overall mission.

Foundations are most germane to general education. Explorations occur through general education and work in majors, minors, and concentrations, as well as through career development, study abroad, and other off-campus experiences. Connections, while ideally made throughout the student's College career, are particularly enhanced through the Liberal Arts Colloquium (LAC) and the Senior Individualized Project (SIP), senior seminar, and comprehensive examination, which are typically carried out in the major.

Foundations

Foundational skill development focuses on written and oral expression, information literacy, quantitative reasoning, and second language proficiency. Students develop these skills systematically over four years in a variety of courses, from first-year seminars through advanced courses in majors. Through these courses, students receive instruction and practice in, as well as assessment of, their reasoning, speaking, writing, and research skills, which helps them to monitor their progress and guide their academic and experiential choices. Physical education, while not an academic skill, is nevertheless important to the well-being of the whole student and forms part of the foundation of a student's further development.

First-Year Seminars and Skill Development

First-Year Seminars provide opportunities for students to work on foundational skills in written expression, oral expression, and information literacy, and to engage topics of intellectual and social importance. These small seminars are taught by faculty from virtually all departments; and, while diverse with regard to topic, they are intentionally comparable in terms of the amount of written work expected, the importance of feedback on and regular revision of written work, and the maintenance of a participatory, discussion-oriented atmosphere. Because these seminars are the only course that all Kalamazoo students take, they play a critical role in helping students interpret and frame their College experience.

Quantitative Reasoning

Given the importance of quantitative competency to many disciplines, diverse occupations, and responsible citizenship, all students are required to enroll in a course that develops quantitative reasoning skills. Students can meet this requirement by enrolling in one of a variety of courses (identified by QR in course descriptions) offered across the curriculum.

Second Language Proficiency

At an institution dedicated to international education and study abroad, proficiency in a second language is essential. All students are required to achieve proficiency through the intermediate level, and for some study abroad programs students must demonstrate higher language proficiency as a prerequisite for participation. Languages offered regularly include Chinese, French, German, ancient Greek, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish. In special circumstances, the Neglected Languages Program offers qualified students an opportunity to study, on an independent basis and with the supervision of a qualified tutor, languages not otherwise available (e.g., Arabic, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Portuguese).

Physical Education

The College requires all students to complete five physical education activity classes. This requirement provides a combination of foundational skill development and exploration when the particular physical activity is new to the student.

Explorations

Through explorations, students engage with new ideas, new experiences, and new places as they explore diverse areas of study, possible careers, other cultures, and one or more disciplines in depth. Explorations begin in the Areas of Study and Cultures requirements, and majors programs provide avenues for developing deeper knowledge of a particular discipline. The career development and study abroad components of the Kalamazoo Plan offer unique opportunities to explore the world beyond campus.

General Education: A Breadth of Explorations

Areas of Study Requirements

The Areas of Study requirements encourage explorations into diverse academic fields and their related ways of knowing. These explorations promote breadth and often lead to the discovery of an unanticipated major or minor. Explorations into different realms of knowledge are organized into the following four Areas of Study:

• Literature, Creative Expression, Fine Arts and History
• Natural Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science
• Philosophy and Religion
• Social Sciences

The science departments regularly offer a number of courses specifically designed for students not majoring in science.

The Cultures Requirement

Enhancing the Areas of Study explorations, the Cultures requirement helps students develop greater awareness that their own life and society are reflective of distinct cultural traditions and thus not the natural order of things. Courses that satisfy this requirement offer an explicit concept of culture and include systematic comparisons between the particular focus of the course and relevant aspects of contemporary life and/or dominant cultures in the United States.

Students must enroll in three Cultures courses. Two must focus on different areas of the world outside the United States (Asia, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Mediterranean, and Europe) — one of these may be a comparative cultures course — and the third must give substantial attention to the cultural diversity within the United States. One Cultures course may be taken while on Study Abroad. Any or all of these courses may also count toward Areas of Study requirements or be counted toward a major, minor, or concentration.

Majors, Minors, and Concentrations: Explorations in Depth

In their work to earn majors and minors, students explore a discipline in depth. In the case of concentrations, students deepen their understanding of an interdisciplinary topic. A major is required for graduation; students may supplement this with a minor, concentration, or even second major if they wish.

Majors

Kalamazoo College offers 27 majors through which students explore and develop expertise in an academic discipline. Majors programs are designed to move from the broad to the specific through a sequence of core and elective courses. Upper-level majors courses usually delve deeply into a specific topic, and students can shape a particular emphasis within a major through their choice of upper-level courses. No matter what the discipline, all majors programs build skills in written and oral expression, information literacy, critical thinking and analysis, creative problem-solving, and independent scholarship.

Minors and Concentrations

A minor typically includes a subset of what is required for a major, whereas a concentration is a set of courses with a common focus drawn from several disciplines. Minors and concentrations enable students to supplement a major with directed study of another realm of interest and, in the process, lend more coherence to course selections satisfying Areas of Study and other general education requirements. Most disciplines offering a major also offer a minor. Ten concentrations are offered: African Studies, American Studies, Biochemistry-Molecular Biology, Biological Physics, Classical Studies, Environmental Studies, Health Sciences, Media Studies, Public Policy and Urban Affairs, and Women's Studies.

Connections

Connections help students pull together skills, knowledge, ideas, and experiences into a coherent sense of their education as a whole at the College. By making these connections, students discern strengths and ambitions, learn to articulate skills and talents to potential employers and graduate programs, and develop a deeper understanding of the world and their place in it. Majors seminars, comprehensive exams in the major, and the Senior Individualized Project, which many students complete in their major, provide students with vehicles to make connections within their major fields of study. The Liberal Arts Colloquium is a forum for discovering and constructing connections among disciplines and among a variety of types of educational experiences.

Majors Seminars

Most departments offer (and many require) junior and especially senior seminars for majors. The nature and purposes of these seminars vary. Some are mainly upper-level courses focusing on core disciplinary content. Others — and these would be for juniors — are directed toward SIP planning. Most, at least at the senior level, tend to be either integrative courses that are typically linked to the comprehensive examination or advanced special topics courses. Some senior seminars occur as a regular course during a specified quarter, whereas others meet throughout the year. All of these seminars convene advanced students focused on a discipline and typically involve substantial student participation, including peer teaching.

Comprehensive Exams

The comprehensive examination is the central means of assessing work in the major and a means for students to draw upon and synthesize their learning in the major. The College requires that every majors program have a comprehensive exam and that students pass this exam to graduate.

Senior Individualized Project (SIP)

A requirement for graduation, the SIP is an occasion for independent scholarship, often in conjunction with an internship or other creative activity, that results in a written report, performance, or exhibit. Rather than selecting only a subset of students to work on an honors project or thesis, the College considers such independent work a significant part of the education of all Kalamazoo College students. Officially, the SIP is a College requirement, not a requirement in the major as such, and some students do use the SIP to explore an area outside their major. Most students, however, carry out SIPs related to their major. Most SIP planning, advising, and evaluation is considered the responsibility of students and faculty within the particular departments of the students' majors. During students' senior spring, a number of departments host symposia, recitals, exhibitions, or theatrical productions in which results of research or creative work are featured.

Liberal Arts Colloquium

The Liberal Arts Colloquium (LAC) supplements the range of course offerings and exposes students to subjects not otherwise available at the College. This open forum hosts lectures, concerts, artistic performances, talks and panel discussions addressing topics from disciplinary perspectives or speaking to pressing contemporary issues, and programs tied to a theme or larger event on campus. These activities provide connections to the larger world of scholarly endeavors, public deliberation, and artistic expression, thus further preparing students for a rich and engaged life. Many of these activities acquaint students with ideas and experiences quite different from those found in their majors, thus strengthening the College's commitment to educational breadth.