Degree Programs and General Education

Five Towns College awards the degrees of Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.), Master of Music (M.M.), Master of Science in Education (M.S.Ed.), Bachelor of Music (Mus.B.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.), Associate in Arts (A.A.), Associate in Science (A.S.), and Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.). The programs listed herein are registered by the New York State Education Department. Enrollment in programs other than those that are registered or approved may jeopardize a students’ eligibility for student aid awards.

Undergraduate Degree Programs

Graduate Degree Programs

General Education

All undergraduate degrees offered by Five Towns College include a Liberal Arts and Sciences/General Education component – LAS/GE.  The LAS/GE consists of two parts. The first part is a Common Core Curriculum of 21 credits that is common to all undergraduate degree programs. The second part is the additional course requirements in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, which are required for candidates to earn each specific degree offered by the various academic divisions of the College.  The specific additional requirements are set forth on each degree program map and published in this Catalog.

The 21-credit Common Core Curriculum expresses the fundamental characteristics that the faculty seeks to develop in all undergraduate students. It is designed so that students acquire and demonstrate college-level proficiency in essential skills, including oral and written communication, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical analysis and reasoning, technological competency, and information literacy.  The Common Core Curriculum also incorporates the study of value, ethics, and diverse perspectives.

All of the courses in the Common Core Curriculum count toward the fulfillment of the New York State Education Department’s distribution requirement for the liberal arts and sciences. The Common Core Curriculum Map listed below is designed to identify where in each degree program the various general education competencies identified in its Plan for the Assessment of Student Learning are taught, learned and assessed. More than one competency may be infused into a single course.

Common Core Curriculum Student Learning Goals

The following describes the Student Learning Goals developed in the Common Core.

Oral Communication

Undergraduate students are expected to acquire and demonstrate college-level proficiencies in oral communication. As a result of completing the common core, students should be able to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary to prepare and deliver well-organized, content-rich, and articulate public presentations.

Oral communication skills are introduced through the “add-on method” in discrete courses, such as SPE 101 and SPE 231. These courses encompass all areas of communication – verbal and nonverbal, ethnic and gender diverse, and intra- and interpersonal.  Students are required to deliver three oral presentations of increasing sophistication accompanied by written reports. The presentations themselves are evaluated according to carefully constructed rubrics. The oral communication proficiencies developed during the freshman year, along with other general education common core competencies, are further developed later in the curriculum through the “infusion method” in other courses where students make oral presentations in upper-division coursework.

Written Communication

Undergraduate students are expected to acquire and demonstrate college-level proficiencies in Written Communication. As a result of completing the Common Core, students should be able to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary to clearly and literally state a thesis in writing, and to develop that thesis so that it is supported evidence, logic, and specific arguments using the grammar and syntax of standard American English learned in ENG 101.

The writing exercises that students in ENG 101 encounter move through Narration, Description, and Exemplification to Process. This course also stresses Information Literacy beginning with a Library Orientation and culminating in the documentation of research materials.  Drafting and revising are major components of the course, and students are required to submit the final drafts of five essays that are graded according to the standards of the English Department’s rubric.

ENG 102 builds upon the foundation established in ENG 101, moving through more sophisticated writing patterns and advanced library skills. The culmination of the course is a research paper and brief oral presentation that summarizes the major findings of that research.  Students are expected to submit essays that demonstrate competency in each of the following five areas: Cause and Effect; Comparison and Contrast; Classification and Division; and Argumentation. Information Literacy competencies are further developed and assessed in ENG 102.

Written Communication skills are introduced during the freshman year through the “add-on method” in the discrete courses of ENG 101 and ENG 102. The Written Communication competencies are further developed later in the curriculum through the “infusion method” in other courses where students present research papers and other writing assignments.

Information Literacy

Information Literacy provides an intellectual framework for identifying, finding, understanding, evaluating and using information. It includes determining the nature and extent of needed information; accessing information effectively and efficiently; critically evaluating information and its sources; incorporating selected information into the learner’s knowledge base and value system; using information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose; understanding the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information and information technology; and observing laws, regulations, and institutional policies related to the access and use of information.  At Five Towns College, Information Literacy is an integral part of the General Education Common Core Curriculum required of all students.  It is introduced in ENG 101 and further developed through the “infusion method” in ENG 102.  In addition, Information Literacy is further developed in a variety of upper-division level courses, such as those with research requirements.

Scientific Reasoning

Undergraduate students are expected to acquire and demonstrate college-level proficiencies in Scientific Reasoning. Scientific Reasoning is characterized by adherence to a self-correcting system of inquiry, the scientific method, which relies on empirical evidence and testable theory to describe, understand, predict and control natural phenomena. Scientific Reasoning is developed through the “add-on method” through a discrete series of courses, any one of which satisfies the Common Core requirement.  These include SCI 112, 131, 201, 211 or another SCI elective. Scientific Reasoning skills are further developed by infusion into a wide variety of other courses where inductive and deductive reasoning skills are essential. For example, infusion occurs in courses where troubleshooting and problem-solving skills are developed, such as those dealing with motion picture production, audio recording technology, play production, and the social sciences of psychology and sociology. 

Quantitative Reasoning

Undergraduate students are expected to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and competencies in Quantitative Reasoning.  Quantitative Reasoning employs simple mathematical methods, whether graphical, symbolic, or numerical to solve real-word problems. Infusion occurs in a wide variety of courses where troubleshooting and problem-solving skills are developed. For example, BUS 101 and 251 are grounded solidly in mathematics and ECO 101 and 102 are concerned with mathematical data and formulas. Quantitative Reasoning is developed through the “add-on method” through a discrete series of courses, any one of which satisfies the Common Core requirement. These include MAT 111, MAT 123, MAT 231, or MAT 331.

Critical Analysis and Reasoning

Undergraduate students are expected to acquire and demonstrate college-level proficiencies in Critical Analysis and Reasoning, including the ability to interpret, analyze, and evaluate arguments based on their merits and to construct logically developed arguments based on sound data. Proficiencies in Critical Analysis and Reasoning are developed through the “infusion method” in ENG 101 and 102, where students interpret, analyze, and assess in writing selected prose passages, and demonstrate the ability to identify the theme, organization, style, evidence, and strength of the written arguments presented. In addition, the development of these proficiencies is infused into a wide-range of other courses, such as PSY 101 and SOC 101, and other literature and history courses offered by the Liberal Arts and Sciences/General Education Division of the College.

Technology

Technological Competency as expressed in the Common Core at Five Towns College implies that undergraduate students will be able to demonstrate knowledge, skills and competencies with those technologies that are requisite for academic success as a learner at the institution, in the context of general education, liberal arts and sciences, and the content-specific degree programs.  Technological Competency develops in students an ability to learn in traditional and hybrid modalities, and from a distance, thereby enabling the ability of graduates to engage in life-long learning no matter where their journey in life may take them.

To enable learning at Five Towns College, Technological Competency develops the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary for students to engage with the computer hardware and software that constitute the College’s Learning Management System (LMS) – Schoology or Canvas. It also includes competencies with those ancillary technology based systems that allow students to fully participate in the academic life of the College. These ancillary systems include knowledge of the student-facing aspects of the College’s CampusVue or Campus Café Student Information System (SIS) – including its student portal, email, internet, digital portfolio, Library information systems and databases, and the like.  Technology Competency is developed in ENG 101 and 102 and further developed through the infusion method throughout the curriculum in nearly every course offered by the College.

Values, Ethics and Diversity

The Institutional Mission and Goals of Five Towns College, as adopted by its Board of Trustees, broadly expresses the values and ethics of the College, while fostering an appreciation of diversity - including a disposition of tolerance and respect for differing opinions and perspectives. These characteristics find further expression in the Common Core as well as in the content areas. To develop a disposition of tolerance and respect, the College also seeks to foster a learning environment where students are exposed to a diverse community in all of its forms.  This includes diversity in its student body, and a rich offering of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that expose the College community to a wide range of cultures and perspectives.  The foundation of this goal for student learning is a required course the develops knowledge, skills and competencies relating to the history of America’s major cultural groups, as well as a disposition of tolerance and respect for diverse cultural perspectives and practices.  To meet this requirement, students select at least one course from the following: SOC 101, SOC 301, SOC 303, SOC 305, or SOC 351.

¹ ENG 101  and ENG 102  satisfies the Written Communication and the Critical Analysis and Reasoning General Education Common Core Requirements. ENG 101  also satisfies the Technology competency requirement, while ENG 102  also satisfies the Information Literacy competency requirement.

² Ibid.
³ Ibid.