General Education

General Education Program

Embry-Riddle’s General Education Program reflects the University’s commitment to “provide a transformative educational experience.” Completing the General Education Program will provide students with a broad range of knowledge from a variety of disciplines: humanities, social and natural sciences, and mathematics. By engaging with and investigating ideas and methodologies from several disciplines, students will also recognize interrelationships among the disciplines. Principles taught in general education courses elevate students’ ability to conduct meaningful research, work together in diverse and complex teams, and analyze and communicate both scientific and cultural concepts.

Comprising nearly one-third of every undergraduate degree program, the General Education Program ensures that students possess the attributes expected of all university graduates. Students will gain competence in written and oral communication, practice reasoning and critical thinking skills, and demonstrate technological literacy. As they progress into their degree courses and eventually the workplace, students will be challenged to apply these important concepts in unlimited ways, such as graduate research, business presentations, and personal and professional decision-making. Completion of the General Education Program helps students make informed value judgments, expand knowledge and understanding of themselves, and lead meaningful, responsible, and satisfying lives as individuals, professionals, and concerned members of their society and the world.

ERAU's General Education Program provides students with the opportunity to acquire skills in the following areas:

Collaborative Learning
Students will participate effectively in teams.

Communication
Students will express ideas effectively for a variety of audiences, contexts, and purposes.

Critical Thinking
Students will evaluate information from multiple perspectives to develop reasoned conclusions.

Cultural Literacy
Students will analyze how practices, values, or artifacts shape and are shaped by culture.

Information Literacy
Students will synthesize information appropriately to explore problems.

Quantitative Reasoning
Students will interpret data from numeric, tabular, graphical, and related formats to solve problems or infer conclusions.

Scientific Literacy
Students will evaluate scientific concepts, findings, and methodologies to draw logical conclusions.

Technological Literacy
Students will evaluate technology for appropriate applications.

Associate Degree General Education Requirements

Candidates for AS degrees must complete the general education credit hours required by their respective programs. The university is committed to ensuring that students possess a general education knowledge that will help them be successful in whatever degree program they select.

State of Minnesota Course Requirement

Worldwide Campus students residing in the State of Minnesota are required to comply with Minnesota Degree Standards which require students to complete four (4) credits of Humanities. Since Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide baccalaureate degree programs require a minimum of three (3) credits in Humanities, an additional one (1) hour of Humanities credit is required. Students should seek the assistance of their Academic Advisor if there are questions. Worldwide Academic Advisors are assigned based on the student's college affiliation (COAS, COA, COB) and primary program of study. Assigned Academic Advisor contact information can be found in the Campus Solutions Student Center.

State of Nevada Course Requirement

All students who obtain their degree from an Embry-Riddle Worldwide Campus in Nevada must complete a course that covers the United States and State Constitution. Students may satisfy this requirement by completing GOVT 320 American National Government or through transfer credit of an equivalent course from another institution. This requirement does not apply to students taking courses through the Online Campus outside Nevada.

Program Requirements

Candidates for bachelor's degrees must complete course work in the following areas:

Communication Theory and Skills		9
Computer Science/Information Technology		3
Mathematics		6
Physical and Life Sciences		6
Humanities and Social Sciences		12
3 hours of lower-level Humanities
3 hours of lower-level Social Science
3 hours of lower-level or upper-level Humanities or Social Science
3 hours of upper-level Humanities or Social Science
Total Credits		36

General Education Program Courses

General Education courses may be chosen from the list below, assuming prerequisites are met. New courses added to the General Education list may be used for previous catalogs, as long as the previous catalog requirement allows selection of any course from the General Education course list rather than a specific course. See degree programs for recommended courses in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Physical/Life Sciences.

Communication Theory and Skills (9)
COMD 180	Media Literacy	3
COMD 219	Speech	3
COMD 225	Science and Technology Communication	3
COMD 265	Introduction to Newswriting and Reporting	3
COMD 295	Rhetorical Strategies and Analysis	3
COMD 322	Aviation and Aerospace Communication	3
COMD 350	Environmental Communication	3
COMD 362	Communication and Organizational Culture	3
COMD 420	Applied Cross Cultural Communication	3
ENGL 123	English Composition	3
ENGL 143	Introduction to Rhetoric	3
ENGL 221	Technical Report Writing	3
ENGL 222	Business Communication	3
ENGL 223	Collaborative Writing & Presenting	3
ENGL 355	Creative Writing	3
SSES 224	Intelligence Writing	3
Mathematics (6)
MATH 111	Pre-calculus for Aviation	3
MATH 112	Applied Calculus for Aviation	3
MATH 140	College Algebra	3
MATH 142	Trigonometry	3
MATH 143	Precalculus Essentials	3
MATH 201	Learning to Reason: Art and Quotient	3
MATH 202	Learning to Reason: Commerce and Flux	3
MATH 241	Calculus and Analytical Geometry I	4
MATH 242	Calculus and Analytical Geometry II	4
MATH 243	Calculus and Analytical Geometry III	4
MATH 345	Differential Equations and Matrix Methods	4
STAT 211	Statistics with Aviation Applications	3
STAT 222	Business Statistics	3
Computer Science/Information Technology (3)
CSCI 109	Introduction to Computers and Applications	3
CSCI 123	Introduction to Computing for Data Analysis	3
CSCI 251	Introduction to Programming for Data Science	3
CYBR 235	Computer and Network Technologies	3
ENGR 115	Introduction to Computing for Engineers	3
Physical and Life Sciences (6)
CHEM 110	General Chemistry I	3
CHEM 110L	General Chemistry I Laboratory	1
PHSC 301	Introduction to Public Health Science	3
PHYS 102	Explorations in Physics	3
PHYS 123	Science of Flight	3
PHYS 142	Introduction to Environmental Science	3
PHYS 150	Physics I for Engineers	3
PHYS 160	Physics II for Engineers	3
PHYS 199	Special Topics in Physical Science	1-4
PHYS 224	Astronomy	3
PHYS 250	Physics III for Engineers	3
PHYS 253	Physics Laboratory for Engineers	2
PHYS 299	Special Topics in Physics	1-4
PHYS 304	Environmental Science	3
PHYS 359	Self-Directed Exploration of Environmental Science	3
PHYS 399	Special Topic Physical Sciences	3
PHYS 499	Special Topic Physical Science	1-4
WEAX 201	Meteorology I	3
WEAX 301	Aviation Weather	3
WEAX 322	Space Weather	3
Humanities and Social Sciences (12)
Humanities
ENGL 143	Introduction to Rhetoric	3
HUMN 142	Studies in Literature	3
HUMN 200	Warriors in World Literature	3
HUMN 210	World Culture	3
HUMN 213	Introduction to Islamic Studies	3
HUMN 220	Asian Studies	3
HUMN 250	Generative Artificial Intelligence in Real-World Contexts	3
HUMN 240	History of Communication Technologies	3
HUMN 241	Introduction to Digital Humanities	3
HUMN 256	Baseball History and Statistics	3
HUMN 299	Special Topics in Humanities	1-6
HUMN 300	World Literature	3
HUMN 310	American Literature	3
HUMN 330	Values and Ethics	3
HUMN 333	How Fiction, Film and Popular Culture Represent Science and Mathematics	3
HUMN 340	Aviators and Aviation in Film	3
HUMN 350	War in Contemporary American Literature	3
HUMN 399	Special Topics in Humanities	1-6
HUMN 400	Science and Aviation/Aerospace Technology in Society	3
HUMN 430	Ethics in Aviation	3
HUMN 431	Ethics and Artificial Intelligence	3
HUMN 499	Special Topics in Humanities	1-6
Social Sciences
BSHF 300	Human Factors I: Principles and Fundamentals	3
ECON 210	Microeconomics	3
ECON 211	Macroeconomics	3
ECON 450	Econometrics through the Lens of Data Science	3
GOVT 320	American National Government	3
GOVT 325	International Studies	3
GOVT 331	Current Issues in America	3
GOVT 340	U.S. Foreign Policy	3
GOVT 363	Inter-American Relations	3
GOVT 401	American Constitutional Law	3
GOVT 402	Globalization and World Politics	3
HIST 119	U.S. History to 1865	3
HIST 130	History of Aviation in America	3
HIST 302	Evolution of Scientific Thought	3
HIST 331	Moments of Crisis in U.S. Military History	3
PSYC 220	Introduction to Psychology	3
PSYC 320	Aviation Psychology	3
PSYC 355	The Psychology of Creativity and Innovation	3
PSYC 360	Cultural Psychology	3
PSYC 440	The Psychology of Resilience	3
RSCH 200	Inquiry & Discovery: Exploring Academic Sources	3
SOCI 210	Introduction to Sociology	3
SSES 110	Critical Thinking in Contemporary Problems	3