Courses in the CORE program contain the collective knowledge and skills you need to be useful as a person, a global citizen, an employee, and a consumer. These courses provide the breadth, perspective, and rigor that allow Leighton University graduates to claim to be "educated people." Additionally, General Education courses introduce great ideas and controversies in human thought and experience. Most Americans change their careers three times during their lifetime. A solid general education program provides a strong foundation for life-long learning that makes career-change goals attainable. As a foundational program, the CORE satisfies a significant proportion of you degree requirements at Leighton University.
The University has a defined set of the CORE competencies that all its graduates, from associate degree and bachelor's programs, must attained prior to graduation. These competencies are anchored under six Categories, as follows:
Category 1: Purposive Communications – A competent communicator can interact with others using all communication forms, resulting in understanding. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to understand and interpret complex materials; espouse, develop, organize and present an idea formally and informally; use standard English; use appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses in interpersonal relations and group discussions; use listening skills; and recognize the role of culture in communication.
Category 2: Quantitative Reasoning – A competent person in quantitative reasoning possesses the skills and knowledge necessary to apply logic, numbers, and mathematics to deal effectively with common problems and issues. A quantitatively literate person can use numerical, geometric, and measurement data and concepts, mathematical skills, and mathematical reasoning principles to draw logical conclusions and make well-reasoned decisions. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to use logical and mathematical logic with the context of various disciplines; interpret and use mathematical formulas; understand mathematical models such as graphs, tables, and schemata and draw inferences from them; use graphical, symbolic, and numerical methods to analyze, organize, and interpret data; estimate and consider answers to mathematical problems to determine reasonableness; and represent accurate information numerically, symbolically, and visually using graphs and charts.
Category 3: Behavioral and Social Understanding – A culturally and socially competent person possesses an awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the inter-connectedness of the social and cultural aspects within and across local, regional, state, national, and global communities. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to assess the impact that social institutions have on individuals and culture— past, present, and future; describe their own as well as others' ethical systems and values within social institutions; recognize the influence that arts and humanities have upon individuals and cultures; appreciate the role of language in social and cultural contexts; and identify the inter-dependence of distinctive worldwide social, economic, geopolitical, and cultural systems.
Category 4: Scientific Reasoning – A competent person in scientific reasoning holds to a self-rectifying inquiry system (the scientific method) and relies on empirical evidence to describe, understand, predict, and control natural phenomena. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to generate an empirically evidenced and logical argument; differentiate a scientific argument from a non-scientific argument; reason by deduction, induction, and analogy; distinguish between causal and correlational relationships; and recognize methods of inquiry that lead to scientific knowledge.
Category 5: Humanities and Fine Arts – As a component of the General Education, under the category of Humanities and Fine Arts, students learn to explore issues that are fundamental to human uniqueness, as these are expressed in the cultural, artistic, and intellectual traditions of the world's civilizations. Course requirements under Category 5 of the General Education program offer students the opportunity to orient themselves to give meaning to the human experience by studying fine arts, interpretations of history, rituals, and the various belief systems of religious-philosophical thought. After completing the coursework under Category 5, students will have the knowledge and skills to respond more knowledgeably to those humanistic and artistic works and traditions created by people of various societies and times.
Category 6: Technological Literacy – A competent person in Technologically literate recognizes when information is essential and can locate, evaluate, and use it effectively. A Leighton University graduate will demonstrate the ability to determine the nature and extent of information needed; access desired information effectively and efficiently; judge information and its sources critically and integrate carefully selected information into his or her knowledge base; use information effectively, as an individual or as a member of a group, to realize a specific purpose; and recognition of many of the economic, legal, and social issues around the use of information and access and use information ethically and legally.