Golden Bear Discovery General Education Curriculum

Note: Students whose start term at WNE was prior to Fall 2025 must fulfill the General University Requirements (GURs) (not the Golden Bear Discovery curriculum) to complete their general education requirements. For details on the GURs, students should consult the Catalog for the year of study that they matriculated at WNE.

Western New England’s general education program, called Golden Bear Discovery, gives students the academic skillsets, mindsets, and knowledge necessary for today’s world. Through at least 40 credits of coursework, the Golden Bear Discovery program prepares each student to succeed in their major and in their career. The program features flexible requirements, so students can adapt Golden Bear Discovery to their interests and needs.

Stage I: Embarking on Your Journey

The Golden Bear Discovery journey begins with the BLUE and GOLD courses that prepare students for university-level inquiry and success in the WNE environment. Golden Bear Discovery also includes three courses that focus on communication skills necessary for today’s world.

BLUE: Belonging and Learning in the University Environment

Requirement: One 1-credit course, or a 1-credit-equivalent portion within a course. Taken in a student’s first semester at WNE.

The Belonging and Learning in the University Environment (BLUE) course is an essential complement to each student’s first semester at WNE. Taught by students’ first-year academic advisor or faculty mentor and supported by a peer advisor, BLUE invites students to explore their academic, professional, and personal interests and their purpose in relation to the opportunities and support at WNE. Along the way, students develop skills for interpersonal communication and problem solving in the university environment.

An important part of each BLUE course is community-building, and classmates are students with similar majors or academic pathways. For those who haven’t yet decided on a major, special sections of BLUE courses enable students to explore options. Through the BLUE course, students also engage in experiences common to all first-year students to support their inclusion into the WNE community.

Students with 15 transfer credits from another institution are exempt from the BLUE course requirement. AP and dual enrollment credits do not count toward these transfer credits.

GOLD: Gateway to Opportunity, Learning, and Discovery

Requirement: One 3-credit course; also counts toward the Navigating Your Trails requirement. Taken in a student’s first year at WNE.

A Gateway to Opportunity, Learning, and Discovery (GOLD) course introduces students to university-level learning, sets the stage for their educational journey, and helps them to connect the general education program to their interests. In a GOLD course, students engage in inquiry and critical thinking on a topic that is current, timeless, challenging, or thought-provoking. Students also practice communication and information literacy skills and learn the importance of critically evaluating sources.

GOLD courses exist across departments and disciplines and are taught by professors who are experts in the subject. Each course is designed to be accessible to students of any major. A GOLD course likely includes students from several different majors, and each student connects course content to their academic interests through an assignment designed for this purpose.

GOLD courses are reserved for first-year students, and students can earn credit for only one GOLD course during their time at WNE. Students with 30 transfer credits from another institution are exempt from the GOLD course requirement. AP and dual enrollment credits do not count toward these transfer credits. However, exemption from the GOLD course requirement does not exempt students from the Navigating Your Trails requirements.

Modern Communication

Requirement: 3 courses, 9-10 credits

Written Communication

Requirement: 2 courses (ENGL 132, ENGL 133), 6 credits

Effective writing is important in virtually all human activities, from informal exchanges with friends and family to more formal intellectual pursuits and the professional responsibilities of the workplace. The ability to express ideas in writing, using appropriate sentence structure, grammar, and mechanics, as well as a detectable thesis and logical support for the thesis, allows us to communicate effectively with others.

To develop skills in written communication, each student must take two foundational English composition courses. Because writing and reading are closely related and because all students should have some college experience of literature, these courses also feature the analytic reading of literary texts in a cultural context. Each student must complete both of these writing courses with grades of C- or better.

Multimodal Communication

Requirement: 1 course, 3 to 4 credits

Multimodal Communication courses equip students with understanding and skills to communicate within and across different communication modalities. Through regular practice, students learn at least one modality and how to use its characteristics and rules ethically and effectively to understand particular audiences and communicate specific purposes.

Multimodal Communication courses typically include select communication, English, journalism, and introductory language courses, as well as other discipline-specific courses.

Stage II: Navigating Your Trails

To ensure breadth, students choose courses to learn types of thinking and to gain knowledge in four main categories or “Trails,” subject to the following guidelines.

• In these requirements, the term “course” means a course or course-lab pair of at least 3 credits.

• Students must take at least 27 credits of Navigating Your Trails courses and meet the minimum course requirements in each Trail.

• No more than two courses with the same subject code can count toward Navigating Your Trails.

Science, Mathematics, and Technology

Requirement: At least three but at most four courses

In the Science, Mathematics, and Technology Trail, students study the techniques and principles that enable analytical, quantitative, and evidence-based decision making and problem-solving. In Scientific Reasoning courses, students engage with the scientific method and practice the principles of becoming a scientifically literate citizen. In Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning courses, students study a variety of analytical and problem-solving techniques that help them make quantitative sense of the world. In Technology courses, students explore the technological tools and paradigms that enable real-world problem solving.

Each student’s choice of courses in the Mathematics, Science, and Technology Trail must satisfy the following:

• One Scientific Reasoning course. One course chosen from 100-level courses in the field of physical and biological sciences that contain a laboratory component.

• One Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning course. One course chosen from most 100-level MATH and QR courses.

• At least one additional course. Chosen from courses in the previous two categories plus other 100-level science courses, and certain introductory computing, technology, logic, and quantitative methods courses.

Creative Expression

Requirement: At least one course

In the Creative Expression Trail, students produce and/or analyze methods, processes, and components used to craft creative products. Students also engage with creative thinking’s potential to affect society.

Courses that satisfy this Trail typically include most art, film, music, and theater courses. They also include certain courses in English, history, global cultures and other fields that include substantial creative writing, or analysis of aesthetics in areas such as photography or pop culture.

Citizenship, Identity, and Community

Requirement: At least two courses

In the Citizenship, Identity, and Community Trail, students explore citizenship, communities, and/or identities through human experiences, stories, ideas, artifacts, or cultural practices. Students learn to analyze events and ideas that have shaped world communities and notions of citizenship and identity. Students practice interpreting these events and ideas and relating them to their own identities and communities.

Courses that satisfy this Trail typically include most introductory history, global cultures, and intermediate and advanced international language courses as well as selected English, international studies, philosophy, and political science courses.

Social Systems

Requirement: At least one course

In the Social Systems Trail, students analyze individual and group behavior within political, legal, economic, and/or cultural contexts. These courses include ethical and/or normative reasoning as part of the exploration of social systems. Students may also assess the role of power, the design and value of institutions, inequality, concepts of justice and/or other aspects of social and institutional systems.

Courses that satisfy this Trail typically include introductory criminal justice, economics, psychology, sociology, and certain philosophy, political science, and law and society courses.

Stage III: The Capstone

Requirement: at least 3 credits

The Capstone is part of each student’s major and represents an opportunity to apply skills learned through both general education and major courses to a culminating, integrative experience. Beyond the major-specific goals of the Capstone, these courses will refine students’ education in, and demonstrate students’ competence in, the following four areas:

• Oral and written communication skills

• Critical analysis and logical thinking

• Information literacy skills

• Professionalism and ethics

Capstones may also prioritize competencies important to the discipline, such as:

• Scientific and quantitative reasoning

• Collaboration and teamwork skills

Each major degree program determines the course or courses that satisfy the Capstone requirement.