Academic Programs
General Education: The Human Community
| Cluster 1 | Cluster 3 | Cluster 5 |
| Cluster 2 | Cluster 4 |
Mission Statement
In the liberal arts tradition, General Education: The Human Community aspires to create informed global citizens of the 21st century. We challenge our community of students and faculty to engage in personal and collective reflection, development, and action.
Philosophy
General Education: The Human Community is the core academic program of James Madison University in which students come to understand how distinct disciplines look at the world from different vantage points. Courses in The Human Community are organized into five clusters, each emphasizing unique tools, rationales, and methodologies. Taken together, courses in a student's chosen major and The Human Community complement and complete each other. Both are integral and essential components of a student's full and proper education.
Goals
Students understand the historical and contemporary distinctions and interconnections among people, institutions, and communities that create, preserve, and transmit culture and knowledge in the arts, sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and humanities.
Students become skilled in questioning, investigating, analyzing, evaluating, and communicating.
Students participate in a variety of aesthetic and civic experiences reflecting human concerns and values that transcend the limits of specialization.
Structure
The Human Community credit hour requirements are as follows:
| Cluster | Credits |
| Skills for the 21st Century | 9 |
| Arts and Humanities | 9 |
| The Natural World | 10 |
| Social and Cultural Processes | 7 |
| Individuals in the Human Community | 6 |
