The Simmons General Education Program: PLAN (Purpose Leadership ActioN)

PLAN Requirements for On-Campus Students

Year One

The Boston Course

Fall Semester, 4 credits

In this writing-intensive first year seminar, students will engage with the City of Boston. Based on faculty passions and expertise, these courses run the gamut of disciplinary themes. They share a focus on the development of writing skills, information literacy, and critical analysis.

The Simmons Course: Explore

Fall Semester, 2 credits

This course supports Simmons students in their transition to college. The primary goals of the course are to introduce students to Simmons, to navigating cultural differences, to self-management, and to what it means to engage with your community.

The Leadership Course

Spring Semester, 4 credits

This course challenges students to think about themselves as leaders from a leadership model based on engaging others in the quest for positive social outcomes. This course will include skill development in building relationships across differences; communicating a compelling narrative in writing and public speaking; ethical decision making; speaking up in the face of injustice; and creating team leadership and followership.

Year Two

The Integrative Learning

Fall or Spring Semester, 4 credits

The Integrative Learning (IL) course challenges students to study a topic or question through the lenses of multiple disciplines. Taken during a student’s second year, this approach to integrative learning allows students to grasp the habits of mind and the importance of being able to explore topics and issues from different approaches and perspectives.

The Simmons Course: Experience

Fall or Spring Semester, 1 credit

The second year Simmons Course: Experience will focus on academic, co-curricular and career planning and further development of self-management skills.  

Year Three 

The Simmons Course: Excel

Fall or Spring Semester, 1 credit (online)

The Simmons Course Excel focuses on academic, career, and life planning. It represents a culmination of a three-course sequence that foregrounds the concepts of self-directed learning. The course also focuses on the development of competencies in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the refinement of self-management skills. 

Year Four

The Capstone

Fall or Spring Semester

All students will complete a Capstone experience in their major, which will be designed by individual departments. Regardless of discipline, Capstone experiences will address career and graduate school preparation. (One Capstone in a student’s major is required to fulfill PLAN requirements; students with multiple majors may be required to fulfill Capstones in each major, depending on major requirements.)

Graduation Requirements for On-the-Ground Students

The language requirement applies to all students regardless of background. Learning another language develops cognitive skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and flexibility. Furthermore, as students become familiar with a particular language and its literature and culture, they develop knowledge of the intellectual and social history of the people who communicate in that language.

Additionally, the knowledge and experience gained in the critical reading of literature from other cultures broadens students’ perspectives and provides a foundation for further study. In doing so, they become aware of their own cultural assumptions and preconceptions. Finally, fluency in another language provides a significant advantage in the marketplace for students who want to advance in their careers.

The language requirement is two semesters of the same modern language at a second-semester college-level (102) or demonstration of proficiency equivalent to that same level through appropriate and approved channels (i.e, score of 3 or higher on the Advanced Placement language exam, placement exams administered by the Advising Office and the Modern Languages and Literatures Department). Any modern language can be used to fulfill this requirement. 

Table 1: PLAN Requirements, Purpose, and Double Counting (for On-Campus Students) 

Exemptions/Alternate Requirement

• Dix Scholars are exempt from the language requirement, The Leadership Course, and The Simmons Course: Explore.
• Students with a documented learning disability, or other disability, affecting their ability to acquire a language will fulfill the language requirement through the completion of two courses related to global perspectives and cross-cultural understanding. Such students should contact the Office of Accessibility Services and consult their academic advisor for the list of approved courses.
• As of May 2021, all students entering with an AA/AS degree are exempt from all PLAN requirements but the capstone.

Starting a New Language

• Students who want to start a language which they have not previously studied can register for the 101 level in the following languages at Simmons: Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish.
• Typically, Arabic is offered through the Colleges of the Fenway. Please visit the Registrar’s Office for details.

Policies

• Students are strongly encouraged to finish the language requirement within their first two years of study.

Table 2a: Placement for Language Courses

Courses taken to fulfill the language requirement:

• may not be taken pass/fail;
• may not be taken in an asynchronous online course;
• may fulfill a Key Content Area requirement if that course has a KCA designation;
• may count towards the major or minor in French or Spanish if they are at the 245 level or above; in order to count towards the major or minor, French 245 and Spanish 245 must be taken at Simmons.
• Language courses taken during international study can be used to fulfill the language requirement. Pre-approval must be obtained from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Pre-approval must be obtained from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Please contact the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at MLL@simmons.edu.
• Language courses transferred from other institutions may fulfill the language requirement pending pre-approval from the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Please contact the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at MLL@simmons.edu.This condition also applies to languages not offered at either Simmons or the Colleges of the Fenway consortium. In that instance, placement will be decided by the host institutions, if needed.

Table 2b: Placement/Credit by Language Exam Score

Math Competency Requirement

Students will be required to demonstrate competency in mathematics in one of the following ways before they are able to take a Quantitative Literacy course:  

• Pass the mathematics competency exam administered by the Office of Undergraduate Advising by Orientation;
• Successfully complete MATH 101 or a higher level mathematics course at Simmons;
• Present evidence of satisfactory completion at another accredited college of a mathematics course at the level of MATH 101 or above to the Registrar’s office.
• Students must satisfy the math competency requirement during their first semester at Simmons. Students who do not pass the mathematics competency exam by orientation or who do not meet the math competency requirement in one of the other ways described above, must take MATH 101 in the first semester it is available.

Quantitative Literacy Requirement (QL)

Quantitative Literacy (QL) is a “habit of mind,” competency, and comfort in working with numerical data. Courses in this area will develop a student’s ability to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. QL courses will develop the skills necessary to understand and create sophisticated arguments supported by quantitative evidence, and to clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of formats (using words, tables, graphs, mathematical equations, etc., as appropriate).

Key Content Area (KCA) Requirements

The key content areas pertain to phenomena as objects of study across the disciplines, rather than modes of inquiry defined by a particular discipline or set of disciplines.
Indeed, these categories describe areas of knowledge from multidisciplinary perspectives. The phenomena included under each of the four areas listed below thus admit of a wide variety of ways of knowing or disciplinary approaches. Students must complete one course from each of the following areas:

1] Scientific Inquiry (SCI)

Courses in this area focus on phenomena in the natural and physical world and on ways of knowing these phenomena, particularly through experimental approaches. This requirement is primarily met by courses in the sciences and psychology; the requirement may also be met by courses in other disciplines providing perspectives on scientific phenomena. All courses meeting this requirement include a “hands on” component providing students the opportunity to understand and appreciate the scientific method.

2] Global Cultural (GC)

The term “global cultural” is broadly construed; it includes all cultures, past and present, within and beyond the U. S., and in their multiple forms of manifestation. Courses in this area offer our students the opportunity to understand and learn to appreciate cultural differences as they have made themselves manifest in humankind. This requirement can be met by courses in any discipline—from the liberal arts to the sciences and the professions—that provide a multicultural perspective of the world. For example, courses that focus on cross-cultural practices, or on minority cultures in the U. S., or on non-European cultures, or that provide world surveys of cultures would all meet this requirement.

3] Social and Historical (SH)

Courses in this area focus on phenomena in society and history as well as ways of knowing these phenomena. This requirement can be met by courses in the social sciences, including economics, political science, sociology, social psychology, social work, and history. Courses in other disciplines that provide perspectives of social and historical phenomena as defined above also meet this requirement. For example, a course that focuses on the social applications of management principles would provide such perspectives.

4] Aesthetic, Literary, and Artistic (ALA)

Courses in this area focus on phenomena in art and literature as well as ways of knowing or creating original works or aesthetic approaches to these phenomena. This requirement can be met by courses in any of the creative and performing arts as well as in any course in the study of literature, art, and music. Courses in other disciplines that provide perspectives of aesthetic, literary, and artistic phenomena as defined above also meet this requirement. For example, a course that studies the digital or computational aspects of artistic creation would meet this requirement.

Simmons PLAN Requirements for CompleteDegree Students

Courses are listed in the order we recommend they be taken.

Connect 101, Simmons Connect

Offered each Semester (fall, spring, summer), 3 credits;
Highly recommended to be taken in your first term
Simmons Connect is designed to connect you to your new Simmons community, to discipline-specific writing skills and strategies, and to tools and resources to ensure your success at Simmons and in your career post-graduation. This class is required of all Complete Degree students who matriculate without an AA/AS degree and highly recommended for all Complete Degree students.

Leadership 201, Gender and Leadership

Spring Semester, 4 credits
The study of leadership in American higher education has traditionally centered cis-gendered white men and their socialized masculine behaviors. This course seeks to counteract that by exploring women leaders in the United States, both leaders in history as well as present day to support students’ development of their own leadership identity. The course will identify trends common to cis-gender women leaders as well as the unique and authentic leadership practices that successful cis-gender women leaders have enacted that contributed to the social, economic, political and personal successes they achieved. The course will be gender inclusive where possible, though more scholarship is needed that is inclusive of multiple gender identities.

CDA 201, Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Public Issues

Fall and Spring Semester, 6 credits
Problem solving, critical thinking skills, and integrative techniques for researching an issue are important for all students to learn no matter their major or their future job aspirations. This course will introduce students to multiple ways of looking at an issue within their chosen discipline; students will gain knowledge to analyze common themes, communicate effectively, and use interdisciplinary perspectives to provide solutions to a potential employee and/or mentor. Students will use techniques from information science and public policy, for example, to formulate and answer questions with quantitative and qualitative techniques while enhancing their academic search skills.
Recommended prerequisite: CNCT 101

Connect 201, Pathways to Career and Leadership

Fall and Spring Semester, 1 credit
Connect 201: Pathways to Career and Leadership focuses on career and life planning. It represents a culmination of a two-course sequence that foregrounds the concepts of metacognition and self-directed learning. The course also focuses on the development of competencies in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the refinement of leadership skills.

3D (Design Across Diverse Disciplines)

Included in Connect 201
For this graduation requirement, students will design and propose a cluster of three courses they have taken and plan to take that addresses a topic, problem, or issue from various disciplinary perspectives. Students will explain the rationale for their selection of these courses, focusing on the intellectual coherence of the courses they have chosen.

The Capstone

Fall and/or Spring Semester, 4-8 credits
All students will complete a Capstone experience in their major, which will be designed by individual departments. Regardless of discipline, Capstone experiences will address career and graduate school preparation. (One Capstone in a student’s major is required to fulfill PLAN requirements; students with multiple majors may be required to fulfill Capstones in each major, depending on major requirements.)

Graduation Requirements CompleteDegree

Table 1: PLAN Requirements, Purpose, and Double Counting for CompleteDegree