Graduation Requirements for On-Campus Students
PLAN Requirements, Purpose,
and Double Counting (for On-Campus Students)
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PLAN REQUIREMENT
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PURPOSE
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DOUBLE COUNTING
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Year 1
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Writing Boston fall or Spring semester, 4 credits
Simmons 100:
Explore fall semester, 2 credits
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Communication essential capability
Engagement with Simmons Communities and with Boston; academic skill-building
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Sophomore or Junior Year
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Simmons 200: Extend
Fall or spring semester, 2 credit
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Discipline-specific career education; Academic skill-building; post-graduation support/ planning; careers, graduate school
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Any year
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Key Content Areas (3 courses)
• Artistic, Literary Aesthetic
• Global Historical
•Scientific Inquiry
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Exposure to content across disciplines |
Each KCA may be fulfilled through major/ minor course of study (if applicable)
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Any year
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Key Skills Areas (5 courses)
•Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
•Integrative Learning
•Leadership •Quantitative Literacy
• Writing Intensive
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Application of skills and knowledge toward social engagement and change
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At least two KSA courses must be taken outside of the student’s major
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Exemptions/Alternate Requirement
- As of May 2021, all students entering with an AA/AS degree are exempt from all PLAN requirements.
Note: All students must complete a capstone in their major. Capstones are not part of PLAN but of requirements for all majors.
Starting a New Language
- For incoming students as of Fall 2024 and thereafter: Incoming undergraduate students are not required to take a language course as a part of the Simmons PLAN curriculum. The language placement exam is optional and available only to students who are interested in taking Spanish or French at the undergraduate level.
- For students whose first semester was prior to Fall 2024: All on-the-ground undergraduate students must satisfy the PLAN Language Requirement that was in place at the time of their enrollment. Language exams are still available to students who have not yet taken one and require a placement. The language requirement is met by one of the following:
The successful completion of the 102 level* in Spanish or French at Simmons University or in any modern language taken through the COF or at another institution with preapproval from the Associate Provost for Curriculum, Assessment, and Accreditation. (*Completion of the 101 level [or its equivalent] is a prerequisite of the 102 level.)
OR
The successful completion of one GH KCA course AND one DEIJ KSA course taken specifically to fulfill the language requirement.
Math Competency Requirement
Students will be required to demonstrate competency in mathematics in one of the following ways before they may take a Quantitative Literacy course:
• Pass the mathematics competency exam administered by the Office of Undergraduate Advising prior to registration;
• Successfully complete MATH 101 or a higher level mathematics course at Simmons; or
• 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 prior to registration 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.
Key Content Area (KCA) Requirements
The key content area courses draw upon three broad areas of knowledge to emphasize a multidisciplinary approach to ways of knowing. They engage phenomena as objects of study through approaches rooted in various disciplines tied to the sciences, the arts and broad frames of historical and cultural understanding. Students must complete one course from each of the following three areas:
1] 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.
2] Global Historical (GH)
Global Historical courses provide perspectives on contemporary or historical phenomena as they present themselves socially. They may foreground the perspective of a particular community or person or a specific interpretive frame or historical moment in time ,or they may include comparative ways of knowing phenomena across cultures of the globe, within and beyond the US, past and present.
Courses in this area offer students the opportunity to study societal topics closely and to appreciate cultural and historical differences as they have manifested for humankind.
3] 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.
Key Skills Area (KSA) Requirements
While the Key Content Areas focus on knowledge of content, the Key Skills Areas emphasize skills acquired or applied in courses. This category spans skills that are essential for student’s success in and beyond academia. It extends to opportunities for students to apply their developing skills and knowledge toward social engagement and change. Students must complete one course from each of the below areas. Note: At least two KSA courses must be taken outside of the student’s major.
1] Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ)
Courses with a DEIJ designation provide students opportunities to build skills in the areas of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice that can be deployed in organizations, professions and society. Students in these courses critically analyze social forces and systems and learn how to take some form of action to respond to these forces and systems. A DEIJ course allows explicit knowledge about DEI–Diversity, Equity and Inclusion– through examination of power and privilege as they pertain to gender, race, dis/ability, sexuality, immigration status, socioeconomic status, etc. And it also focuses on application of this knowledge toward the creation of change aimed at Justice–not just DEI, but also DEIJ. The ultimate goal of these courses is to–through a combination of analysis and action, or praxis–help students develop agency around understanding and challenging existent forces and systems.
2] Integrative Learning (IL)
The Integrative Learning KSA allows students to study a topic or question that cannot be fully understood without its examination through the lenses of subfields within or between disciplines. This integrative approach to learning aims at helping students develop the habits of mind needed to meaningfully explore topics and issues that require movement across different perspectives. The KSA is filled by courses that root their approach in any set of disciplines and/or subfields. A central topic or question guides the course, and students learn about content specific to the course topic, but the course is most centrally an opportunity for students to understand what they can and cannot know in the absence of employing multiple perspectives.
3] Leadership (LDR)
The Leadership courses help students expand their ideas of what leadership is and who can lead. These courses support students’ ability to envision opportunities to lead, formally or informally, in their careers, their communities and their lives. Each course focuses on the relationship between leadership and social identities and allows students to develop and demonstrate leadership skills related to both working in teams and public speaking. Students engage such topics as conflict resolution and advocacy on meaningful issues. Leadership courses typically study successful leaders and/or organizations, or specific theories or best practices, in order to help students envision their own ideas of leadership.
4] Quantitative Literacy (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)
5] Writing Intensive (WI)
Writing-Intensive courses further develop the competencies introduced to students in the first year writing course, Writing Boston. They encourage more advanced writing proficiency and centralize at least two of the following skills: awareness of audience and context, formulation of arguments and conclusions, evaluation and utilization of researched sources. Writing-Intensive courses also typically include frequent (usually weekly) writing assignments, some informal and ungraded writing, and at least one paper that is examined in draft form by the instructor and then revised by the student. This requirement is filled by courses in multiple departments, and courses are often rooted in the research and methods of the department’s particular academic discipline.