General education is the set of courses that every student takes as a supplement or in conjunction with their major. Under Spartan Studies, new courses and benchmarks are being designed to meet the demands of the 21 st century.

Those demands are reflected in the designated keystones of Spartan Studies: cultivate, create, communicate and contribute.

Cultivate

Spartan Studies provides students with the opportunity to cultivate:

• A sense of belonging with fellow students, faculty, staff and the UT community
• Self-awareness about values, interests, personality and skills
• Knowledge that will help them understand where we are in the world, how we got here and the possibilities for the future
• Quantitative and scientific reasoning that will help them understand the complexities of the problems that we face
• Creative and critical thinking that will help them identify and solve problems – big and small

Create

Spartan Studies provides students with the opportunity to create:

• Connections with each other and their communities
• Awareness of the interconnectedness of disciplines and perspectives
• New knowledge through assignments, projects and other experiential learning activities
• Unique expression of their ideas, thoughts, concerns and problem solutions within both the arts and the sciences
• Personal, professional and societal goals

Communicate

Spartan Studies provides students with the opportunity to communicate:

• The connections they have made between disciplines
• Problems they have identified in local and global communities and possible solutions
• The goals they have created and steps to achieve them
• The transferrable skills they have developed that are critical for success in life, career, graduate school or whatever path the student chooses
• In a variety of ways – written, oral, multimedia and more
• To a variety of audiences and in multiple contexts

Contribute

Spartan Studies provides students with the opportunity to contribute:

• To building a supportive and inclusive community locally and globally
• To solving problems individually and in teams
• Through civic engagement within coursework and through co-curricular activities
• In their local communities and globally after graduation utilizing skills developed while at UT

We are confident that UT Spartans will develop the knowledge and skills to cultivate, create, communicate and contribute in innovative ways that will make the world a better place.