General Education Courses

General Education at Grand Rapids Community College is comprised of two goals. The first is to expand and deepen our students’ understanding of the intellectual traditions that constitute the liberal arts and sciences. To that end, General Education courses at GRCC combine content knowledge with broadly-applicable academic skills such as critical thinking and communication. The second is to provide students with a set of courses that help meet their educational and career goals. In keeping with this goal, GRCC recognizes the Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) and includes General Education coursework in its transfer and workforce Associates degree programs. General Education at GRCC builds knowledge, skills, and attitudes that every college-educated person should possess.

The GRCC General Education Program is comprised of English Composition and Communications, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The courses that fall within the distribution groups are listed below:

General Education

English Composition and Communications

English Composition

EN 101 - English Composition I Credit Hours: 3
EN 102 - English Composition II Credit Hours: 3

Communications

COM 131 - Fundamentals of Public Speaking Credit Hours: 3
COM 135 - Interpersonal Communication Credit Hours: 3

Humanities

Art

AT 105 - History of Art Before 1400 Credit Hours: 3
AT 106 - History of Art Since 1400 Credit Hours: 3
AT 270 - History of Architecture Credit Hours: 3

English

EN 118 - Introduction to Literature Credit Hours: 3
EN 233 - Poetry Credit Hours: 3
EN 235 - Drama Credit Hours: 3
EN 242 - Popular Literature Credit Hours: 3
EN 247 - Creative Writing I Credit Hours: 3
EN 248 - Creative Writing II Credit Hours: 3
EN 251 - Multicultural American Literature for Children Credit Hours: 3
EN 252 - Shakespeare Credit Hours: 3
EN 261 - Great American Writers I Credit Hours: 3
EN 262 - Great American Writers II Credit Hours: 3
EN 270 - Multicultural Literature Credit Hours: 3
EN 271 - African American Literature I Credit Hours: 3
EN 272 - African American Literature II Credit Hours: 3
EN 278 - Introduction to Women’s Literature Credit Hours: 3
EN 284 - LGBTQ Literature Credit Hours: 3

Foreign Language

Only one (1) Foreign Language course may be used as a Humanities General Education Elective.

Arabic
ARA 101 - Introductory Arabic I Credit Hours: 4
ARA 102 - Introductory Arabic II Credit Hours: 4
Chinese
CHI 101 - Introductory Chinese I Credit Hours: 4
CHI 102 - Introductory Chinese II Credit Hours: 4
French
FR 101 - Introductory French I Credit Hours: 4
FR 102 - Introductory French II Credit Hours: 4
FR 231 - Intermediate French I Credit Hours: 4
FR 232 - Intermediate French II Credit Hours: 4
German
GR 101 - Introductory German I Credit Hours: 4
GR 102 - Introductory German II Credit Hours: 4
GR 231 - Intermediate German I Credit Hours: 4
GR 232 - Intermediate German II Credit Hours: 4
Spanish
SP 101 - Introductory Spanish I Credit Hours: 4
SP 102 - Introductory Spanish II Credit Hours: 4
SP 231 - Intermediate Spanish I Credit Hours: 4
SP 232 - Intermediate Spanish II Credit Hours: 4

History

For students who are in the 2016-2017 catalog year and after, a History course can now meet either a Humanities or Social Sciences requirement. Please note each History course can only count as either a Humanities or Social Science, not both.