Undergraduate Learning Goals

A liberal arts foundation enhances the potential that MSU graduates will be outstanding leaders and life-long learners. These liberal learning goals are intended to provide a framework for students’ active engagement in learning both in and out of the classroom. Students who complete an undergraduate degree program at Michigan State University will demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes and skills associated with the following interconnected goals and outcomes:

Analytical Thinking

The MSU graduate uses ways of knowing from mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts to access information and critically analyzes complex material in order to evaluate evidence, construct reasoned arguments, and communicate inferences and conclusions.

• Acquires, analyzes, and evaluates information from multiple sources.
• Synthesizes and applies the information within and across disciplines.
• Identifies and applies, as appropriate, quantitative methods for defining and responding to problems.
• Identifies the credibility, use and misuse of scientific, humanistic and artistic methods.

Cultural Understanding

The MSU graduate comprehends global and cultural diversity within historical, artistic, and societal contexts.

• Reflects on experiences with diversity to demonstrate knowledge and sensitivity.
• Demonstrates awareness of how diversity emerges within and across cultures.

Effective Citizenship

The MSU graduate participates as a member of local, national, and global communities and has the capacity to lead in an increasingly interdependent world.

• Understands the structures of local, national, and global governance systems and acts effectively within those structures in both individual and collaborative ways.
• Applies knowledge and abilities to solve societal problems in ethical ways.

Effective Communication

The MSU graduate uses a variety of media to communicate effectively with diverse audiences.

• Identifies how contexts affect communication strategies and practices.
• Engages in effective communication practices in a variety of situations and with a variety of media.

Integrated Reasoning

The MSU graduate integrates discipline-based knowledge to make informed decisions that reflect humane social, ethical, and aesthetic values.

• Critically applies liberal arts knowledge in disciplinary contexts and disciplinary knowledge in liberal arts contexts.
• Uses a variety of inquiry strategies incorporating multiple views to make value judgments, solve problems, answer questions, and generate new understandings.