Students who started at Whitman College before Fall 2024 are required to complete the following:
Foundations
- Fulfill the writing proficiency requirement.
- Take the First-Year Seminars:
- Fall: General Studies 175 Exploring Complex Questions
- Spring: General Studies 176 Making Powerful Arguments
Cultural Pluralism
The cultural pluralism requirement focuses primarily on underrepresented cultural perspectives. In addition, courses in this area foster a greater understanding of the diversity or interconnectedness of cultures. Such courses must offer in-depth coverage of, and must focus on, at least one of the following: cultural pluralism; power disparities among social groups; methodological or theoretical approaches used in the interpretation of cultural difference; marginality within categories such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or class; and/or the perspectives of non-dominant groups.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to do one or more of the following:
- Engage with ideas and people that expand one’s cultural perspectives.
- Articulate how different cultural backgrounds affect interactions or relationships with others.
- Articulate complex relationships arising from the intersection of various aspects of culture, such as language, gender, history, values, politics, religious practices, and unequal distributions of power and resources.
- Navigate differences by drawing on relevant cultural frames of reference and adapting perspectives accordingly.
- Apply different methodological and theoretical approaches to interpret cultural difference.
Students must complete two courses totaling at least six credits designated as fulfilling the requirement in cultural pluralism.
Note: Some departments offer special topics in any given year that may or may not be applicable toward the cultural pluralism requirement. For more information, see the individual course descriptions.
Many courses taken while on a study abroad program or on a domestic urban studies program may be approved to fulfill this requirement. Contact the Off-Campus Studies Office or the General Studies Committee for more information.
Fine Arts
Courses in the fine arts develop creative problem solving skills, the ability to exercise artistic expression, and an understanding of theoretical and analytical approaches to the process of making a work of art. Courses in this area engage students in artistic production and help students critically analyze their own or others’ works of music, visual and verbal art, dance, film, media and theater.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to do one or more of the following:
- Solve problems in creative ways.
- Recognize the techniques used in at least one art form.
- Understand different theoretical approaches to artistic production.
- Develop their ability to express themselves artistically.
- Critically analyze their own and others’ artistic work.
Students must complete at least six credits in the fine arts.
Note: Courses designated Independent Study may not be used to satisfy the fine arts distribution requirement.
A student may not use more than eight credits from any one department to satisfy the requirements in humanities and fine arts.
Humanities
Courses in the humanities focus attention on the ways that human beings have understood and interpreted the world around them as well as the processes by which humans come to see life as meaningful. Study in the humanities equips students with the tools to analyze and interpret texts, artistic works, material objects, beliefs and values through close reading and consideration of components such as cultural and historical context, genre, and language.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to do one or more of the following:
- Read texts, be they literary, philosophical, artistic, religious, or material in nature, with precision and generosity.
- Analyze and interpret texts with precision, assessing their form and content both on the texts’ own terms and through critical lenses informed by other texts.
- Understand how language, genre, cultural, and historical context can shape a text and our interpretation of it.
- Effectively communicate, through written and spoken words, insights drawn from the works they are reading and interpreting.
- Recognize and appreciate the aesthetic, moral, and linguistic dimensions of complex problems.
Students must complete at least six credits in the humanities.
Note: Courses designated Independent Study may not be used to satisfy the humanities distribution requirement.
A student may not use more than eight credits from any one department to satisfy the requirements in humanities and fine arts.
Quantitative Analysis
Courses with a significant quantitative focus students develop the skills necessary to critically analyze numerical or graphical data, to develop abstract quantitative frameworks, and to develop a facility and acumen with quantitative reasoning techniques and their applicability to disciplines across the liberal arts.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to do one or more of the following:
- Perform computations associated with a model and make conclusions based on the results.
- Represent, communicate, and analyze ideas and data using symbols, graphs, or tables.
- Analyze and interpret data using statistical methods.
Students must complete one course of at least three credits in quantitative analysis.
Note: Courses designated Independent Study may not be used to satisfy the quantitative analysis distribution requirement.
Sciences
Courses in the sciences give students the background necessary to inquire about how the natural world is structured and operates. Students will be exposed to methodologies and techniques that allow them to form hypotheses, then to examine, justify, or refute their hypotheses through scientific evidence and analysis of observations.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to do one or more of the following:
- Demonstrate familiarity with one or more scientific methods of inquiry.
- Articulate fundamental theories in a science using precise terminology of the field.
- Formulate a hypothesis, given a problem or questions, and design a valid experiment to test it.
- Collect, interpret, and analyze scientific data.
- Apply the principles of scientific inquiry to civic and personal issues.
Students must complete at least six credits in science, including at least one course with a laboratory.
Note: Any laboratory or course with a regularly scheduled laboratory may be used to fulfill the laboratory component of this requirement — see the individual course descriptions.
Courses designated Independent Study may not be used to satisfy the sciences distribution requirement.
Social Sciences
Studies in the social sciences help students analyze complex relationships and interconnections within and/or among individuals, social formations, texts and institutions across time and/or across local, national, and/or global contexts.
Learning Goals
Students will be able to do one or more of the following:
- Compare and contrast social institutions, structures, and processes across a range of historical periods, cultures, and societies around the globe.
- Analyze complex behavior and relationships within and across individuals and social contexts.
- Demonstrate familiarity with social science methods in the context of explaining or predicting individual and collective behavior and decision-making.
- Apply social science principles to personal, social, and/or organizational issues.
Students must complete at least six credits in the social sciences.
Note: Courses designated Independent Study may not be used to satisfy the social sciences distribution requirement.
Additional Information
All courses in sports studies, recreation and athletics, and those courses in environmental studies not specifically designated in the distribution areas listing above, do not count toward the completion of the distribution requirements.
A student may not apply any individual course toward more than one of the distribution areas, with the exception of the courses used to fulfill the requirement in quantitative analysis. For example, a student may use History 212 to meet either the requirement in social sciences or the requirement in cultural pluralism but not both. In the event that the same cross-listed class applies to different distribution areas, the course may be applied to either distribution area referenced by the indicated departmental registration rubric. For example, Classics 224 cross-listed with Art History 224 may be applied to the fine arts or humanities distribution area.
Distribution requirements may not be satisfied by credits obtained for work in the high school (e.g., Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate). With the exception of Economics 493/494, courses taken with the P-D-F grade option cannot be used to satisfy distribution requirements.
Five of the six distribution requirements should be completed by the end of the sixth semester of college work. The total requirements must be fulfilled not later than the student’s seventh semester.
Transfer students entering with fewer than 58 acceptable credits (i.e., below junior level) must complete the First-Year Experience unless, upon appeal, the Board of Review finds that they have passed comparable courses at another institution.