The University of Utah is fully committed to the goals of equal opportunity and affirmative action, which are designed to ensure that each individual be provided with the opportunity for full, unhampered, and responsible participation in every aspect of campus life. The Office of Undergraduate Studies is charged with helping implement the University s educational mission. It maintains, in cooperation with departments and colleges, courses in general education. These courses seek to instill in students an appreciation for the acquisition of the knowledge, skills and perspectives that constitute the foundation of college and life-long learning, responsible and rewarding professional service, personal development, and civic responsibility. General education promotes free and rational inquiry, critical thinking, creative expression, understanding and respect for diversity, intellectual integrity and social responsibility.
Students undertake course work in four components of general education .
The lower-division writing requirement insures that students develop the rhetorical skills necessary for success in the writing assignments intrinsic in college courses. The quantitative reasoning requirement prepares students for an increasingly information-based society in which the ability to use and critically evaluate information, especially numerical information, is central to the role requirements of an informed citizen. By fulfilling the American institutions requirement, students gain an enhanced understanding of fundamentals of the history and the principles and form of government and economic system of the United States. The intellectual explorations requirement introduces students to four broad areas of inquiry within the University. A well educated student should develop a thoughtful understanding of fields of inquiry and knowledge outside of her or his respective areas of academic concentration.