2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
General Education Program
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 Return to: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
The General Education Program is a collection of coordinated and interrelated courses, which contain a broad body of knowledge focused across all liberal arts areas. The University maintains that all students, regardless of academic major, must include in their individual curriculum specific general education courses designed to provide fundamental knowledge and skills and a broad-based cultural education.
The General Education Curriculum consists of a minimum of 36 credit hours of courses and provides the academic foundation for all undergraduate degree programs at Elizabeth City State University. The General Education curriculum enables students to develop the general knowledge and the skills that are essential to success in their respective major programs and careers after graduation while promoting positive human values and encouraging an appreciation for learning in all students. All students are encouraged to complete the General Education requirements during their freshman and sophomore years. After completing the required courses, students take electives and courses in their major fields.
The General Education Advisory Board
The General Education Advisory Board (GEAB) functions as an advisory committee to the Director of General Education. The primary purpose of the GEAB is to assist the Director in planning, implementing, communicating, and assessing the general education program and curriculum. The Board’s membership includes faculty representatives from the degree-granting programs and a representative from the following areas: Honors Program, Library, University Assessment, Registrar’s Office, and the Office of Student Success and Retention. Additional representatives may be added to the GEAB for added perspectives (e.g., Career Development Center).
Foundations of American Democracy
Overview
The University of North Carolina System requires, “as a condition of awarding a baccalaureate degree, that students successfully complete a course or courses covering the foundations of American democracy” (UNC Policy 400.1.5[9]). The course or courses must:
- Evaluate key concepts, principles, arguments, and contexts in founding documents of the American republic, including the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and a representative selection of the Federalist Papers;
- Evaluate key milestones in progress and challenges in the effort to form “a more perfect Union,” including the arguments and contexts surrounding the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Letter from Birmingham Jail, as well as other texts that reflect the breadth of American experiences.
At ECSU, all students enrolling after July 1, 2025 must successfully complete HIST 141 Making of the Modern World as part of their General Education program to fulfill this requirement.
Students who have earned an A.A. or A.S. degree at a North Carolina community college (400.1.5[R]), have completed a course determined to fulfill the FAD requirement as part of another UNC System school’s curriculum or the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement (400.1.5[R]), or who has articulated 60 or more transfer credit hours at ECSU (700.1.1.2[R]) are exempt from the FAD requirement. An exemption from the FAD requirement does not automatically exempt a student from the HIST 141 General Education requirement. However, it is possible for one or more transfer courses to fulfill both the FAD and HIST 141 requirements, depending on course content and evaluation.
Return to: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
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