The Office of General Education supports students in fulfilling Common Curriculum (CC) Proficiencies and Experiences with tagged courses, pre-approved co-curricular activities, and individual experiences outside the classroom.
Students can view all approved CC-tagged courses via the Course Search page and review all pre-approved co-curricular activities by downloading the linked list of approved CC activities.
The Office of General Education has now made shortlists of individual activities students have completed outside the classroom, which have successfully been petitioned to fulfill their Common Curriculum Graduation Requirements. These shortlists are not meant to be all-inclusive but help students and their advisors determine co-curricular opportunities – students may complete individually – to satisfy these requirements.
Each Proficiency and Experience webpage has these shortlists under the “Proposing, completing, and petitioning an Individual Activity” accordion. For example, Civics and Individual Ethics, students have successfully petitioned individual activities such as:
- Volunteer with “Feed My Starving Children” program for 15 hours
- Organ Scholar at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church
- Volunteer with Jubilee Park and Community Center for 15 hours
- SMU-led trip to Spain, with a civics and institutional field visits
- Interned in Washington, D.C. with a federal agency
- Intern for Dallas County Public Defender’s Office
Students are strongly encouraged to submit a pre-approval petition prior to completing an individual activity at smu.edu/petitions. The pre-approval petition should include a supporting statement using the provided template on the P&E webpage, that clearly explains how the individual activity will meet the Student Learning Outcome, Supporting Skills, and Experience Criteria for the requested graduation requirement.
Students who completed an Individual Activity before or after matriculation to SMU can submit a P&E Fulfillment Verification petition at smu.edu/petitions after completing the individual activity. Fulfillment Verification petitions should include:
- A summary of the activity completed, a supporting statement using the provided template on the P&E webpage,
- Independent verification that you completed the experience, and
- written reflection. Visit the PE’s webpage for reflection prompts and length requirements.
The Office of General Education also encourages Faculty and Staff to propose their programs or organizations to fulfill graduation requirements. If you have any questions about submitting an Experience proposal, please contact Brittaney Wilson brittaneyw@smu.edu. More information on Experience Proposals can be found here.
