Information for Medaille University Students →

General Education

Niagara University is committed to preparing students for a successful and fulfilling professional and personal life.

Through your general education courses, Niagara provides you with a strong ethical and values foundation and prepares you for graduate/professional schools, and careers and life in the 21st century. Niagara University specifically designed its general education courses to develop your critical thinking, information literacy, and communication skills; your ability to work effectively with diverse groups; and your own values and ethical standards. You will develop these skills and values throughout nine foundation courses, 11 distribution courses, major courses and electives, and extracurricular activities.

Critical thinking skills will enable you to:

  • Weigh evidence, evaluate facts and ideas critically, and think independently.
  • Use mathematical or statistical analysis in problem solving.
  • Understand core critical thinking skills in different fields of study and your major.
  • Understand the role of key political, economic, diplomatic, social, and scientific developments that are shaping the 21st century, and explore their potential implications for the future.
  • Appreciate the Western/American heritage in literature and art.

Information literacy skills will enable you to:

  • Analyze a problem.
  • Conduct appropriate research.
  • Differentiate between facts and popular misconceptions.
  • Synthesize a solution.
  • Ethically attribute sources of information.
  • Integrate emerging technologies into research and communication.

Communication skills and the ability to work effectively with diverse groups will enable you to:

  • Write and speak effectively.
  • Communicate across cultural boundaries.
  • Function effectively in group settings.

You will strengthen your ethical and values foundation by learning about:

  • The religious and philosophical foundations and evolution of Western/American heritage.
  • Cultural diversity, the validity of other cultures, and the social and political ramifications of cultural integration globally and at home.
  • Religions including Catholicism, and of the philosophical and religious basis of Catholic values.
  • The philosophical foundations of ethics.
  • Professional ethics and expectations.
  • St. Vincent de Paul, the Vincentian tradition, and corresponding values.
  • Social justice and what you can do on behalf of those in need to create positive community change.