Student Learning Outcomes

More information for each Academic Program at MCLA can currently be found in the Course Catalog.

Integrative CORE 

Outcomes

  1. MCLA’s graduates are effective communicators who utilize multiple forms of expression to participate in our global community.
    1. Students choose appropriate form(s) of expression to effectively communicate with audiences from different backgrounds and perspectives. ​
    2. Students defend their positions making reference to diverse perspectives. ​
  2. MCLA’s graduates engage in analytical inquiry to address complex problems. ​
    1. Students synthesize contrasting/conflicting information and perspectives to accurately understand problems.
    2. Students apply contextually appropriate methods and approaches when analyzing and solving problems. ​
    3. Students make connections across disciplines and personal experience when solving problems. ​
  3. MCLA’s graduates are active, engaged, and ethical individuals.​
    1. Students engage in meaningful self-reflection and evaluation of their own learning and contributions.

Critical Reading, Thinking, and Writing

  1. Write in multiple genres using appropriate structure, paragraphing, tone, style, and grammar to respond to a variety of audiences and rhetorical situations. ​
  2. Revise and edit written communication across multiple drafts.​
  3. Ethically integrate information from credible sources to answer a research question or construct a problem statement. ​
  4. Research, evaluate, synthesize, critique, and add their own ideas to published sources.​
  5. Comprehend a diversity of texts written for different audiences and purposes.​

Creative Arts

  1. Articulate the significance of the creative arts, artistic expression and experience in today’s world. ​
  2. Describe techniques, processes, and concepts that creative artists use in their work.
  3. Discuss personal encounters with the creative arts within broader historical and cultural contexts. ​

First-Year Seminar

  1. Reflect on the ways that their life experiences and identities shape their academic experiences.
  2. Reflect on the connections between their curricular, co-curricular, and event-based learning.​
  3. Demonstrate proficiency in college-level academic skills. ​
  4. Develop knowledge of campus learning and support resources.​
  5. Engage in extracurricular community-building activities with their peers and professors.
  6. Demonstrate proficiency in life-management skills. ​

Health & Wellness

  1. Explain how their behaviors and choices intersect with societal factors that contribute to wellness. ​
  2. Engage in research and critical evaluation of wellness practices, contexts, and impacts.
  3. Engage in wellness activities incorporating exercise and mental health​.
  4. Reflect on their own health behaviors and develop a strategy for applying healthy behaviors across their lifespan.
  5. Place defined aspects of wellness in the context of global and societal issues and concerns.

Human Heritage

  1. Conduct research using both primary and secondary sources​.
  2. Apply critical approaches to source material​.
  3. Apply comparative approaches to source material​.
  4. Draw valid conclusions from documentary evidence from a specific historical frame and evaluate the significance of such conclusions.
  5. Evaluate the significance of historical events, ideas, or circumstances within their own and contemporary contexts. ​

Integrative Capstone

  1. Communicate effectively in different contexts, making clear the interdependence of language, thought, and expression.​
  2. Use high quality, credible, relevant sources from diverse perspectives to appropriately defend positions. ​
  3. Synthesize information to construct a clear and insightful problem statement.​
  4. Apply the most appropriate approach(es) to solve problems.​
  5. Draw conclusions by combining examples, facts, or theories from more than one field of study or perspective.
  6. Make explicit connections to previous learning and apply their knowledge and skills to demonstrate comprehension and performance in novel situations.
  7. Reflect on their contributions to their communities. 
  8. Reflect on the complexity of their own and others’ identities in relation to the course topic or problem.

Language, Culture, and Communication

  1. Negotiate understandings across linguistic and cultural differences, using insight into how language shapes and is shaped by cultural production, perspectives, and practices.
  2. Communicate effectively by applying verbal and non-verbal linguistic processes appropriately according to situation and context. 
  3. Draw comparisons with one’s own linguistic and cultural processes to examine the nature of the intersection between language (other than English) and culture.
  4. Analyze the diverse perspectives expressed through a language (other than English) and its culture(s) to enhance critical thinking and problem-solving. ​

Quantitative Reasoning

  1. Explain information presented in mathematical forms (e.g., equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, words). ​
  2. Convert relevant information into various mathematical forms (e.g., equations, graphs, diagrams, tables, words).​
  3. Employ an effective format to present quantitative information and contextualized explanations.
  4. Draw appropriate conclusions based on calculations and analysis of quantitative data.

Science & Technology

  1. Communicate scientific findings and their importance to a variety of audiences.
  2. Interpret and generate graphs from scientific data.
  3. Apply scientific practices and technology to test a hypothesis, answer a question, or solve problems.​
  4. Apply knowledge of natural science content to broader frameworks.
  5. Evaluate the reliability of the sources of scientific media in making informed decisions.

Self & Society

  1. Communicate ideas using a format and language inclusive of multiple audiences and perspectives. ​
  2. Demonstrate understanding of the complexity of elements important to identity in relation to culture, history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, beliefs, or practices. ​
  3. Analyze significant social issues using multiple theories, perspectives, and methods.
  4. Critically reflect on and explain their own values, beliefs, and experiences as they relate to the topic of the course.

Academic Majors

Art 

  1. Create original high-quality artworks;
  2. Understand all levels of art-making and visual creativity;
  3. Relate, analyze, and utilize the history of art and visual culture;
  4. Build public art presentations and market their own and others’ art.

Arts Management

  1. Demonstrate an understanding of arts & culture management including types of artistic/cultural work, organizational structures, and the strategic management process.
  2. Demonstrate an understanding of arts & culture marketing, financial management, grants, fundraising, and leadership.
  3. Learn and apply real-world skills in event/program planning, implementation and evaluation; audience/community development and project management.
  4. Develop and understanding of the current arts ecosystem, cross sectoral intersections, and current issues facing the field. 

Biology

  1. Understand fundamental concepts in the discipline;
  2. Write a lab report to communicate the findings of a scientific experiment;
  3. Design an experiment to test a hypothesis;
  4. Find and analyze primary literature in the field;
  5. Demonstrate appropriate technical skills in the laboratory;
  6. Analyze data with appropriate statistical analysis.

Business Administration

  1. Demonstrate working knowledge of the major functional areas of business and their applications.
  2. Communicate effectively in both written and oral form using appropriate presentation strategies.
  3. Identify and evaluate business problems and use appropriate tools to arrive at reasoned conclusions.
  4. Demonstrate quantitative skills and abilities by solving business problems and make sound business decisions.
  5. Identify and evaluate ethical and social responsibility implications that underlie business decisions.

Business Administration - Accounting Concentration

  1. Define elements of financial statements, prepare, evaluate, and make needed adjustments in accordance with the appropriate accounting standards and technology.
  2. Apply appropriate technologies to analyze transactions, calculate and evaluate financial statement ratios and other metrics.
  3. Apply appropriate technologies to conduct accounting and tax research.
  4. Identify the nature, scope and objectives of different types of engagements. 
  5. Identify and apply appropriate accounting standards and the concepts of professional skepticism and judgement to this issuance of opinions.
  6. Identify and explain IT control, risks, and applications.
  7. Demonstrate an awareness of ethics including data ethics, social responsibility and the professional codes of professional conduct.

Business Administration - Finance Concentration

  1. Identify and apply the basic relationship between risk and return and its application in financial asset valuation and investment decisions.
  2. Conduct financial statement analysis.
  3. Create financial models to solve real-world business calculations.
  4. Understand the ethical and legal challenges of business and investment industry.

Chemistry

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles and theories in analytical, organic, physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and biochemistry
  2. Apply chemical principles through problem-solving and laboratory experimentation
  3. Demonstrate competency in the use of sophisticated laboratory instruments
  4. Students with a Concentration in Biochemistry will also design, implement, and analyze biochemical experiments involving nucleic acids and proteins
  5. Students with a Concentration in Formulation Chemistry will also troubleshoot quality control issues and communicate protocols and data according to technical standards

Chemistry- BS

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles and theories in analytical, organic, physical chemistry, inorganic, and biochemistry
  2. Apply chemical principles through problem solving and laboratory experimentation
  3. Demonstrate competency in use of sophisticated laboratory instruments

Chemistry – Biochemistry Concentration

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles and theories in analytical, organic, physical chemistry, inorganic, and biochemistry
  2. Apply chemical principles through problem solving and laboratory experimentation
  3. Demonstrate competency in use of sophisticated laboratory instruments
  4. Design, implement, and analyze biochemical experiments involving nucleic acids and proteins

Chemistry - Formulation Chemistry Concentration

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles and theories in biology, analytical, organic, inorganic chemistry and biochemistry
  2. Apply chemical and biological principles through problem solving and laboratory experimentation
  3. Demonstrate competency in use of sophisticated laboratory instruments
  4. Generate, record and process experimental data and present that data in a variety of methods.

Communications

  1. Communicate effectively in oral, written, and other forms of discourse;
  2. Employ relevant technologies in the production, critique, and presentation of texts;
  3. Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in collaborative learning and problem-solving environments;
  4. Craft thoughtful, creative texts that demonstrate a keen sensitivity to language, form, style, and effect;
  5. Analyze texts closely and critically, demonstrating how languages, style, form, and genre create effects and shape meanings;
  6. Articulate an understanding of how cultural, historical, and ideological contexts condition both the creation and the reception of texts across time and in today’s complex, diverse world;
  7. Use various critical methods and theoretical frameworks in scholarly dialogue with others about the interpretations of texts;
  8. Design and conduct research, applying it to problem-solving and contributing to various forms of public discourse;
  9. Reflect on how the knowledge and abilities developed in the Communications, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Modern Languages Department transfer meaningfully to other academic and nonacademic, real-world situations

Computer Science

  1. Develop and maintain professional quality software applications, products, and systems;
  2. Competently use major software applications found in industry;
  3. Communicate ideas effectively with others;
  4. Create and maintain hardware systems.

Education

  1. Design innovative, challenging, and inclusive curricula;
  2. Deliver effective and engaging instruction;
  3. Foster positive classroom learning environments;
  4. Promote equity and understanding within learning spaces;
  5. Communicate and demonstrate professional ethics and responsibilities

English

  1. Communicate effectively in oral, written, and other forms of discourse;
  2. Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in collaborative learning and problem-solving environments;
  3. Craft thoughtful, creative texts that demonstrate a keen sensitivity to language, form, style, and effect;
  4. Analyze texts closely and critically, demonstrating how languages, style, form, and genre create effects and shape meanings;
  5. Articulate an understanding of how cultural, historical, and ideological contexts condition both the creation and the reception of texts across time and in today’s complex, diverse world;
  6. Use various critical methods and theoretical frameworks in scholarly dialogue with others about the interpretations of texts;
  7. Design and conduct research, applying it to problem-solving and contributing to various forms of public discourse;
  8. Employ relevant technologies in the production, critique, and presentation of texts;
  9. Reflect on how the knowledge and abilities developed in the English and Philosophy Department transfer meaningfully to other academic and non-academic, real-world situations.

Environmental Studies

  1. Use classical skills such as critical thinking, research, speaking and writing as they apply to contemporary environmental issues;
  2. Use particular technologies necessary for modern professionals in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities;
  3. Quickly assess environmental problems and work effectively in a team to suggest realistic solutions;
  4. Enter either the professional world or graduate school with broad understanding, specific skills and significant experience in environmental studies.

Health Sciences

  1. Understand and apply fundamental concepts in the discipline;
  2. Find and analyze primary literature in the field;
  3. Design an experiment to test a hypothesis;
  4. Demonstrate appropriate technical skills in the laboratory;
  5. Analyze data, with appropriate statistical analysis;
  6. Communicate the findings of a scientific experiment or information about a pathology

History

  1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of subject matter, methodologies and a variety of historiographical approaches;
  2. Demonstrate the ability to think clearly and critically about history and historical narratives, and to express ideas logically and persuasively in written and oral form;
  3. Demonstrate familiarity with diverse cultures and chronological periods and capacity for both empathetic and critical understanding of one’s own culture and society as well as those different from one’s own;
  4. Demonstrate competence in historical research and presentation, including the ability to appropriately access, use and evaluate primary and secondary sources in order to make a coherent historical argument.

Interdisciplinary Studies

  1. Demonstrate advanced critical thinking, academic research, writing, and oral presentation skills;
  2. Have an understanding of how knowledge is created within different fields of inquiry;
  3. Study important issues in societies past and present in local and global contexts from the vantage point of different disciplines and through interdisciplinary frameworks;
  4. Study complex issues in society from ethical perspectives;
  5. Analyze texts in cultural, social, and historical contexts;
  6. Apply methods, approaches, and insights from different disciplines and interdisciplinary frameworks to the analysis of a given theme/issue and to the development of creative solutions to complex problems;
  7. Have developed skills for lifelong learning;
  8. Have acquired extensive knowledge of human societies and cultures, and will have developed an intercultural competence and awareness of global cultural diversity;
  9. Assume an informed, critical, and responsible position as citizens of our increasingly interconnected world

Mathematics

  1. Perform computations and procedures from a wide range of the various branches of mathematics;
  2. Demonstrate mathematical growth by acquiring a solid grasp of key concepts and themes;
  3. Develop fluency in reading and constructing mathematical proofs;
  4. Apply mathematical ideas and problem-solving to real-life situations in the various disciplines

Modern Languages

 

Music, Industry and Production

  1. Demonstrate a broad-based understanding of the studio and historical/theoretical aspects of music;
  2. Demonstrate a high level of skill in music performance, composition and/or production;
  3. Demonstrate practical experience in public performance and/or production of music;
  4. Demonstrate an understanding of the current music ecosystem and their place in it.

Nursing (competencies)

  1. Patient-Centered Care: Recognize the patient or designee as the source of control and full partner in providing compassionate and coordinated care based on respect for patient’s preferences, values, and needs. 
  2. Safety: Minimize risk of harm to patients and providers through system effectiveness and individual performance.
  3. Evidence-Based Practice: Integrate best current evidence, clinical judgment, interprofessional perspectives, and patient/family preferences and values for delivery of optimal healthcare
  4. Informatics and Technology: Demonstrate skills in using patient care technologies, information systems, and communication devices that support safe, effective nursing practice.
  5. Teamwork and Collaboration: Function effectively within nursing and inter-professional teams, fostering open communication, mutual respect, and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient care.
  6. Quality Improvement: Use data to monitor the outcomes of care processes and use improvement methods to design and test changes to continuously improve the quality and safety of healthcare systems.

Philosophy

  1. Critically reflect on their own most basic assumptions;
  2. Become familiar with and competent in several areas of the discipline, including ethics, theories of knowledge and being, aesthetics, logic, and social-political thought;
  3. Write in a literate, clear, and interesting manner;
  4. Read actively and fruitfully various sorts of philosophical texts;
  5. Understand and apply the formal structures of sound reasoning and good argumentation; and
  6. Engage in respectful and productive conversation and collaborative thinking

Physical Education

 

Physics

  1. Understand the basic principles in the various fields of physics.
  2. Make connections between various fields of physics.
  3. Solve problems using mathematical and physical reasoning.
  4. Use modern computational methods to analyze and present data.
  5. Design and conduct experiments to evaluate ideas and verify theories.
  6. Evaluate the validity of experimental evidence.
  7. Effectively communicate information gained by written and oral means.

Political Science

  1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding in each of the following areas of political science: American politics, comparative politics, international relations, and research methods;
  2. Demonstrate proficiency in identifying, locating, and evaluating scholarly political science and policy analysis resources and in using them responsibly to formulate effective arguments;
  3. Demonstrate the capacity to conduct original research using one or more methodologies in political science (i.e., quantitative, qualitative, etc.);
  4. Demonstrate competence in presenting research and analysis via written and oral communication;
  5. Demonstrate the application of skills and knowledge from the Political Science program in program-relevant internships

Psychology

  1. Develop knowledge base of content domains, themes, and applications of psychology
  2. Demonstrate competence in interpreting, designing, and conducting psychological research
  3. Demonstrate competence in applying ethical standards to evaluation of psychological science and to multiple social issues
  4. Communicate proficiently for a variety of purposes, both orally and in writing
  5. Develop career goals through application of psychological knowledge and refinement of self-regulation and teamwork capacity

Public Health and Community Health Education

  1. Understand and apply fundamental concepts in the discipline;
  2. Find and analyze primary literature in the field;
  3. Analyze data, with appropriate statistical analysis;
  4. Demonstrate basic knowledge and skills related to evidence-based practice;
  5. Communicate health information verbally and in writing;
  6. Apply health concepts, health promotion and evidence-based practice in a real-world setting. 

Radiologic Technology

 

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work

  1. Think critically and be able to evaluate, synthesize, and analyze social science research design and apply this knowledge in original research projects;
  2. Understand the sociocultural perspective, demonstrate cross-cultural awareness, and identify forms of social inequality and stratification;
  3. Link academic frameworks to experiential learning such as internships, community based learning, field trips, and travel courses;
  4. Be prepared for careers and/ or entry into related graduate programs.

Theatre

  1. Knowledge of theatrical traditions and theories in their respective historical contexts, including the ability to analyze, interpret, and critique theatre texts and performance practices.
  2. A broad-based skillset in all facets of performance and production.
  3. A high level of skill in at least one of the following theatre-making areas: performance, design, or production.
  4. An understanding of the necessary practices in the theatre industry that translate to dynamic professional careers. 

Minors

Applied Accounting 

  1. Analyze, calculate, record, interpret, and report financial information in accordance with GAAP.
  2. Utilize appropriate technology to research, record, and report financial information.
  3. Demonstrate a grasp of the complexities of ethical issues in the practice of accounting.

Leadership

  1. Understand traditional and emergent leadership theories
  2. Apply leadership theory to practice
  3. Develop, implement, and assess plans for continually improving their leadership skills and abilities

Chemistry

  1. Demonstrate knowledge of basic principles and theories in analytical, organic, and one of the following sub-areas: inorganic, biochemistry, or physical chemistry
  2. Apply chemical principles through problem-solving and laboratory experimentation
  3. Demonstrate competency in the use of basic laboratory instruments.