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The Undergraduate General Education Curriculum

Lehman College offers undergraduates the opportunity to deepen their self-knowledge and their understanding of the world by engaging in a thorough study of the liberal arts and sciences. The Undergraduate General Education Curriculum is a structured program of courses designed to provide training in a range of essential skills as well as a broad understanding of the achievements and methods of the liberal arts and sciences, all of which allow informed inquiry into subjects of both public and personal concern.

The curriculum requires a series of courses in writing, mathematics, foreign language, and natural science. Students must also complete courses from a list of Distribution areas. These Distribution areas are different, depending on whether they belong to the Pre-2013 or the CUNY 2013 (Pathways) Programs (see the Navigation Links at the side). In addition, students must complete two upper-division interdisciplinary courses, LEH 351-LEH 355, chosen from five areas: Scientific and Applied Perspectives, Literature, the Arts, Historical Studies, and Philosophy, Theory and Abstract Thinking. Of these upper-division courses students receive General Education credit for taking two of the four that are not in their chosen major. To develop writing skills, students must complete four course sections designated as writing-intensive.

Opting in or out of Pathways

  • Students who enter Lehman in Fall 2013 or thereafter, either as first-time freshmen or as transfer students from another CUNY college or from a non-CUNY college, will automatically be enrolled in the Pathways curriculum.

  • Students who first enrolled at Lehman before Fall 2013, stop out for more than one semester, and reenroll in Fall 2013 or later will be required to follow the Pathways curriculum. However, such students who completed the prior general education curriculum in its entirety will not be subject to any of the Pathways general education requirements.

  • Students who reenroll, as well as any other students who feel they need to complete additional requirements under the new curriculum due to their particular course histories, may petition for a variance to continue to be held to the general education requirements that were in effect before Fall 2013.

  • Continuing students may choose to opt in to the Pathways curriculum.

Detailed information on the requirements of the General Education Curriculum can be found in this section of the Bulletin, under the headings "2013 CUNY General Education Program (Pathways)" and "Pre-2013 General Education Program."