Liberal Arts and Sciences

Departments

English
Chairperson Melissa Flanagan, P-146-A, 352-395-5762
Administrative Assistant Lisa McNair, P-146, 352-395-5372

Fine Arts and Entertainment Media
Chairperson Claire Orenduff, E-128, 352-395-5314
Administrative Assistant Heather Albright, E-127, 352-395-5310

High School Dual Enrollment
Executive Director Jen Homard, R-008, 352-395-5493
Office Manager Pam Harrison, R-006, 352-395-5483

Honors Program
Coordinator Ryan Keith, A-213, 352-381-3825

Humanities, Communications, and Languages
Chairperson Bill Stephenson, P-152, 352-395-4418
Administrative Assistant Verlisa Frazier, P-152, 352-395-5075

Mathematics
Chairperson Adam Christopherson, P-267, 352-395-5524
Administrative Assistant Chris Muntzner, P-267, 352-395-5297

Natural Sciences
Chairperson Vertigo Moody, X-201, 352-395-5842
Administrative Assistant Oralia Gamino, X-201, 352-395-5349

Social and Behavioral Sciences
Chairperson David Tegeder, P-155, 352-395-5083
Administrative Assistant Mikayla Robinson, P-148, 352-395-5300

Mission
The Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences provides the curricula whereby Santa Fe College students satisfy general education requirements and obtain the prerequisite courses required for transfer to upper-division university programs. This division furthers the college’s mission by providing a strong liberal arts education leading to the Associate in Arts degree; preparing students with diverse backgrounds and goals for careers, further academic study and lifelong learning; creating intellectual independence by teaching creative thinking, critical reasoning and problem-solving skills; building an awareness of self, diverse opinions and cultures, and one’s responsibility within the global community; promoting the attainment of a balanced core of knowledge drawn from various discipline areas; and providing a personalized, supportive learning environment that challenges students to achieve high levels of academic performance.

Associate in Arts (A.A.) Degree
The college offers the Associate in Arts degree to students wishing to transfer to a baccalaureate program within the Florida College or Florida State University systems upon completing an Associate degree.

In keeping with the Florida statewide articulation agreement, a portion of the general education requirements are determined by the state and each institution determines a portion of its own general education requirements and stipulates the additional elective hours required for the degree.

Although the Associate in Arts degree does not require the choice of a major or area of concentration, students are advised early in their academic careers to be aware of the upper-division requirements in specific fields of study. As a result, they may be able to choose courses within the required general education core that meet the prerequisites for their chosen field of study. In addition, the Associate in Arts degree requires 24 hours of electives, which should be carefully chosen to meet the future needs of each student upon transfer to the upper division. Although the college will make every attempt to advise students concerning upper-division requirements for the various majors, students are urged to become familiar with the requirements of the upper-division institutions to which they plan to transfer. Students must select an intended transfer major by the time they complete 24 college credit hours. With the help of their advisors, students should choose electives that will be most advantageous in the pursuit of their intended bachelor’s degrees. Each upper-division program in a Florida public state institution annually publishes counseling manuals for every major offered at that institution.

Requirements for the Associate in Arts Degree

Complete the basic 36-hour requirement of the general education program.
Complete at least 60 semester hours of credit in a prescribed course of study with a minimum 2.0 grade point
average.
Demonstrate competency in a foreign language.
Demonstrate competency in civics literacy.
Meet Rule 6A-10.30 (Gordon Rule). Courses marked with an asterisk (*) will meet a portion of this rule.
Select courses from those with an assigned ID code of P (Parallel). Courses designated O (Occupational) are
not guaranteed for acceptance by upper-division institutions and cannot be used as elective credit in the A.A. degree.
Pay all fees and discharge all other financial obligations to the college.

General Education
The purpose of general education at Santa Fe College is to foster a disciplined curiosity that leads to empowerment of the student as an intentional learner and to lay the foundation for lifelong learning. By exploring many aspects of the traditional arts and sciences, students will learn about the human imagination and the products of cultural history and expression, the interrelationships within and among social and global communities, models that help to understand the patterns and behaviors of the natural world and social structures, and the values essential to local or global civic engagement. Specifically, students will encounter these ideas through courses in the sciences, mathematics, communications, the social sciences, and the arts and humanities.

While exploring these disciplines, students will also develop the college-level skills in communication, critical thinking, information literacy, scientific and quantitative reasoning, and global responsibility necessary for lifelong learning, whether it be within the academy or in the professional world. In this way, the College seeks not only to instill knowledge, but also to integrate skills and knowledge within the context of cultural and professional competencies.

By design, this practical liberal education is highly concentrated within the core of required arts and sciences courses, we expect that students will find the knowledge and skills from these courses are reinforced in many areas of the curriculum, including elective courses, vocational courses, and a variety of capstone learning experiences that interrelate principle and application.

General Education Learning Outcomes
Each general education course at Santa Fe is expected to address one of six learning outcomes. The table below describes these six outcomes and the competencies associated with them in greater detail.

Communication
- Written Communication. Written communication is the development and expression of ideas in writing. Written communication involves learning to work in many genres and styles. It can involve working with many different writing technologies, and mixing texts, data, and images. Written communication abilities develop through iterative experiences across the curriculum.
- Oral communication. Oral communication is a prepared, purposeful presentation designed to increase knowledge, to foster understanding, or to promote change in the listeners’ attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors.
Critical Thinking Critical thinking is a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.
Scientific Reasoning Understanding scientific concepts and reasoning and analyzing and interpreting various types of scientific data. The current definition of scientific reasoning is based on a description by the American Association for Higher Education and Accreditation whereby scientific reasoning is divided into the reductionist and integrative approaches to the understanding and improvement of student learning.
Quantitative Reasoning Is a “habit of mind,” competency, and comfort in working with numerical data. Individuals with strong QL skills possess the ability to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. They understand and can create sophisticated arguments supported by quantitative evidence and they can clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of formats (using words, tables, graphs, mathematical equations, etc., as appropriate).
Information Literacy The ability to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively and ethically use and share information to accomplish a specific purpose.

Digital Badges for General Education:
Students entering in 2022-23: Pursuant to s. 1007.25(4), F.S., all students initially entering a public postsecondary institution in the 2022-23 academic year (fall 2022) and thereafter and enroll in general education core courses are eligible for the awarding of a digital badge. This is inclusive of dual enrollment students who complete core courses while in high school in the 2022-23 academic year and thereafter. Minimally, institutions must award badges to students meeting these criteria.

Effective Communication: Effective written communication is the ability to communicate ideas, information, and perspectives clearly, adapting a message to different audiences and situations, and using the
appropriate style to convey meaning in various written contexts. Students who complete ENC1101 with a grade of C or higher will receive this badge.

Learning Outcomes: By completing the college course associated with this badge, you will demonstrate information literacy, comprehension of written material, and conveying information in writing for a variety of rhetorical purposes and audiences. Some of the learning outcomes associated with the college course that results in this badge include:

• Examining and analyzing written material.
• Synthesizing information and ideas.
• Developing content relevant to the purpose.
• Demonstrating the ability to write to a specific audience.
• Presenting a perspective informed by research and critical thinking.
• Revising written communication based on feedback.

Importance in Workplace
• Enhances an employee’s ability to interpret and evaluate a wide variety of written material.
• Promotes research, critical thinking, and problem solving.
• Advances the development of clearly written material relevant to the intent.
• Enhances the use of appropriate language for the intended audience.
• Increases the competent, effective, and responsible use of information.

Civics Literacy Requirements
Students starting in the Florida College or University System in the 2021-2022 school year and thereafter must demonstrate competency in civics literacy by achieving a passing score on an assessment and by successfully completing a civics literacy course (AMH2010, AMH2020 or POS2041).

Foreign Language Competency
Beginning with students entering in the Fall 2014 semester, all students must demonstrate competency in a foreign language as a requirement for the Associate in Arts degree. This requirement may be met in one of the following ways: completing two sequential credits of secondary (high school) instruction in one foreign language; completing a post-secondary foreign language course at the elementary 2 level (the second course in a foreign language sequence); or achieving an appropriate score on the CLEP, AP, or other standard examination, which may earn up to eight credits from the College. A student who demonstrates proficiency in a native language other than English is exempt from this requirement, though the College may specify conditions or requirements for the documentation of such competency in less commonly taught languages.

Currently, Santa Fe College offers classes in American Sign Language, French, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish and may offer other languages as well. Through an agreement between Santa Fe College and the University of Florida, SF students may also be able to register for foreign languages not offered at Santa Fe on a space available basis. For more information about languages offered at UF, please contact the Department of Humanities and Foreign Languages, Building P, room 152, or call 352-395-5075.

Math Sequence Guideline
All A.A. degree seeking students who are either registering for 12 or more credits or who have earned 12 or more credits should register for a math course each term until they have met their general education math requirements of 6 completed credit hours. This does not include HSDE (high school dual enrollment) students, transient students, students registered for one or more EAP courses, and students under warning for SAP or SOAP standards. Students are encouraged to meet with an academic advisor to discuss their academic plan.

Writing Intensive Courses
The purpose of the Writing-Intensive requirement at Santa Fe College is to assist students refine their college-level writing skills. College-level writing exhibits critical and analytical skills in discussing a topic; presents paragraphs that are focused, developed, organized, coherent, and unified; expresses ideas in complete, clear, well-structured sentences; and enhances ideas through discipline-appropriate diction, conventions, and rhetorical strategies.

A Writing-Intensive Course has as major instructional, learning and assessment objectives, a substantial discipline-based writing component. This requires multiple opportunities for students to (1) demonstrate
disciplined-based writing competency (2) receive appropriate feedback and (3) to incorporate that feedback into assignments within the same course and semester. Note that any work submitted too late in the semester for the instructor comments to be available to the students cannot be used to meet the writing-intensive requirement. While no specific word-count is required writing must be a central component of the course.

Individual LAS Departments will be responsible for identifying appropriate types of “disciplined-based writing” assignments and providing any additional guidelines for writing intensive courses in the discipline. However, some assignments are unlikely to be suitable for these purposes. For example, teamwork or writing done by a group or team and class notes are unlikely to satisfy the requirement.

In a Writing-Intensive Course, writing assignments must count for a significant part of the final course grade. The majority of writing assignments are assessed by faculty towards refining college level writing skills. Instructors must evaluate written work on its content and content development (i.e., effectiveness, organization, clarity, and coherence of the writing). General comments about syntax, mechanics, and usage of standard written English should also be provided, including, if necessary, reference to the Learning Commons or other relevant available resources. Instructors must provide feedback to the student on the written work submitted. Rubrics are available for faculty use in providing feedback.

In order to receive credit for a writing intensive course, students must satisfactorily complete the writing portion of a Writing-Intensive Course and receive an overall grade of C or higher. If a student does not receive a C AND satisfactorily complete the writing portion of the course, a course grade of D or below will be assigned. A grade of D or D+ will allow the course to count as an elective, but neither Writing Intensive nor General Education credit will be given.

Programs

Associate in Arts

Associate in Arts (A.A.)