About Mac

• The MAC program emphasizes 11 foundational competencies integrated into your major, fostering transferable skills for academics, career, and personal growth, while encouraging curiosity and broad knowledge acquisition.
• Only 33 – 34 credits, folded into the 120 credits students need to complete for their degrees.

• You complete the program by passing one 3-credit course in each of the 11 MAC competencies listed below.
• Huge course variety (429 to choose from) with no required sequence.
• Taken early in college career, sets foundation for achievement in students major courses.

Foundations

Develop strategies for success in college and beyond.

The Foundations competency focuses on students’ successful transition to UNCG and encourages them to continue their journey here in an intentional and goal-directed way. MAC Foundations courses support academic and personal development by creating connection to the campus community; facilitating reflection and practicing with academic skills; building information literacy skills; highlighting campus resources for when students need help; enabling connections with peers, faculty and staff; and illustrating how students’ own values, interests and purpose enrich their lives and that of our greater community.

Data Analysis & Interpretation

Work with data in a hands-on scientific context.

MAC Data Analysis & Interpretation courses develop students’ abilities to process, represent, assess, and interpret quantitative data sourced from the natural world, and to use it for the purpose of formulating and testing scientific hypotheses.

Diversity & Equity

Examine systems and structures that address injustice.

MAC Diversity & Equity focus on systems of advantage and oppression, structures of power, and institutions, while making connections to US or global societies and examining intellectual traditions that address systems of injustice. Students gain the intellectual skills and tools needed to connect how they experience their identity in relation to the world.

Global Engagement and Intercultural Learning

Explore similarities and differences across cultures.

MAC Global Engagement & Intercultural Learning courses provide students with knowledge and critical understanding of similarities and differences across world cultures over time and space. These courses emphasize the development of global perspectives and skills to engage across cultures and cultural identities.

Oral Communication

Sharpen your verbal and non-verbal communication skills.

MAC Oral Communication courses focus on verbal and nonverbal expression to create and share meaning. Students develop transferable communicative strategies that can be applied to a variety of contexts, including academics, professional life and citizenship.

Quantitative Reasoning

Use math to solve real-world problems.

MAC Quantitative Reasoning courses prepare students to apply mathematical reasoning to formulate and solve problems in a variety of contexts and real-world situations. Students learn to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world in order to make well-founded judgments and decisions as engaged and reflective citizens.

Critical Thinking and Inquiry in the Humanities and Fine Arts

Analyze evidence and craft arguments in the context of the humanities and fine arts.

In MAC Critical Thinking & Inquiry in the Humanities and Fine Arts courses, students acquire a working knowledge of the foundational tools for reasoning, including constructing sound arguments, evaluating the quality of evidence, and forming judgments about the evidence, arguments, and conclusions of others.

Critical Thinking and Inquiry in the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Analyze evidence and craft arguments in the context of the social & behavioral sciences.

In MAC Critical Thinking & Inquiry in the Social & Behavioral Sciences courses, students acquire a working knowledge of the foundational tools for reasoning, including constructing sound arguments, evaluating the quality of evidence, and forming judgments about the evidence, arguments, and conclusions of others.

Critical Thinking and Inquiry in the Natural Sciences

Analyze evidence and craft arguments in the context of the natural sciences.

In MAC Critical Thinking & Inquiry in the Natural Sciences courses, students acquire a working knowledge of the foundational tools for reasoning, including constructing sound arguments, evaluating the quality of evidence, and forming judgments about the evidence, arguments, and conclusions of others.

Health & Wellness

Make effective health and wellness choices.

MAC Health & Wellness courses provide students with information and practices that help them understand the health and wellness of individuals and/or communities. Students learn to engage in ongoing conversations about mental, physical, and social health, as well as how to evaluate health information and cite it appropriately.

Written Communication

Refine your writing for different audiences.

MAC Written Communication courses support the development and expression of ideas in writing. Students learn that effective written communication is deeply dependent on context, involves adapting different genres, styles, and formal features to address varied audiences and purposes, and benefits from repeated engagement in processes of writing, receiving feedback, and reflecting.