Mission
Alexander College helps young people benefit from participating in the higher education community. We provide the first two years of university study leading to an Associate degree and university transfer in a student-centered and supportive environment.
Goals
- Provide a serious and supportive learning environment where students with a variety of cultural backgrounds and language abilities can begin university study while simultaneously improving their English-language skills.
- Provide academic preparation that is recognized by other academic institutions throughout North America and beyond, and that provides a foundation for successful progress through more advanced studies.
- Foster individual growth and development by supporting each student’s academic achievement and involvement in the community life of the college.
- Establish and maintain a reputation for excellence in the academic community in every aspect of college programs, activities and services.
General Education Goals
Communication: the ability to read, write, speak, listen, and use nonverbal skills effectively with different audiences.
Upon graduation, students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Use appropriate methods to communicate (written and oral) based on audience and purpose.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of communication of both self and others.
- Use English in a style and tone appropriate to academic discourse.
- Present ideas in an organized framework.
- Develop ideas using concrete reasoning and clear explanation.
- Understand and interpret complex material.
- Recognize the role of culture in communication.
Critical Thinking: the ability to think using analysis, synthesis, evaluation, problem solving, judgment, and the creative process.
Upon graduation, students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Identify and summarize problems in clear and concise terms.
- Think critically and creatively.
- Formulate and re-evaluate positions based on available evidence.
- Ask appropriate questions that challenge assumptions and conventional wisdom.
- Integrate ideas and values from different disciplines and contexts.
- Recognize own biases.
- Recognize that cultural perspectives influence perception and judgment.
- Weigh evidence and draw reasonable conclusions.
- Solve problems.
Personal Growth and Responsibility: the ability to understand and manage self, to function effectively in social, cultural, and professional environments; the ability to recognize ethical and moral issues that may arise from scientific and technological developments or that may be inferred from aesthetic and humanistic works.
Upon graduation, students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Make commitments that reflect ethical and informed decision-making
- Assume responsibility for own actions.
- Plan and pursue their own learning.
- Set, articulate, and pursue realistic individual goals for education, work, and leisure.
- Respect personal and cultural differences.
- Contribute effectively as a team member.
- Interact effectively in diverse professional environments.
- Respect the environment.
- Respect the impact of arts and humanities on culture.
Technology and Quantitative Literacy: the ability to locate, understand, evaluate, and synthesize information and data in a technological and data driven society and to use logic and mathematics to deal effectively with problems and issues.
Upon graduation, students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Use technology to access information for professional and personal needs.
- Use technology to obtain information and draw conclusions in a variety of disciplines.
- Create and interpret mathematical functions, models, graphs, and uses numerical methods to draw logical inferences.
- Use empirical evidence and logical argument to reach conclusions.
- Reason by deduction, induction, and analogy.
- Distinguish between causal and correlational relationships.
Appreciation of the arts, culture, and humanities: the ability to recognize, appreciate, encourage, and contribute to human society.
Upon graduation, students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Be aware of cultural diversity and its contribution to society.
- Develop and appreciate aesthetic sensibilities.
- Be aware of belief systems and religion, and understand how they contribute to society.
- Examine their(?) own culture, society, and nationality from perspectives acquired through understanding other cultures and nations, including their language, literature, art, history, and geography.
Information Literacy: the ability to recognize the need for information, and the ability to locate, evaluate, and use it effectively.
Upon graduation, students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Determine the nature and extent of information needed.
- Locate information effectively and efficiently.
- Critically evaluate information and its sources.
- Use information effectively and persuasively.
- Handle information in an ethical and legal manner.
Scientific reasoning and literacy: the ability to apply the basic principles of science and methods of scientific inquiry
Upon graduation, students will demonstrate the ability to:
- Define major concepts, principles, and fundamental theories in at least one area of science
- Describe methods of inquiry that lead to scientific knowledge.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of evidence and the methods of acquiring and testing scientific evidence.
- Acquire data through controlled experiments or rigorous observation
- Formulate an hypothesis, given a simple problem or question, and then design a valid experiment to test it.