General Education (WORLD)

At Sage, every student experiences the WORLD -

Women Owning Responsibility for Learning and Doing,

the name of Russell Sage's General Education program.

The program provides students with a global perspective and instills respect for the diversity of communities, while tackling the educational challenges facing women in the 21st century.

Core courses offer a common educational experience to all RSC students, including:

• Language and Community
• Women in the World (WLD 120) - for first year or sophomore students
• Women Changing the World (WLD 420) - for juniors or seniors

In Women in the World (WLD 120), students come to understand their own potential as forces for positive change, engage in research, and work together investigating the lives of women in diverse cultures. In Women Changing the World (WLD 420), students develop practical projects that have a positive impact on the local community.

In both courses, students have special opportunities to participate in co-curricular activities on campus and in the community. And each year, students present their work in a public forum: the WORLD Conference.

The WORLD program also includes "Intensives," courses that deepen students' understanding of three vital skills and issues in the 21st century: technology, cross-cultural perspectives, and writing. "Distribution courses" expose students to a broad range of disciplines, regardless of their choice of major.

WORLD Program Mission & Purpose

The purpose of this program is for students to be able to place themselves as women within global societies so that they can analyze the need for change and develop the skills and reflection to make and adapt to change.

This program of study is a direct outgrowth of the historical mission of the College. Russell Sage College was founded in 1916 as a pioneering experiment in gender and social class -- a College dedicated to preparing young women who would make their way in the world by working. Today's world has expanded in complexity as nations have become economically and environmentally interdependent. The lives of women are also very different now.Russell Sage, as one of a small group of single-sex colleges, is committed to advocating for the rights of all women, as well as for all human beings, and preparing women to meet the responsibilities that accompany those rights.