The Office for General Education hosted “Pathways and Parfait” at the Student Center Great Hall on Tuesday to give students a chance to learn more about the Pathways program.
“Pathways and Parfait” gave students the chance to talk with faculty from the Office for General Education about the Pathways program and how it could benefit them. Infographics and opportunities to sign up for the program were offered alongside free servings of Moonshot Creamery ice cream.
Pathways is a new program freshman students can join that will allow them to graduate with a special credential if they complete a set of three courses with a Pathways designation. Students who participate in the program will also receive a graduation cord and gain access to special events.
The program is only available to students who have enrolled in the 2025 catalog and all future students at the University.
“The previous core curriculum was great, but for many students it was difficult to tie their core classes together into something that felt focused,” Margaret Peacock, director of UA General Education Pathways.
The Pathways options available this year are Executive Systems and Global Engagement, with two more, Innovation and Creativity and Digital Literacy and Practice, which will arrive in 2026.
Peacock said the goal of Pathways is to give more meaning to core classes by focusing the courses on a particular theme.
“It makes a lot of sense to do a Pathway, given that you can gain a credential that employers want to see on a resume, without taking any additional classes,” Peacock said.
Students who attended the event said they liked the idea of earning a credential without having to take more credit hours.
“It’s really fascinating that you get to add a credential on your transcript without having to actually take like 18 credit hours,” said Katie Clark, a freshman majoring in marketing and advertising. “The Executive Systems pathway is really big since having that credential lets me say ‘look, I did this’ and can help me stick my name out there.”
Elena Miller, a freshman majoring in chemistry, said she was interested in the content of the Pathways program.
“I signed up for Global Engagement mostly because I thought it was really interesting, and I’m trying to do as much as I can,” she said.
Miller said she plans to work towards a major in economics as well and that Pathways would allow her to still earn a credential while taking on the extra major, something she doesn’t think she could do otherwise.
“This kind of addition was really awesome, since I already needed to take literature and humanities. I was like, ‘might as well get some more value out of it,’” she said.
