The core curriculum always has been the heart of the undergraduate academic experience at the University of St. Thomas. As the undergraduate catalog states, the core helps to instill “an appreciation for the life of the mind and the joy of learning.”
For many decades, St. Thomas has been respected because of its comprehensive and rigorous core curriculum. The undergraduate core curriculum is designed to foster liberal learning, moral and ethical development, and an understanding of the natural and social worlds of which we are all a part. Students study theology, philosophy and the arts; they take courses focused on ethics, literature, language and culture; they engage in social and historical analysis; and they study mathematics and laboratory science. Many core courses include opportunities to engage the community through service-learning and to explore the natural world through inquiry-based assignments. The core curriculum integrates ideas across disciplinary boundaries and, ultimately, helps students to become lifelong learners possessing the knowledge, sensitivities and skills needed to live moral, meaningful and fulfilled lives. As a result, the core curriculum provides an excellent foundation for career preparation in every major field.
St. Thomas is striving to create an endowment to support and enhance core-curriculum activities permanently. The endowment will support the new Writing Across the Curriculum program, the capstone “bridge” courses that are part of the Faith and the Catholic Tradition core requirement, and the continuing development of the human-diversity requirement of the core curriculum.
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is founded on the recognition that writing assists students in understanding, ordering and applying knowledge in all disciplines. The WAC program and its courses emphasize that writing is both a process of learning and a craft that is shaped over time. By taking courses with a strong writing component in a variety of academic disciplines, students build a repertoire of writing strategies and skills, and enhance their ability to communicate ideas meaningfully and effectively to a range of audiences. Students take four WAC-designated courses at various points during their undergraduate careers. These focus on: 1.) direct writing instruction (two courses); 2.) writing for discovery and exploration (one course); and 3.) writing within particular disciplines (one course, often in the student’s major field). The endowment that the university is seeking will provide ongoing training in the teaching of writing for faculty members in all disciplines.
Capstone bridge courses are taken during a student’s senior year and are designed to tie the Catholic intellectual tradition to various aspects of the undergraduate curriculum. They relate theology to other academic disciplines in order to help students explore the connections among religion, vocation and personal integrity in preparation for their professional and post-graduation personal lives. Some bridge courses are team-taught and examine the link between theology and particular major fields and careers; others examine the theological dimension of significant social issues or explore the global significance of contemporary theological issues. Funds are needed to develop more of these courses and to allow planning for team-teaching among faculty members from the Theology Department and other academic departments.
The human-diversity requirement of St. Thomas’ undergraduate curriculum assists students in understanding the perspectives, values, experiences, work and achievements of various minority and marginalized groups in both Western and non-Western cultures. Courses that fulfill this requirement address the ways in which the study of diversity is valuable to a liberal-arts education, and they foster respect for the diversity of peoples and cultures around the world. These courses also address how specific academic disciplines contribute to an understanding of the groups or cultures being studied and how the perspectives of the groups or cultures might expand understanding of the discipline itself. Funds will support workshops and collaborative faculty efforts sponsored by the Human Diversity Review Committee, a faculty group that works on behalf of this curriculum requirement.
For more information on the core-curriculum enhancement priority of the Opening Doors capital campaign, please contact Dr. Michael C. Jordan, director of undergraduate academic affairs and professor, Department of English, at mcjordan@stthomas.edu or (651) 962-5612.