Core Curriculum and Honors Program

The core curriculum offers students an education informed by Catholic tradition, by the liberal arts and sciences, and by the central values of Sinsinawa Dominican-sponsored institutions: truth, compassion, justice, partnership, and community. This education fosters in students an understanding of themselves and others as intellectual, moral, and religious persons. In distinctive ways, the core curriculum helps students meet the 10 central learning goals for all Dominican undergraduates (see Academic Information ).

The core curriculum consists of:

• Foundations: Courses that equip students with basic skills fundamental to all other facets of the undergraduate course of study;
• Liberal Arts and Sciences Seminars: Courses that apply multiple perspectives to the “big” questions and help students integrate what they are learning elsewhere
• Area Studies: Courses that introduce students to area studies or “disciplines” practiced by scholars as they explore materials and apply methods of inquiry particular to their academic field; and
• Multicultural Course: Engagement of diverse cultures in the United States or beyond its borders.

Foundations

Before graduation each student must demonstrate:

• The ability to read with understanding and to communicate in writing. This requirement may be met by placement examination or by completing with a C- or better Dominican’s ENGL 102  (students with transfer credit will be required to take a writing placement exam and may be required to complete ENGL 190  at Dominican);
• The ability to understand and use mathematics. This requirement may be met by placement examination or by completing with a passing grade college-level course work equivalent to MATH 130 , MATH 150 , MATH 160 , or MATH 170 ;
• The ability to understand the connections between human languages and specific cultures and the ability to interact appropriately with people of another culture. This requirement may be met by placement examination or by completing with a passing grade a foreign language course at the level of 102. Foreign nationals educated abroad at the high school level are exempt from the requirement;
• The ability to find, evaluate, and use information effectively; that is, to acquire information literacy. Introduction to these skills will take place in ENGL 102 , where students will learn the basics of library research, including the ability to locate both print and electronic resources by searching library databases for articles and books. They will also learn how to use the internet for academic purposes, how to evaluate information critically, and how to use information ethically and legally. Students who do not take ENGL 102  at Dominican University will be required to complete an Information Literacy Workshop during their first semester at Dominican; and
• The ability to understand and use computers and their applications. This requirement may be met by a proficiency examination or by completing with a passing grade CIS 120  or its equivalent.

Liberal Arts and Sciences Seminars

Each year, students must enroll in and complete with a passing grade an integrative seminar. According to their class standing, they may choose from a wide variety of seminars that have some elements in common but that are offered by instructors representing alternative approaches to the general topics listed below. Seminars invite students to integrate multiple perspectives on personal, social, and philosophical issues by reading, discussing, and writing about the seminar topic.

• Freshman Seminar: Dimensions of the Self
• Sophomore Seminar: Community, Culture, and Diversity
• Junior Seminar: Technology, Work, and Leisure
• Senior Seminar: Virtues and Values

All entering freshmen enroll in the freshman seminar during their first semester; the seminar instructor is their academic advisor for the first year. Transfer students begin the seminar sequence at the point at which they enter the university (i.e., students who transfer as sophomores must complete a sophomore, a junior, and a senior seminar; junior transfer students must complete a junior and a senior seminar). A student is classified as a sophomore if 28 semester hours have been completed, as a junior if 60 semester hours have been completed, and as a senior if 90 semester hours have been completed. For purposes of determining the point of entry to the seminar sequence, however, transfer students who enter with total semester hours within seven of a higher classification begin the seminar sequence at that higher classification (i.e., students entering the university with 21 hours begin the sequence with the sophomore seminar; students entering with 53 hours begin the sequence with the junior seminar; students entering with 83 hours are required to complete only the senior seminar).

Students studying abroad for a full academic year are exempt from that year’s seminar requirement.

A description of individual seminars can be found under Liberal Arts and Sciences Seminars  .

Area Studies

As a means of developing a comprehensive intellectual framework vital for liberal learning, students are required to enroll in and complete with a passing grade one course of at least three semester hours in each of the areas listed below. Courses that fulfill these area studies requirements are indicated both in the departmental course offerings listed in this bulletin and in each year’s schedule of classes.

Philosophy

Courses that meet the philosophy requirement consider philosophy as part of a reasoned pursuit of wisdom in one’s life. Such courses focus on student acquaintance with some of the “big questions” philosophers typically deal with (such as What makes something ‘true or good’? Is relativism avoidable? Do human beings have free will? Is there more to us than our bodies? What’s real? Does life have meaning? etc.); acquaintance with some of the philosophical positions regarding these questions; and serious opportunities to discuss these questions and positions openly and reasonably within the context of one’s life, professionally, or as a member of one’s community.

Theology

Courses that meet the theology requirement engage students in a critical study of the methods and sources proper to theological and religious reflection, so that students will be able to describe specific ways that religious traditions, especially Catholic Christianity, raise and attempt to answer questions of ultimate meaning and value. In addition, students will be expected to articulate a theologically informed position on one or more key questions regarding the transcendent meaning and value of human existence and experience.

History

Courses that meet the history requirement are designed to help students develop a sense of historical perspective as understood by historians. Such a perspective involves an understanding of the ways societies may change over time and of the importance of sequential occurrence, as well as awareness of complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty as intractable conditions of human society—awareness gained through study of the interactions of diverse forces and circumstances on situations in past societies.

Social Sciences

(economics, political science, psychology, sociology) Courses that meet the social sciences requirement provide students with some of the conceptual tools necessary to think independently about social, economic, psychological, or political phenomena and acquaint them with a methodology used to analyze such phenomena. Study in disciplines particularly concerned with analysis of the behavior of individuals, groups, or institutions and their interactions helps students form a sophisticated—informed, complex, and thoughtful—response to contemporary problems.

Literature

(English, French, Italian, Spanish) Courses that meet the literature requirement help students understand and respond to works of literature. Such an understanding includes awareness of relationships between authors and their cultural and historical contexts as well as critical appreciation of ways found by writers to express feelings and ideas through language.

Fine Arts

(art, music, theatre, film) Courses meeting the fine arts requirement help students understand and respond to works of fine and performing arts. Such an understanding includes an awareness of relationships and interactions between artists and their cultural contexts, and an appreciation of ways in which the fine arts express feelings and ideas through various media. This understanding may be gained through personal experience of the creative processes or through the study of works of art; thus, some studio courses and appreciation courses meet this requirement.

Natural Sciences

(biology, chemistry, geology, natural sciences, physics) Courses that meet the natural sciences requirement acquaint the student with scientific thought and inquiry. In the process, such courses help students understand fundamental concepts and methodologies of the sciences.

No more than two of the liberal arts and sciences seminars may be used to fulfill area studies requirements. Indication of area studies that may be met by particular seminars can be found in this bulletin and in each year’s schedule of classes.

Multicultural

Cultural diversity, both within the United States and beyond its borders, provides an important context for the educational mission of pursuing truth, giving service, and contributing to a more just and humane world. Thus in meeting the requirements of the core curriculum, each student must elect one course of at least three semester hours that:

• focuses on the culture or analysis of society or civilization in Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and/or Asia; or
• focuses on the experience, traditions, beliefs, arts, or thought of African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic-American, or Native American cultures.

Indication of courses that meet the multicultural requirement can be found in this bulletin and in each year’s schedule of classes.

Honors and Distinction Programs

Bachelor of Arts with Honors or Bachelor of Science with Honors

Socrates challenges us with the claim that the unexamined life is not worth living. The university’s honors program contributes to the mission of the university by attempting to provide talented and self-motivated students with the tastes and skills they will need to become lifelong learners.

Honors students are expected to be active members of the honors community and the larger Dominican community. All students will be asked to make an effort to attend regular social, cultural, and scholarly activities.

Students who accept this challenge are awarded with the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors or Bachelor of Science with Honors on the recommendation of the Honors Committee and upon completion of the requirements for one of the two paths described below: Honors through Project or Honors through Course work.

Entering the Program

The Honors degree program is open to full-time students of superior ability. The Honors Committee sets the standards for admission to the program, annually reviews the progress of the students in the program, and recommends the awarding of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors or Bachelor of Science with Honors. Interested students should consult the director of the honors program for current-year policies and guidelines.

All students intending to pursue an honors degree must complete the following requirements:

1. Complete four honors seminars including the honors freshman seminar.

2. Maintain a designated GPA

3. Complete additional requirements, choosing one of the following paths:
   1. Honors through course work : This path has two requirements:
      • Two courses designated as Honors
      • Language through the intermediate level

Bachelor of Arts with Distinction and Bachelor of Science with Distinction

Students not in the Honors program may elect to pursue a degree of Bachelor of Arts with Distinction or Bachelor of Science with Distinction by completing a Distinction project. This project is designed to give such students in their junior and senior years the opportunity to complete a distinctive and substantial scholarly or creative work in their major field.

Students who accept this challenge are awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Distinction or Bachelor of Science with Distinction on the recommendation of the Honors Committee and upon completion of the distinction project.

All students intending to pursue an honors or a distinction project will need to complete the following requirements:

Declaring Intent and Finding Readers. Generally, students attempting the degree with distinction begin working on the distinction project in the first semester of their junior year. The faculty in the discipline approves the project, and the student’s first and second readers recommend the project to the Honors Committee in early March. A project in an interdisciplinary major or one that is interdisciplinary in emphasis is submitted with prior approval from faculty from the most relevant disciplines. A student majoring in a discipline in which Dominican has only one full-time faculty member should seek approval of both project and proposal from a second faculty member who is a member of the major department or from a related discipline in another department, whichever is more appropriate for the project.

GPA. Students must meet the following requirements to be eligible: junior status, a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 in the field of the distinction project, an overall grade point average of 3.0.

Course work. If the student’s proposal is accepted, the student must take ENGL 345 - Advanced Academic Writing  as a part of the project. Exemption from this requirement is possible at the discretion of the course instructor.

Public presentation. After the final draft is approved, the student will be required to give a public presentation on his or her project.

Other Information

Deadlines and guides for writing a distinction proposal and project guides for both students and faculty mentors are available from the honors director, or on the Blackboard at the Departmental Honors Project site.

Students who decide not to complete their project must send a statement of their reasons to the Honors Committee. Students who do not make satisfactory progress may be required by the Honors Committee to withdraw their project.

Additional information regarding both the honors and distinction programs is available from the honors directors or from the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences Advising Office.