Every degree program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is made up of three components: the Core Curriculum, Courses in the Major, and Free Electives.

The courses in the Core Curriculum treat a broad range of disciplines from a variety of approaches; at the same time, the Core strives to ensure depth of study and intellectual sophistication while recognizing that learning implies different modes of inquiry. Fact learning alone is not enough to justify the existence of a Core Curriculum; rather the purpose of the core is to achieve a synthesis of knowledge that provides a basis for informed judgment. The Core also seeks to promote literacy as a foundation for intelligent discourse and the articulation of informed views.

The Core aims to advance culture in a broad sense, training students to understand and to appreciate the interrelated patterns of customary beliefs and practices, social forms, aesthetics, and material traits that act to define a culture and its position within a larger historical and intellectual framework. This educational program does not simply look to the past, but acknowledges that culture is vibrant and continuously redefined. The Core challenges students to understand how the present is recognizably formed from past influences, and that in order to assess our culture and arrive at a view of its future, students must be trained to scrutinize and bring into perspective the relationship of the present culture with that of the past.

In fostering active participation in learning, the Core prepares students to become active participants within society, to engage in the process of informed political debate, and to encourage an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of cultures and experiences, a respect for the individual, and the development of a multi-cultural and international perspective. The Core thus encourages personal development in preparing students to regard themselves as citizens living in a democratic society, as belonging to a world community, and as therefore having communal responsibilities.

A. Summary of Core Curriculum Course Requirements

 
Distribution Requirements

The core courses listed above, courses required by the Major, and available electives must have attributes that include the following: four writing intensive courses, four writing enriched courses, and two diversity courses.

B. Explanation of Course Requirements

In general, once a sequence of courses is begun in a particular discipline, a student may not revert to a lower level course in that same discipline to fulfill a core requirement without prior approval from the Dean’s Office. Courses or sections of courses that are approved to fulfill Core requirements are designated as such in the Pre-registration Master Schedule issued at pre-registration each semester and available on-line. Retroactive approval of a course taken previously for fulfillment of a core requirement is not possible.

Courses that are counted towards the Core requirements cannot also be count towards the major requirements. For example, an English course taken to fulfill the Advanced Literature requirement cannot be counted towards the major requirements for English.  However, courses counted for the Core and major may also be counted for Interdisciplinary Concentrations and Minors.

The Department of Humanities and Augustinian Traditions and the Honors program offer integrated, interdisciplinary curriculums. In some cases courses are designed to fulfill many of the general education requirements of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Some offerings also offer alternative approaches to established courses in the Core Curriculum for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Consequently relevant Humanities and Honors courses will fulfill certain requirements for the Core Curriculum of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

C. Listing of Core Course Requirements

1. Augustine and Culture: The Villanova Seminar
   The following two courses must be taken by all students during the first year of study:
   ACS 1000 Traditions in Conversation
   ACS 1001 Modernity and Its Discontents
   
   NOTE: Students are not allowed to drop or withdraw from Augustine and Culture: The Villanova Seminar without academic penalty.
    
2. College Ethics (1 course)
   This course is normally taken during the sophomore year.
   ETH 2050 Ethical Traditions and Contemporary Life
    
3. Fine Arts (1 course)
   Each student is required to take one course in Fine Arts. The purpose of the Fine Arts Requirement is to develop an understanding and appreciation of artistic creativity encompassing both the creative processes that go into making a work of art as well as analysis and interpretation of the products of that artistic creativity. Special designated courses in Theater, Studio Art, Art History, English and Communication (Rhetoric/Performance and Media/Film Studies) fulfill this requirement. Consult Novasis under the Attribute screen each semester at pre-registration time for a list of courses that will fulfill this requirement. Scroll down to the fine arts requirement under the Attributes window. Please note that not all Studio Art courses meet the fine arts requirement.
    
4. Foreign Language (2 courses in most cases)
   There are three options that a student may choose to fulfill the foreign language requirement. Note: the credit value of language courses varies from three to six credits. Regardless of the number of credits, a language course only counts as one course.

• Language Option A
• Language Option B
• Language Option C

5. History (2 courses)
   HIS 1050 Themes in Modern World History; or HIS 1040, Themes in Pre Modern World History;
   A second history course, with a course number of 2000 or higher, chosen from the History departmental course offerings.
    
6. Literature (2 courses)
   ENG 1050 The Literary Experience
   A second English literature course, with a course number of 2100 or higher, chosen from the English departmental course offerings, or a literature course in another language offered by the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and Literatures.
    
7. Mathematical Sciences/Computing Sciences (2 courses)
   Two courses from the Department of Mathematical Sciences (MAT)
   or
   One course from the Department of Mathematical Sciences and one course from the Department of Computing Sciences (CSC).
   
   All courses for which a student has the appropriate pre-requisites or equivalent experience may be used to satisfy this requirement. Beginning a course in a particular series does not obligate a student to finish that series. For example, a student taking MAT 1320 (Calculus I for the Liberal Arts) is not required to take MAT 1325 (Calculus II for the Liberal Arts).
   
   Note: Students intending to apply to medical, dental or veterinary medicine schools must take two semesters of Calculus. For additional information, contact Dr. Friede (Health Professions Advisor, x94833) Students anticipating a Business Concentration should take Introductory Statistics: MAT 1230 and 1235.
    
8. Philosophy (2 courses)
   PHI 1050 Introduction to Philosophy
   A second philosophy course, with a course number of 2000 or higher, chosen from the Philosophy departmental course offerings.
   
   Education Majors may count EDU 4290, Philosophy of Education fulfilling their upper level Philosophy requirement
    
9. Theology and Religious Studies (2 courses)
   THL 1050 or THL 1051 Christian Theology: An Introduction or Christianity in History
   A second Theology and Religious Studies course, with a course number of 2000 or higher, chosen from the Theology departmental course offerings.
   
   NOTE: THL 1050 and THL 1051 are academic presentations of Christian thought and historical impact suitable for any student. In special cases courses such as the following may be substituted to fulfill the requirement with the permission of the Dean.
   
   THL 5100 The Heritage of Judaism
   THL 5170 Islamic Philosophy and Theology
   THL 5270 The Buddhist Tradition
   THL 5285 Religion in India and Southeast Asia
    
10. Social Sciences (3 courses)
    Each student is required to take three social science courses; one introductory course in each of two distinct disciplines, and one advanced course (2000 level or above) in one of those two disciplines. The Social Sciences disciplines are: Criminology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology.
     
11. Natural Sciences (2 courses with 2 labs)
    Each student is required to complete two semesters of natural sciences with accompanying laboratories by the end of the sophomore year. Each student may choose:
     
    • Natural Sciences Option A
    • Natural Sciences Option B

D. Core Curriculum Distribution Requirements

In addition to satisfying the curricular requirements listed above, students are required to satisfy certain distribution requirements. The distribution requirements may be satisfied by courses used to satisfy either core, major or elective requirements. Additionally, a single course may satisfy more than one of the distribution requirements.

1. Writing Requirement (8 courses)
   Each student must take at least four courses that are designated as Writing Intensive; and at least four additional courses that are designated as Writing Enriched. These designations will appear in the Master Schedule available during pre-registration each semester.
   
   NOTE: The Augustine and Culture Seminars (ACS 1000 and ACS 1001) and the Introductory Literature course (ENG 1050) fulfill four of the four Writing Intensive course requirements. The fourth Writing Intensive course requirement is to be taken in the student’s major area. College Ethics (ETH 2050) fulfills one of the four Writing Enriched requirements.
   
   Writing Intensive Course Characteristics
   • At least 20 pages of assigned writing, a portion of which should be polished prose reflecting disciplinary conventions
   • Much of the writing for the course is the result of a revision process involving discussion and un-graded evaluation of student texts
   • A significant portion of class time is devoted to disciplinary prose
   • Writing intensive courses are limited to 16-22 students

   Writing Enriched Course Characteristics

   • At least 10 pages of writing in response to at least two assignments
   • At least one revision in response to evaluative feedback on rough drafts
   • At least some attention to rhetorical dimensions of the disciplines
      
2. Integrative Sequences (2 sequences of 2 courses each)
   Integrative courses enable a student to examine a topic or theme from the perspective of several disciplines. One of these sequences is to be in the humanities and the other is to be in the sciences. The two Augustine and Culture Seminars fulfill the former and the Natural Science core requirement fulfills the latter.
    
3. Research Requirement
   A research course taken in one’s major in either the sophomore or junior year. Departments are responsible for the research course(s) in their individual programs.
    
4. Diversity Requirement (2 courses)
   Each student is required to select one course in two of the following three areas:
   • Diversity (1):
     Courses which provide a focus on studies emphasizing ethnic and minority experiences in the United States
   • Diversity (2):
     Courses which provide a focus on women’s experiences and highlight the ways in which gender influences experience.
   • Diversity (3):
     Courses which provide a focus on the culture, economics, politics or ecology of societies and nations other than those of Europe and the United States.

NOTES:

1. A student may not use a single course to fulfill more than one category of the diversity requirement.
2. The diversity requirement cannot be fulfilled by independent study or a senior thesis.
3. Language courses cannot fulfill the requirement, although literature courses in a foreign language can fulfill the requirement provided they focus on appropriate material.