| I. Cross-disciplinary courses First-year
Symposium (2 courses)
Senior
Seminar (1 course)
First-year
Symposium [Top]
First-year Symposium is a required
two-semester course(4 credits each semester) designed to help students develop skills in
thinking, speaking and writing which they will continue to use and refine during the rest
of their academic careers. These skills are developed interdependently - reading
stimulates thinking; thinking stimulates writing, listening and speaking; writing and
speaking in turn stimulate thinking. Symposium employs discussion and writing as primary
learning methods, thus encouraging students to take an active part in their learning from
the beginning of college study.
Professors from many disciplines offer a variety of
topics, allowing students to choose an area of personal interest in which to learn. The
class stays together for the whole year, developing a sense of community and continuity.
The professor also functions as the students' academic adviser.
Despite the diversity of topics, the goals of each
symposium section are the same: to develop in students the conviction of the importance of
communication of ideas and enthusiasm for the subject being studied so that their writing,
speaking and thinking skills will be extended into all of their intellectual pursuits.
Senior
Seminar [Top]
The traditions of the liberal arts
and the Benedictine character of Saint Benedict's and Saint John's emphasize the need to
develop in students an ability to lead responsible lives in a contemporary world. This
concern has always been a central element in notions about striving for a "good
life," leading a life of civic responsibility, a life of personal integration, a life
of "wholeness." At the junior/senior level of the curriculum, this objective
implies that explicit and focused attention be paid to developing the ability to make good
moral judgments on issues that affect our lives. The Senior Seminar has the purpose of
helping students develop this ability.
Courses in the Senior Seminar program are discussion-based
and focus on complex ethical issues which resist easy, once-for-all-time solutions. No
single method, type of analysis or school of thought has a privileged position. The
program is not an attempt to lead students to preconceived answers, but rather to show
them how to pose questions and search for reasoned ethical alternatives. Faculty for these
courses are chosen from all disciplines; topics are chosen specifically because they are
debatable and widen the field of moral vision.
II. Disciplinary courses
[Top]
Courses which meet disciplinary
requirements are designated in the class schedule. A student's academic major fulfills
some of these requirements. Students are advised to consult with their academic adviser
about core requirements fulfilled in their particular major.
Most core courses are four-credit courses. However, some
requirements can be met in designated January Term courses or three-credit courses.
|
II. Discplinary Courses Fine Arts (6
credits or the equivalent)
Humanities (5 courses)
Mathematics (1 course)
Natural Sciences (2 courses)
Social Sciences (2 courses)
Fine
Arts (6 credits or the equivalent) [Top]
This requirement is fulfilled by taking designated courses
in art, music and theater.
Humanities (5
courses) [Top]
This requirement is fulfilled by taking designated courses
in each of these areas:
-- one 100-level course in theology;
-- two lower-division courses in communication, history,
literature (modern and classical languages or English), or philosophy (Each of these
courses must be from a different discipline.);
-- one upper-division course in
communication, history, literature (English, modern and classical languages or theater),
philosophy or theology (Prerequisite: completion of a lower-division core course in the
same discipline.);
-- one Judeo-Christian heritage course (Prerequisite:
completion of core 100-level course in theology and two core lower-division courses in the
humanities.).
Mathematics (1
course) [Top]
-- This requirement is fulfilled by taking designated
courses in the mathematics department. Before enrolling in these classes, students must
fulfill the mathematics proficiency requirement.
Natural
Sciences (2 courses) [Top]
This requirement is fulfilled by taking designated courses
in astronomy, biology, chemistry, environmental studies, nutrition, peace studies,
computer science, geology or physics. No more than one course may be taken in a single
discipline, with the exception of interdisciplinary courses.
Social Sciences (2 courses)
[Top]
This requirement is fulfilled by taking designated courses
in each of these areas:
-- one lower-division course in communication, economics,
education, management, peace studies, political science, psychology or sociology;
-- one upper-division course in
accounting, communication, economics, education, management, nutrition, political science,
psychology,
social work or sociology. |
