Within Academic Affairs, a subset of University Learning Goals has been selected to serve as the Academic Learning Goals, which inform and direct the Integrative Core Curriculum.
ֱ graduates will be able to:
- Demonstrate an integrative knowledge of human and natural worlds (which includes an understanding of the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences)
- Develop habits of critical analysis and aesthetic appreciation
- Apply creative and innovative thinking
- Communicate skillfully in multiple forms of expression
- Act competently in a global and diverse world
- Understand and promote social justice
- Apply a framework for examining ethical dilemmas
- Employ leadership and collaborative skills
- Understand the religious dimensions of human experience.
These nine goals drive the Integrative Core Curriculum as described below:
Foundational Competencies: Written Expression (all align with communication goal)
- Articulate an argument (Select and develop a manageable topic, given audience, purpose, and length requirements; and develop and support an argument appropriate to context, audience, and purpose)
- Use evidence to support arguments, appropriately integrate and document sources (locate, engage with, and integrate textual sources, formulate citations and avoid plagiarism)
- Control surface features of writing (use language that generally conveys meaning to readers with clarity, although writing may include some errors.)
Foundational Competencies: Oral Expression
Develop habits of critical analysis and aesthetic appreciation (critical analysis)
- Articulate a defensible thesis in argumentative, informative and persuasive speeches
- Support the speeches with appropriate, credible evidence
- Understand differences in audiences and occasions and adapt the content, structure, language choice and delivery of the presentation appropriately
- Develop critical listening skills for the purpose of evaluating presentations
Develop habits of critical analysis and aesthetic appreciation (aesthetic appreciation)
- Employ design principles in creating appropriate and effective visual aids
- Employ language effectively in wording speeches
Communicate skillfully in multiple forms of expression
- Create speeches which are meaningful and appropriate to a particular audience
- Demonstrate polished delivery including effective eye contact, vocal variety, gestures and movement
- Display skill in answering public questions about a presentation
Apply a framework for examining ethical dilemmas
- Employ the notion of a “good person speaking well” by demonstrating ethical responsibility in all areas of speaking, including goals, research, language choice and presentation
- Avoid plagiarizing sources.
Learn ways to integrate public speaking and technology.
- Understand the role of technology in creating and presenting effective visual aids to augment speeches
- Demonstrate visual aids during a presentation using their own technological devices as the display medium
- Use appropriate databases and internet sites to access a wide variety of resources
- Speak effectively to a distant audience via a visual medium
Foundational Competencies: Quantitative Analysis (all align with critical analysis goal)
- Find and pose precise questions that can be appropriately analyzed by quantitative methods
- Identify appropriate quantitative methology
- Think critically about quantitative statements
- Recognize sources of error
- Represent data
- Draw inference from data (also aligns with creative thinking goal)
Բܲ(all align with global/diverse world goal)
- Communicate skillfully and effectively in a language other than English, at a commensurate with the language and program. (Classical levels are explained in more detail ; also aligns with communication goal)
- Demonstrate foundational cultural and linguistic knowledge of a target-language area.
- Demonstrate emerging intercultural competence
Distributive Courses: Humanities Experience (aligns with integrative knowledge goal)
- Offer informed interpretations of texts, art, or other cultural products or practices within their social, cultural, and/or historical contexts.
Distributive Courses: Natural Science Experience (aligns with integrative knowledge goal)
- Demonstrate scientific literacy by effective communication of concepts and processes within the discipline
Distributive Courses: Social Science Experience (aligns with integrative knowledge goal)
- Demonstrate how social science insights and approaches can be used to understand contemporary social, economic, or political issues
Integrated Courses: Engaging the Global Community
- Apply skills, abilities, theories or methodologies gained in one academic or experiential context to a different academic or experiential context (aligns with integrative knowledge goal)
- Articulate an argument (Select and develop a manageable topic, given audience, purpose, and length requirements; and develop and support an argument appropriate to context, audience, and purpose [aligns with communication goal])
- Use evidence to support arguments, appropriately integrate and document sources (locate, engage with, and integrate textual sources, formulate citations and avoid plagiarism [aligns with communication goal])
- Control surface features of writing (use language that generally conveys meaning to readers with clarity, although writing may include some errors [aligns with communication goal])
- Understand the world's diverse cultures, environments, practices, or values (aligns with global/diverse world goal)
- Understand that global systems, institutions, or relationships of power exist in a historical or geographical context (aligns with global/diverse world goal)
- Understand that individual and collective decisions have global implications (aligns with global/diverse world goal)
Integrated Courses: Linked Courses
- Apply skills, abilities, theories or methodologies gained in one academic or experiential context to a different academic or experiential context (aligns with integrative knowledge goal)
- Articulate an argument (Select and develop a manageable topic, given audience, purpose, and length requirements; and develop and support an argument appropriate to context, audience, and purpose [aligns with communication goal])
- Use evidence to support arguments, appropriately integrate and document sources (locate, engage with, and integrate textual sources, formulate citations and avoid plagiarism [aligns with communication goal])
- Control surface features of writing (use language that generally conveys meaning to readers with clarity, although writing may include some errors [aligns with communication goal])
- Demonstrate the ability to think critically about a real-world problem, issue, intellectual question, or idea (critical thinking includes identifying and describing the fundamental elements of a problem/issue/question/idea, interpreting relevant data, and reaching logical conclusions [aligns with critical analysis goal])
Jesuit Heritage: Philosophy (Knowledge and Reality Courses) (all align with critical analysis goal)
- Identify and understand the fundamental elements of a problem.
- Demonstrate the ability to analyze multiple forms of expression (such as oral, written, digital, or visual)
- Develop critical thinking skills
Jesuit Heritage: Philosophy (Values and Society Courses) (all align with ethics goal)
- Identify ethical questions.
- Analyze and assess ethical theories
- Apply personal frameworks to personal, professional, and institutional dilemmas
Jesuit Heritage: Theology and Religious Studies
- Critically analyze the religious dimensions of human experience as expressed in sacred texts, art, ritual practices, ethical commitments, philosophy/theology, and social structures (aligns with religion and critical analysis goals)
- Identify ways in which religious or ethical traditions and the critical study thereof provide resources for responding to injustice and living ethically (aligns with religion and social justice goals)
Jesuit Heritage: Issues in Social Justice (all align with social justice goal)
- Communicate understanding of and respect for differences between individuals and across cultures.
- Examine the historical/structural conditions that have given rise to injustice.
- Recognize an injustice and articulate the consequence of that injustice.
Jesuit Heritage: Creative and Performing Arts
- Experience and understand the creative process across various forms of expression (oral, written, digital, visual or performing) from conception to completion (aligns with critical analysis, creative thinking, and communication goals) by creating or performing a work.
- Create or perform a work and reflect upon that process (aligns with creative thinking and communication goals)
- Engage in contextual analysis (reflect on larger questions of aesthetic value or social issues [aligns with critical analysis])