Undergraduate Core Curriculum in the School of Professional Studies

Components
Student Learning Goals and Objectives
Core Curriculum Course Selection and Planning
Core Courses

Core Curriculum

The Core curriculum in the School of Professional Studies is grounded in Trinity's mission to provide a liberal arts education for career-oriented, professional students. The Core curriculum embodies the sprit of Trinity's founders, the Sisters of Notre Dame, who believe education should give people what they need to live. Trinity's Core curriculum provides professional students with the fundamental skills and knowledge necessary for success in life and in the workplace. The Core curriculum is designed to address the learning needs of citizens of today's global economy.

The Core curriculum represents the foundation for study in the major at the undergraduate level. Core Courses should be taken before most major coursework in order to ensure that students are prepared for the more rigorous work of the major. The Core provides students with critical competencies necessary for success in work and life in communication, both written and oral, numeracy, information literacy, global understanding including the humanities, social sciences, science, and cultural traditions, critical thinking, and ethics. Students may transfer to Trinity with many Core requirements already met through study elsewhere. Students may also test out of Core requirements through placement testing.

Students who began their studies in the School of Professional Studies prior to this academic year (2007-2008), and who have taken twenty-seven or more Core curricular credits, may complete the former Core requirements published in the catalog of their entering semester.

Please contact an SPS professional advisor to learn how your transfer credits can be applied among Core, Major requirements, and Elective requirements in order to facilitate degree completion.

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Components of the Core Curriculum

The Core Curriculum is built around the learning needs of undergraduate professional students in the following areas:

Area I Skills for Life and Work: Students hone skills necessary for success in today's global workplace through coursework in the following areas:

• Writing (Including Composition) - 3 credits
• Speaking (Including Public Speaking and Intercultural Communication or Modern Language) - 6 credits
• Numeracy: Mathematics - 3 credits
• Information Literacy - 3 credits

Area II Understanding the Self and Society: Students develop critical thinking ability and expand their breadth of knowledge to sustain major study through coursework in the following areas:

• Humanities - 6 credits
• Social Sciences - 6 credits
• Science - 4 credits

Area III Ethics and Moral Reasoning: Students reflect on morality, social justice, and the larger meaning of human existence through coursework in the following areas:

• Ethics - 3 credits

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Student Learning Goals and Objectives of the Core Curriculum

Effective Communication

• Write clearly, coherently, logically and persuasively
• Speak effectively and confidently
• Understand the fundamental challenges of intercultural communication

Critical Thinking and Analysis

• Read with understanding and critically analyze texts
• Read with understanding and critically analyze data
• Use quantitative analysis

Understanding the Self and Society 

• Understand the societal forces that have shaped and continue to shape our world
• Understand the methods of scientific inquiry
• Examine and interpret philosophical and religious traditions

Commitment to Social Justice and Personal Ethics

• Develop respect for difference and an understanding of the significance of cultural, racial, and gender differences.
• Acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for active citizenship.
• Understand the components of ethical reasoning.

Global Perspectives

• Acquire the knowledge necessary to understand and sustain an interest in diverse perspectives in our global world.

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Core Curriculum Course Selection and Planning

The order and selection of courses in the Core should be determined in consultation with an academic advisor in accordance with a student's plans for an undergraduate major.

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Core Courses

Trinity courses that currently fulfill Core requirements in the School of Professional Studies include the following, descriptions for which can be found in the Course Descriptions: Core Courses section of this catalog:

Area I: Skills for Life and Work

Writing - 3 credits

• ENGL 107 College Composition (3 credits) 

Communication - 6 credits, chosen from:

• COM 290 Public Speaking (3 credits) and
• COM 225 Intercultural Communication (3 credits) or
• SPAN 103 Spanish for the Workplace (3 credits)

Numeracy - 3 credits, either:

• MATH 108 Elementary Mathematical Modeling (3 credits)
• MATH 109 Foundations of Mathematics (3 credits) or
• BADM 211 Business Mathematics (3 credits)

Information Literacy - 3 credits:

• INT 109 Information Literacy (3 credits)

Area II: Understanding the Self and Society

Arts and Humanities - 6 credits, chosen from:

• FNAR 101 History of Art I (3 credits)
• FNAR 102 History of Art II (3 credits)
• HIST 132 Twentieth Century History of the United States (3 credits)
• HIST 155 Twentieth Century World History (3 credits)
• ENGL 215 Major US Writers II (3 credits)
• ENGL 267 United States Multi-Cultural Literature (3 credits)
• RST 290 Religions of the World (3 credits)

Social Sciences - 6 credits, chosen from:

• PSYC 101 Introductory Psychology (3 credits)
• POLS 103 The American Political Process (3 credits)
• ECON 101 Current Issues in Micro Economics (3 credits)
• ECON 102 Introduction to Macro Economics (3 credits)
• SOCY 100 Introduction to Sociology (3 credits)
• COM 201 Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication (3 credits)

Scientific Understanding - 4 credits, chosen from:

• BIOL 101 Introduction to Biology (4 credits) or
• ENVS 101 Discovering Planet Earth (4 credits)

Area III: Ethics and Moral Reasoning

3 credits, chosen from:

• PHIL 245 Ethics or
• PHIL 253 Business and ProfessionalsEthics

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