Courses

These two seminars are Sacred Heart University's academic signature common core. They are a direct reflection of the University's Mission. These seminars provide students with an understanding of the roots and development of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition as an interdisciplinary, ongoing 2,000 year conversation between the great writers, thinkers, and artists of the Tradition and the cultures in which they lived, asking fundamental questions about God, humanity, nature, and society. Using seminar pedagogy, these seminars ask students to join in this conversation and relate the texts and ideas of the seminars to students own lives and to the world in which they live.
Prerequisite: Take FYS or FYWS 125

These two seminars are Sacred Heart University's academic signature common core. They are a direct reflection of the University's Mission. These seminars provide students with an understanding of the roots and development of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition as an interdisciplinary, ongoing 2,000 year conversation between the great writers, thinkers, and artists of the Tradition and the cultures in which they lived, asking fundamental questions about God, humanity, nature, and society. Using seminar pedagogy, these seminars ask students to join in this conversation and relate the texts and ideas of the seminars to students own lives and to the world in which they live.
Prerequisite: Take CIT 201

This interdisciplinary course explores the themes of sin, sainthood, and sacraments, particularly as those themes are depicted in Catholic fiction and film. The Catholic sacramental tradition is based on the belief that creation and human activities (rituals, saints' lives, etc.) can somehow manifest God's presence (i.e. grace) in a sinful world. We will discuss a diverse range of topics through a sacramental lens, as well as practices, beliefs, and debates surrounding both the sacraments and the Catholic tradition of canonization. We will particularly highlight the relationship between evil and grace in our various fictional texts, and how conversion so often entails a recognition of sin, both structural and personal. Students will be asked not only to learn common issues and symbols of the seven Catholic sacraments and the Catholic piety of sainthood, but also to reflect and discuss critically how issues raised by sacraments and sainthood continue to be relevant to their own lives and the contemporary world.

This class introduces students to literary expression across the globe. Through an analysis of prose (fiction and nonfiction), poetry, and drama, students will develop and refine their close reading skills, including understanding basic literary terminology. At the same time, the course focuses on writing and thinking critically about stories. Ultimately, this course will offer students an opportunity to "experience" and appreciate literature of the world.

This course introduces the major elements of Western civilization from the ancient world to the Italian Renaissance, placing special emphasis on the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions. Major themes include the rise of republican forms of government, the rule of law, the Western conceptions of freedom, citizenship, democracy, human dignity, the autonomy of reason, and Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian values.

This course will provide students with an introduction to the historical development of Western civilization in the last 500 years. The themes and topics emphasized in the course will lead to a greater understanding of how this historical development occurred. The focus will be on the development of economics, the sciences, and social and political ideas.

This course is geared toward liberal arts, science, business, and health science majors." It introduces descriptive statistics, probability distributions (both discrete and normal), confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and correlation. Real-world applications are offered and computer statistical software may be used.

Highlights of this course include exciting pieces by Romantic and twentieth-century composers from 1825 to the present. These composers created music that reflects the various cultures in which they lived, but additionally shows inspiring creativity, individuality, and uniqueness in an everchanging world.

An examination of the beginnings of Western philosophic thought from the pre-Socratics through the Hellenistic period, with extensive consideration of Plato and Aristotle.

Modern philosophy explores the works of 17th and 18th century thinkers such as Descartes, Spinoza, Cavendish, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. This era is the birth not only of many philosophical questions still alive today, but also of the scientific revolution. Of specific interest to these thinkers are questions about the limits of human knowledge, the nature and capacity of the human mind, and the relationship between reason, faith, and scientific inquiry.

Explores scientific perspectives on personality including trait, biological, Freudian, neo-Freudian, social learning, and humanistic.
Prerequisite: PS-110

Focuses on the relationship between attitudes and personality factors and health. Emphasis is on stress management and behavioral change methods for health improvement and maintenance.
Prerequisite: Take PS-110

Using methods and principles of biomedical ethics, explores several ethical issues in medical practice and healthcare policy. Frameworks employed include religious/ethical perspectives in Christianity and some other religious traditions, as well as philosophical and social theories. Topics may include euthanasia, reproductive technologies, confidentiality, human subjects, and allocation of healthcare resources.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit TRS course