Core Curriculum

A Personal & Professional Education

Sacred Heart University’s Core Curriculum flows from its Mission and is designed to integrate the Catholic intellectual and liberal arts traditions to meet the personal and professional needs of students. The Core Curriculum is comprised of the Foundational Core (21-23 credits), the Human Journey (6 credits) and Liberal Arts Explorations (12 credits).

The Core Curriculum provides a well-rounded foundation for any major and career path. Students take courses that ask them to reflect on their personal growth as well as develop the essential skills and abilities needed for professional success. The Core Curriculum fosters critical thinking across the curriculum by emphasizing critical reading, analysis, and information literacy in both written and oral communication. The Core Curriculum also draws on a range of disciplines to promote intentional reflection on the human condition.  The Core Curriculum helps students develop a greater understanding of diverse perspectives allowing them to engage in courageous civil discourse to address problems in the human and natural worlds.

The Foundational Core | 21-23 credits

FYWS 125: First Year Writing Seminar, 3 credits

This seminar is an introduction to academic writing and discourse. It focuses on writing as both process and product, linked to critical thinking and problem-solving. The small-class setting gives students the opportunity to begin developing their skills in writing, seminar-style communication, and information literacy.

Students also take an appropriate course from each of the following areas (18-20 credits):

  • Literature
  • History
  • Philosophy
  • Theology and Religious Studies
  • Art, Communication and Performing Arts
  • Social Sciences
  • Natural sciences
  • Math

The Human Journey Seminars | 6 credits

CIT 201: Human Journey CIT Seminar I and CIT 202: Human Journey CIT Seminar II (3 credits each)

These two seminars are the University’s academic signature common core and they are a direct reflection of the University’s Mission. These two courses provide students with an interdisciplinary understanding of the roots and development of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition as an ongoing 2,000-year conversation between the Catholic community of its thinkers, writer, artists and the cultures in which they have lived, asking fundamental questions about God, humanity, society, and nature. The first seminar includes readings from The Bible, Plato, and Aquinas. In the second seminar, students read selections from Thomas Merton, John Henry Newman, and Dorothy Day, among others.

Liberal Arts Explorations | 12 credits

The LAE fully immerses students in different facets of the liberal arts, which develops deeper knowledge and the ability to be critical and independent thinkers. Students are required to take one course in each of the three LAE areas and one additional course in a LAE area of their own choosing:

Humanistic Inquiry

In these courses, students examine and explore human nature and human experience in different eras and cultures. Students critically examine and reflect upon fundamental concerns, issues, and topics related to the human condition, as represented by influential thinkers, writers, artists, and scientists.

Social & Global Awareness

This area encourages students to become more informed about and engaged with the world around them. These courses provide students with the tools and the insight that will make them responsible citizens. Students are asked to bring critical reflection, empathy, and a respect for cultural diversity to bear on social problems and real-world issues.

Scientific Literacy

Scientific literacy is the ability to describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena and the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making and living in and making contributions to the human community. These courses allow students to develop the ability to assess the quality of scientific information, to pose and evaluate arguments based on evidence, and to apply the principles of scientific inquiry to make and communicate reasoned and ethical judgments about the role of science in individuals’ lives, communities, and the world.