Program of Study
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program of study CURRICULAR GOALS SUbstaNtive GOals The curriculum offers students the serious pursuit of knowledge of The undergraduate students at Saint Mary’s College face the challenge God, the natural world, self and others, life and love, political and moral of choosing a suitable sequence of courses —their personal curricu- order, goods and values, culture and cultures, art, history, and knowledge lum—from the various sets of undergraduate courses offered by the concerning knowledge itself. The graduate will have also explored and College. The choices made can be deeply personal and have profound weighed the ethical and religious claims of Jewish and Christian scriptures, consequences for the life of each individual student. Every student can or the insights of Roman Catholic theology or church history, or contri- be confident that any course of study the College offers is guided by and butions to human spirituality from diverse persons and peoples. consistent with the College mission statement. DisCipliNarY GOals The spirit of the liberal arts, especially in the practice of genuine inquiry, The curriculum requires that students demonstrate: initiates students into the examined life and enables them to contribute • Growing mastery of a theoretical or a practitioner’s way of meaningfully to community life. Each curriculum gives the student access understanding the world. to the results of inquiry, engages the student in particular methods of • Experience with a wide range of academic disciplines. inquiry, and strengthens the student’s own powers of inquiry. • Increased sophistication in thinking from multiple disciplinary perspectives. 39 Program of Study INstrUmeNtal GOals 1. Collegiate Seminar: Four courses. The curriculum challenges students to demonstrate the ability to: All students must take the Collegiate Seminars in chronological order: • Define concepts, distinguish ideas, reason inferentially, detect and one freshman Seminar in both fall and spring terms; one additional critique fallacy, appreciate and evaluate analogy. Seminar in sophomore year, fall or spring term; one additional Seminar in • Accurately understand diverse genres of spoken and written English, junior year, fall or spring term, regardless of ultimate graduation plans. For speak clearly and persuasively, and write effective, grammatical English transfer students the Seminar requirement is determined at entrance and prose; normally amounts to one Seminar for each year or partial year of atten- • Engage in meaningful communication in a language other than dance at Saint Mary’s College. Transfer students are assigned to Seminar English; 130 and 131. International students whose native language is not English • Generate correct, rule-governed calculations, and follow sequential take the first Collegiate Seminar (130) in their sophomore year and then mathematical reasoning concerning quantity and pattern; (sophomore or junior year) Seminar 131. Seminar courses 144 and 145, • Empathetically appreciate productions or the ways of life of diverse if taken beyond the Collegiate Seminar requirement, apply towards the world cultures; Area A requirement. • Carry out relevant observations, identifications, categorizations and measurements to test or illustrate a theory accounting for select 2. Theology and Religious Studies: Students must complete two physical phenomena; courses in Theology and Religious Studies. Please note that TRS 01 or • Access, evaluate, and appropriately use sources of information; its equivalent is a prerequisite to all upper division classes in Theology • Employ relevant academic and professional technology for modeling and Religious Studies. The College ordinarily waives one religious studies and manipulating data, finding correlations and predicting outcomes; course for students who transfer with 16+ course credits. Students may • Recognize the influence of culture, language, and history on thought apply Theology and Religious Studies courses beyond those required to and ways of thinking. their Area A (Humanities) requirement. • Cooperate in the collaborative learning of a truth-seeking and knowl- edge-making community. 3. Area Requirements: Six courses. All students must take two courses in Area A and two courses in Area C. One course must be taken in Area In order to assure that these goals—and thus student needs—are met, B Mathematics, and one course in Area B Science. Most courses in the the College carefully assesses new programs and courses and regularly disciplines of A, B and C fulfill the Area requirement, including courses reviews existing major departments and programs. required for a minor field of study. Courses which do not fulfill an Area requirement are: . those taken to complete other general education requirements; I. MaJOR PROGRAMS 2. practice-oriented, studio, activity, or other specified department courses which are so indicated in this catalog; The major program consists of two interlocking components: a general 3. any course in the major field of study. (However, courses required education requirement, and a major field of study. for the major which are in a related field may fulfill an Area require- ment. Students whose major field of study is in Area B complete the GENeral EDUCatiON REQUiremeNT Area B requirement by fulfilling the major requirements.) Students The general education requirement, a broad introduction to a diversity of pursuing alternative plan majors should consult their advisor regarding academic areas, consists of 12 courses from three specified groups: Reli- the satisfaction of Area requirements with courses in the major plan gious Studies (two courses), Collegiate Seminar (four courses), and Area of study. Area requirements for transfer students are determined for requirements (six courses). Additionally, all students participate in the them at entrance and generally amount to no more than one course January Term, a one-month course outside of their major discipline that for each term of enrollment at Saint Mary’s College. provides opportunities for students and allows for an intensive pursuit of an area of interest. All students, at some point in their program, normally Area A — Humanities (two courses) Art History and non-studio courses take two courses from the Department of Religious Studies. Freshmen only; Communication; English; Languages (Classical and Modern); must take one Collegiate Seminar in both the fall and spring terms. Performing Arts; Philosophy; Religious Studies; Women’s Studies Transfer students ordinarily complete at least one Collegiate Seminar Area B — Mathematics (one course) Mathematics; Computer Science for each year of attendance, and must complete at least one course in Area B — Science (one lab course) Biology; Chemistry; Environmental Religious Studies. Students normally take one January Term for each year and Earth Sciences; Physics and Astronomy of study. The Area requirements seek to provide students with academic Area C — Social Sciences (two courses) Anthropology and Sociology; experience in the areas of the humanities, empirical science, and social Economics; History; Politics; Psychology; Women’s Studies (by petition) science. On the principle that study of a foreign language provides an introduction to other ways of thinking and conceiving of the world and facilitates communication with people of other cultures, Saint Mary’s has established a language proficiency requirement which provides that students must demonstrate a proficiency in a second language which is equivalent to that achieved by completion of three terms of college-level second language study. Recognizing also the need to enhance awareness of the increasing importance of the global community, Saint Mary’s Col- lege has established a diversity requirement which stipulates the comple- tion of one course devoted to the study of the history, traditions and/or culture of peoples of non-European origin. 40 Program of Study 4. Written English Requirement: At least two courses. English 4, Com- 7. Diversity Requirement: Students shall complete one course focused position, and English 5, Argument and Research, taken consecutively in on the history, traditions, and/or culture(s) of a people or peoples of the first year of attendance, constitute the English composition require- non-European origin. A course taken to fulfill this requirement may also ment. English 4 is prerequisite to English 5. satisfy an Area, major or minor, or general education requirement. In special circumstances where there is no other alternative available, a stu- All students, both freshmen and transfer, unless otherwise notified, must dent may petition through the Registrar’s office to have a January Term take the Saint Mary’s College Writing Placement Exam before enrolling course satisfy the requirement. Approval of the petition is subject to the in an English class. The results of the Writing Placement Exam will deter- evaluation of the January Term director. A list of courses that routinely mine a student’s placement in Composition. satisfy the requirement is available from the Registrar’s Office and from the end of the curriculum section, on page 163. Additional courses in Students may be exempted from English 4 by scoring 4 or above on the a given semester may have content appropriate to the requirement. AP exam in Composition or Literature. Students may petition through the registrar to have such a course satisfy the requirement. There is no exemption from English 5. 8. One January Term course for each year