Santa Clara University

Introduction to the Core Curriculum - Cohort 2008 and earlier

Welcome to Santa Clara University. This booklet provides information about the University Core Curriculum, the array of educational experiences that provide foundations and contexts for the more specialized study in the majors. The Core is the broadest of the four categories of courses students must complete to earn a degree:

University Core requirements
College- or School-specific Core requirements
Major requirements
Electives

As a common experience, the University Core aims to instill the knowledge, habits of thought and action, and orientation to society that we believe will best prepare all students for life after Santa Clara. These include the capacities for critical judgment, clear expression, ethical decision making, and concern for others that have distinguished graduates of a Jesuit education for more than 450 years. University Core requirements, which combine traditional and more recent fields of knowledge, such as mathematics, language and writing, science, ethics, religion and spirituality, western and global cultures, social sciences, and technology, allow students to solidify and add to their knowledge, integrate what they know as they create new knowledge, and apply what they know to challenging problems and complex circumstances.

I urge you to view the Core Curriculum requirements as opportunities to explore new subject areas, challenge yourself, and have fun with other students embarking on the same curricular journey. The Core can help you pursue some existing interests more fully, investigate new ideas and subjects, and round out the discipline-specific knowledge you will gain from your major requirements.

Finally, please accept my best wishes for future success as you begin your academic adventure at Santa Clara University.

Sincerely,

Phyllis R. Brown