Santa Clara University

The Core seeks to create a University learning environment that enables students to achieve intellectual excellence, live as responsible citizens, and seek to be of constant service in creating a more just and humane society. The Core encompasses three thematic course clusters: Laying Foundations, Reaching Out, and Integrating for Leadership.

First Thematic Cluster: Laying Foundations

• English Composition (2)
• Religious Studies (first course)
• Mathematics
• Second Language
• United States
• Western Culture (2)

The first cluster of Core courses prepares the foundations for the competence and excellence that the University hopes will mark all of its graduates. The traditional building blocks of liberal education—language, culture, and mathematics—challenge students to reflect upon the diverse communities they have experienced in their own lives and to begin to sharpen the analytical tools they will need in whatever paths they choose.

Second Thematic Cluster: Reaching Out

• Social Science
• Natural Science
• Technology
• Religious Studies (second course)
• World Cultures/Societies

The second cluster of Core courses expands students' perspectives in two ways. First, students are immersed in the methods of inquiry that a citizen of the 21st century requires to participate in a civic dialogue that is increasingly global in scope. This participation will entail an ability to understand an expanding range of complex topics, including political, religious, scientific, and social concerns. Second, students are challenged to begin to understand the diverse cultures and societies with whom they share this fragile planet. The expansion of horizons in these ways is intended to encourage the continuing development of intellectually grounded moral compassion in the Santa Clara graduate.

Third Thematic Cluster: Integrating for Leadership

• Ethics
• Religious Studies (third course)
• Third Writing Course

The third cluster of Core courses are transition courses that straddle both the Core and the focused areas of study that comprise students' majors, minors, and other academic and co-curricular programs. They seek to complement these other areas of study by encouraging disciplined reflection on the moral stance those who have earned Santa Clara degrees will adopt in their lives as a result of their engagement with this University's learning environment. Graduates will leave the University as lifelong learners, with consciences that are at once both critically formed and always in the process of being critically re-formed.

Learn more on the Core Curriculum site