Undergraduate Day CORE Curriculum and Courses

1. Effective Communication 1 (EC1) - 4 units

Students will:

Courses that Fulfills the Requirements

ENGL 1111 and HONO 1111: Courses may be offered as Service Learning  where academic content is applied and enriched through work with community partners addressing social/environmental issues. Community-engagement may occur during scheduled class meetings or may be integrated into the overall homework expectation and course load.

2. Effective Communication 2 (EC 2) (4 units)

Students will:

1. Demonstrate advanced critical thinking through such methods as summary, evaluation, synthesis, and integration of research; 
2. Create effective, original, and argumentative rhetoric across media (oral, visual, and written) appropriate to topic, purpose, and audience; topics and issues may include problem solving, civic engagement, and/or positing policy or social change;
3. Apply understanding of how communication shapes and is shaped by difference (including but not limited to categories such as race, gender, sexuality, age and class) and reflect on one’s own place in a broader social context;
4. Evaluate source material, synthesize new concepts, and apply deduction, induction, and/or logic for advanced argumentative research purposes; use proper citation and documentation.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement

*Effective Communication-2 must be taken on-campus

Prerequisite:

• An Effective Communication 1 course (ENGL 1111 or HONO 1111)

ENGL 2222  may be offered as Service-Learning.

3. Quantitative Literacy and Social Issues (4 units)

Students will:

1. Interpret data presented in mathematical or quantitative forms
2. Infer potential solutions from mathematical or quantitative models
3. Apply mathematical or quantitative tools and evidence to real-world problems.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement

Students in some majors and minors with an expanded quantitative reasoning requirement may double-dip those courses and are exempt from this requirement. Those are majors and minors offered by the following disciplines at Dominican: The Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Mathematics.

4. Science for Global Citizens (SCI) (4 units)

Students will:

1. Examine and apply the fundamental principles of the scientific discipline (true for each course) in a manner that illustrates connections among science, technology, and society;
2. Engage in the scientific method through laboratory and fieldwork to examine key elements of the science and conduct independent exploration, using observational and direct measurement techniques for primary data collection;
3. Analyze, evaluate, manipulate, and interpret data to draw conclusions.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement

Students in some majors and minors with an expanded natural science requirement may double-dip those courses and are exempt from this requirement. Those are majors and minors offered by the following disciplines at Dominican: The Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dance, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences/Pre-Occupational Therapy, and Nursing.

5. Artistic and Creative Expression (ACE) (4 units)

Students will:

1. Develop competencies in creative thinking and artistic skills, and apply them to unique self or collective artistic expressions
2. Design, create, present and/or perform works of art for an audience.
3. Reflect on and articulate new insights gained about the creative process, artistic practice, and personal artistic expression or perspective.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement

Students in some majors and minors with an expanded creative arts requirement may double-dip those courses and are exempt from this requirement. Those are majors and minors offered by the following disciplines at Dominican: Dance and Music.

6. Social Sciences: Understanding Human Behavior (SSHB) (4 units)

Students will:

1. Effectively communicate an understanding of the research method(s) used by the discipline.
2. Critically evaluate theory(s) in the discipline that have been put forth to explain some aspect of human behavior.
3. Reflect critically on individual identity and responsibilities as citizens of diverse communities.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement

7. Civic Knowledge and Engagement (CKE) (4 units)

Students will:

1. Identify and analyze no less than three of the following content areas: political structures, social systems, cultural trends, and/or historical change over time in the U.S. and/or other countries.
2. Critically analyze a pressing political, social, or environmental issue using multiple sources of information. This analysis includes evaluating evidence through the interpretation of primary sources to develop informed arguments about historical and/or contemporary issues and/or drawing on community-based perspectives and experiences.
3. Engage with local and local and/or global communities to build civic knowledge and skills, and reflect critically on their roles and responsibilities as members of diverse communities and societies.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement

8. An Examined Life (EL) (4 units)

Students will:

1. Analyze contemporary issues with attention to their ethical dimensions and the application of theory to practice.
2. Demonstrate an awareness of differing values, ethical perspectives, and moral agency
3. Develop ethical arguments to advocate for social change.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement

9. Purpose and Meaning (PM) (4 units)

Students will:

1. Identify key features of at least one religious, spiritual, or philosophical point of view;
2. Contextualize those key features (e.g., historically, culturally, politically);
3. Analyze the relevance of those key features in relation to societal issues.

Courses that Fulfill the Requirement