University Core Requirements

The Core Curriculum is the heart of a Notre Dame undergraduate education. The Core is a common set of requirements for all students, regardless of college or school or major, organized around 11 Ways of Knowing. Each Way of Knowing teaches students a unique mode for approaching, analyzing, and understanding our world.

Students have significant flexibility in deciding when and how to satisfy most Core requirements. Many Core requirements can be satisfied by courses taken for college or school, major, or minor requirements.

The receipt of a baccalaureate degree from the University requires satisfactory completion of the undergraduate curriculum including the requirements of the University Core Curriculum. The following undergraduate Core Curriculum became effective with the first-year students beginning their studies in the 2018–2019 academic year:

Six courses in the liberal arts:

  1. Quantitative Reasoning1
  2. Science and Technology1
  3. An additional course in Quantitative Reasoning or Science and Technology1
  4. Arts and Literature or Advanced Languages and Cultures1
  5. History or Social Science1
  6. Integration, or a course from an area not yet chosen in 4 or 51

Four courses exploring explicitly Catholic dimensions of the liberal arts:

  1. A foundational Theology course1
  2. A developmental Theology course1
  3. An introductory Philosophy course1
  4. An additional Philosophy course or a Catholicism and the Disciplines course1

Two courses in writing:

  1. A University Seminar
  2. A Writing and Rhetoric course, or another writing-intensive course.

The two-semester Moreau Program

1

One of these requirements may be designated as a University Seminar course typically numbered as 13180–13189.

  1. Only courses identified as approved “Ways of Knowing” for the University Core Curriculum can be used to fulfill a University requirement. Approved courses are administratively marked with a “WKxx” identifier in Class Search each semester to denote their approved status as a “Way of Knowing.” These courses can be viewed for a particular academic term by selecting the “Class Search” link within InsideND or by visiting the home page of the Office of the Registrar website and clicking on the “Class Search” link.
  2. In addition to these University requirements, each college has its own requirements that must be completed. Without prior permission from the appropriate college dean, special studies and directed readings do not satisfy college requirements.
  3. First-year students are required to complete a University Seminar; the Writing & Rhetoric course; and one Moreau First-Year Seminar. The University Seminar may simultaneously satisfy another University requirement, e.g., a University Seminar offered by the History Department should also satisfy the History requirement.
  4. Satisfactory work in a major or a concentration program of study.
  5. A minimum cumulative average of 2.000.
  6. Completion of a minimum of 50% of the degree credit hours at the University (not less than 60 credit hours) and a minimum of 75% of the degree credit hours (not less than 90 credit hours) must be earned after high school graduation through college and university courses.
  7. Enrollment in the last semester on the main University campus. Under extraordinary circumstances this requirement can be waived by the dean (or the dean’s designee) of the student’s college. Students also take a second required one-credit course at the end of their undergraduate studies as part of the Moreau Program. More can be found at moreaufirstyear.nd.edu. 

The following principles guide the application of these requirements.

  1. All courses approved for the University Core must be at least 2.5 credit hours. In rare circumstances, a maximum of two so-called “mini-courses” (less than 2.5 credit hours) may be reviewed by a Core subcommittee and approved (as a combined set) but only if they form a coordinated and coherent whole.
  2. Courses counting toward the University Core must be letter-graded and may not be graded as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory or Pass/Fail.
  3. Transfer students (a) are not required to complete the Core’s University Seminar requirement and (b) may choose to take another approved Writing Intensive course in lieu of the Writing and Rhetoric requirement. Other University Core requirements are not waived for transfer students.
  4. At the discretion of the student’s dean or dean’s designee, transfer credits may be accepted for University Core requirements. The student’s dean or dean’s designee typically seeks an appropriate correspondence between transfer courses and approved courses in Notre Dame’s Course Catalog. When no such correspondence exists, transfer courses (and study abroad courses) are vetted by Notre Dame’s academic departments and the Core curriculum subcommittees.

The deans and their designated representatives in each college and school enforce the University Core curriculum standards, and graduation requirement decisions are at their sole discretion.

Central to undergraduate education at Notre Dame is the Core curriculum, a set of University required courses intended to provide every undergraduate with a common foundation in learning. Detailed rationales for each requirement can be found at http://corecurriculum.nd.edu/.

Writing

Students will take two writing courses, one of which is a University Seminar. With sufficient placement credit, the student may choose to take a second writing-intensive course instead of Writing and Rhetoric. The Writing and Rhetoric course prepares students to write college-level arguments. Students learn to identify an issue amid diverse and conflicting points of view; frame and sustain an ethical argument that not only includes the analysis and exposition of information but also establishes what is at stake in the issue; provide sufficient and relevant evidence to support their claims; identify and evaluate potential counterarguments; respond thoughtfully to the work of their peers; develop skills for writing a research proposal for conducting original research (e.g., through surveys or interviews) and for using the library’s print and electronic information resources; and learn to employ conventions of language in writing academic arguments. A second writing-intensive course may be an elective course with a substantial writing component or a course in the student’s major field of study that emphasizes writing skills appropriate to the discipline.

University Seminars

The University Seminar is a distinctive opportunity for every first-year student to experience a small, writing-intensive seminar taught by a member of the University’s teaching and research faculty. With a class size of no more than 18, students have the opportunity to regularly engage in class discussions around a particular issue, problem, or topic in a given field of study. Students study the paradigms, content, methodology, or problems of a particular discipline while learning the conventions for academic writing within the parameters or discourse of that field. Each seminar also fulfills one of the University requirements in fine arts, literature, history, social science, philosophy, theology, mathematics, or science.

Quantitative Reasoning

Students develop quantitative reasoning skills through the study of various aspects of mathematics, including analysis, logic, probability and statistics, and modeling. From each of these, students derive techniques that are applicable to specific classes of problems. Students will use deductive reasoning in problem solving, apply the inductive process to draw conclusions through quantitative analysis, evaluate data and think probabilistically, assess the strength of numerical evidence, and mathematically model processes or systems to be able to predict (or change) their outcomes. By engaging in multiple mathematical ways of thinking, students will enhance their ability to make informed decisions as citizens and as potential leaders and will gain a deeper understanding of the vital role that Quantitative Reasoning plays in modern society.

Science and Technology

Through the study of science and engineering, students learn how knowledge of the natural world is built on observation, experiment, and evidence, and how these principles can be used to advance technology. They develop a basic understanding of the scientific method and the engineering design process, including an appreciation for the interplay between theory and experiment, and how an advance in one drives the other. In addition to acquiring a working knowledge of fundamental concepts and laws in a particular field of scientific study, students learn to analyze and interpret simple sets of quantitative data and to use mathematical structures to solve problems and create models. Finally, students gain an appreciation of the important interdependence among science, technology, and society.

History

In the study of history, students explore human beings as individuals, groups, nations, or even civilizations in an attempt to comprehend the human experience. Students come to appreciate and understand the processes of continuity and change over time, and they discover how people shaped, altered, or succumbed to their environment or how, in turn, environment channeled historical experience. Thinking critically about the connections between specific events or processes and an array of contingent phenomena, students look for causes and effects, relationships, and relevance.

Social Science

Students discover the diversity of societies and world cultures, the complexity of the choices facing human beings, and the potential social and political consequences of the paths people take. Through lectures, classroom experiences, or local fieldwork, students gain an understanding of the research methods, processes and procedures used to examine human behavior. From the perspective of different social science disciplines, students uncover the competing organizations and institutional opportunities for realizing one’s conceptions of justice and the good life.

Theology

Theology, the “science of God,” represents “faith seeking understanding.” Through the first required course, students arrive at an understanding of the distinctive nature of the discipline of theology; encounter the authoritative texts that serve to constitute the self-understanding of Christian tradition as a response to God’s self-revelation; become aware of the constitution, transmission, and interpretation of these texts within the tradition; and, develop their own skills of textual interpretation in conversation with the tradition. Through the second required course, students are introduced to the riches of the Christian theological tradition; develop their theological skills, facilitating the critical retrieval of the Christian heritage; and, come to appreciate better their rootedness in the ongoing tradition of the believing community.

Philosophy

Students engage in logical reflection on the fundamental problems of human existence and prepare to take their place as citizens capable of critically evaluating arguments which bear on public affairs. In the first course in philosophy, students read philosophical texts and identify the main lines of argument and counter-argument, reason about philosophical questions, and defend their own philosophical positions. In the second course in philosophy, students explore a subset of philosophical questions or authors of special interest to them. By studying seminal philosophical texts like those that have contributed to the Catholic tradition and those that have presented challenges to it, students learn to think in depth about the problems posed by a life of faith.

Fine Arts and Literature

Students approach works of art and literature from critical perspectives—as viewers, readers, or listeners—and they apply the analytical tools needed to realize the insights and pleasures that artistic texts and works offer. Students may engage in the creative process, and in so doing gain insights as to how artists interact with their media and how creativity meshes with understanding. The critical analysis of others’ creative practice will enable students to develop the analytical tools to recognize a work’s formal dimensions and its ideas as well as the often-complex interaction between the two. Engagement with artworks will also lead students to reflect on how aesthetic forms of expression help us define ourselves and our world. Analysis of a work of art, be it through its production, through careful interpretation of the work, or through its reception, will lead students to a deeper reflection on how art and society interact, and how artistic expression reflects the position of the artist and the individual with respect to society at large.

Advanced Language and Culture

Exposure to literature, culture, thought, and political discourse in the original language of expression lends both an invaluable insight into the belief patterns of different cultures and a deepening understanding of those beliefs and traditions. Extensive reading, writing, and speaking in a different language requires students to place themselves into the idiom of the underlying culture and its way of thought. Through this intensive engagement with words and ideas, students gain a new perspective on differences of culture and thought, and, ultimately, on their place in a diverse world.

Integration

Integration courses have as a primary goal the pursuit of knowledge that integrates and synthesizes the perspective of two or more disciplines to address an issue of global importance or great existential depth that is too complex to be adequately addressed by a single field of study. In integration courses, students will learn to identify commonalities and differences, as well as strengths and weaknesses, among the various disciplinary perspectives and to devise a more complex approach to the question, problem, or issue that provides the theme for the course. By undertaking an active investigation of a complex topic, students will employ critical thinking and intellectual synthesis, as well as develop habits of inquiry and independent learning.

Catholicism and the Disciplines

Catholicism and the Disciplines (CAD) courses provide a forum where the various lines of Catholic thought intersect with all forms of knowledge and creativity found in the University. CAD courses are designed to engage ideas from the Catholic tradition with the perspective of one or more disciplines and to engage issues of faith or normative questions both critically and constructively. Students will become adept at examining faith questions or normative questions critically as they explore Catholic content from the perspective of one or more disciplines, and as they explore topics from the disciplines from a distinctively Catholic perspective. Students will be challenged to defend a position on selected issues of faith or normative questions raised by disciplinary considerations in light of competing alternatives, helping them develop their capacities to think critically and to speak and write effectively about matters of faith in a pluralistic world.

Moreau Program

The Moreau First-Year Seminar is a reflection of the distinct manner in which Notre Dame seeks to integrate academic rigor with personal growth, bringing together students, faculty, and staff from across all departments in a shared endeavor to study and practice living well. You will conclude your Moreau experience in your final year when you reflect on your efforts to live well and anticipate how to flourish after graduation.