Core curriculum – Traditional Students

As its name suggests, the core curriculum lies at the heart of undergraduate education at Belmont Abbey College. As with our Catholic, Benedictine heritage and our historic campus, it distinguishes the College from all other institutions in our region. Indeed, the skills, knowledge, and values we seek to instill through the core are a tangible manifestation of the spirit of the Benedictine founders of the College, whose basilica, monastery, and original school buildings give architectural shape to their singleness of purpose.

Just as Benedictinism has carefully balanced fidelity to its origins with adaptation to a changing world in the course of the past 1500 years, so too the core curriculum remains faithful to its grounding in theology, philosophy, and the traditional liberal arts, to which have been added the illuminating insights of the behavioral sciences over the last two centuries. These are the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that will increase a student's chances of living a successful, moral, and ultimately good and happy life: writing and speaking well, thinking critically, mastering quantitative skills; understanding how different disciplines, historical periods, cultures, and significant persons have attempted to make sense of the world; viewing learning in a Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts institution as the search for what is good, beautiful, and true and thus endeavoring to improve themselves and others-not just materially but especially intellectually and spiritually-in the context of the Judeo-Christian tradition and values.

The core courses in the skills and disciplinary knowledge areas are bracketed by the First-Year Symposium (FS 101), an introduction to the values, traditions, and academic culture characteristic of a Catholic, Benedictine liberal arts education, and by the Great Books capstone course (GB 320). Great Books recapitulates, in a broader interdisciplinary context, the exploration of some of life's most important questions and the various answers offered by great thinkers across different cultures, historical periods, and academic disciplines, after students have already encountered them discretely in the other courses of the core curriculum.
Through a competency test, students are also assured of computer literacy, and information literacy is integrated into a number of courses, from the First Year Symposium and English 101-102 sequence to advanced courses in the majors. A Global Perspectives "flag" assures that each student has at least one significant academic experience with a foreign culture, either through course work or a study abroad experience. Finally, all students must take at least one course flagged as writing intensive. Such courses are designed to provide extensive writing opportunities, including work with specially-trained faculty on multiple-draft projects.

I.          FS 101: First Year Symposium, 3 credits

II.        Foundational Skills in the Liberal Arts

1. Writing, 6 credits
1. English 101: Writing on Contemporary Issues
2. English 102: Argumentative Prose (Prerequisite: EN 101)

1. Critical Thinking, 3 credits
1. Philosophy 101: Logic

1. Quantitative Thinking, 3 credits

[One of the following, appropriate to students major]

1. Mathematics 135: Mathematics for Liberal Arts
2. Mathematics 15: Algebra for Sciences/Finance
3. Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus
4. Any 200-level Mathematics course
5. Any Statistics course
6. Any Calculus course

III.       Further Explorations in the Liberal Arts

1. Theology, 6 credits
1. Theology 101: Christian Thought: Early & Medieval
2. Theology 102: Christian Thought: Reformation & Modern

1. Philosophy, 6 credits
1. One of the following:
1. Philosophy 200: Introduction to Philosophy: Ancient & Medieval
2. Philosophy 201: Introduction to Philosophy: Modern & Contemporary
2. Philosophy 250: Ethics

1. History, 6 credits

[One of the following survey sequences; must be taken in its entirety]

1. History 201-202: World Civilization, I-II
2. History 203-204: American History, I-II

1. Literature, 6 credits
1. One of the following
1. English 201: World Literature
2. English 203: American Literature
2. English 202: English Literature
2. Fine Arts, 3 credits

[One of the following]

1. Art 101: Introduction to Art in Western Civilization I
2. Art 102: Introduction to Art in Western Civilization II
3. English 104: Creative Writing
4. English 216: Introduction to Film Criticism
5. Theater (FA) 108: Introduction to Theatre Arts
6. Theater (FA) 110: Introduction to Stage Craft
7. Theater (FA) 150: Theatre Practicum (1 credit)
8. Music 101: Music Appreciation
9. Music 110: Chorus (1 credit)

Other fine arts courses as offered

1. Natural Sciences, 8 credits
1. One of the following:
1. Biology 101: Natural World
2. Biology 201: Cell Biology (Instructor permission required)
3. Biology 231: Organismal Diversity (Instructor permission required)
2. One of the following:
1. Science 110: Physical World
2. Chemistry 105: General Chemistry
3. Physics 101: General Physics 1

1. Social Sciences. 6 credits
1. Political Science 201: American Government
2. One of the following:
1. Economics 201: Introductory to Economics I
2. Psychology 201: Introductory to Psychology
3. Sociology 201: Principles of Sociology

Another psychology or sociology course (Instructor permission required)

IV.       Great Books 320: Great Books Capstone, 3 credits

V.        Other Graduation Requirements:

1. Writing Intensive Requirement, one flagged 3 credit course
   Each student must complete at least one course designated as “Writing Intensive,” marked with the designation (W) in the course schedule, with students strongly encouraged to choose one within their major or minor field of study.
2. Global Perspectives Requirement Each student must fulfill this requirement with one of the following:

1. One of the following core courses: History 201, History 202, English 201, Art 101, Art 102 or Theater (FA) 108.
2. Any course approved as meeting “Global Perspectives” criteria and so designated by the Office of the Registrar.
3. Completion of intermediate-level modern language (fourth semester of college-level language)
4. Significant academic experience abroad (5 weeks or more)
1. Competency in Technology

All Belmont Abbey College students must demonstrate basic computer competency in one of the following ways:

1. Passing the competency exam administered during orientation weekend and periodically upon demand.
2. Completion of CS (Computer Studies) 100 or another CS course relevant to the student’s major.
3. A technology-intensive class in the major.