Overview
Susquehanna’s Central Curriculum requirement embodies the university’s vision of our students as confident, liberally educated people committed to cross- and multi-disciplinary education; capable of thinking not only in the terms of their major area, but from the perspectives of other disciplines as well; and able to integrate their educational experience into a way of thinking about their vocations, their major area of study, and their lives as a means to achievement, leadership and service in the world.
The Central Curriculum is designed to help students develop an awareness of:
- The richness of human thought and expression.
- The ways humans have sought to explain the natural world.
- The breadth of human interactions throughout the world, across time and into the present, and of the belief systems, values and practices through which those interactions are manifested.
The Central Curriculum is intended to provide students with the ability to:
- Think creatively and critically in order to analyze issues and make effective decisions.
- Incorporate the methods of analysis from a range of academic disciplines in the natural and social sciences and humanities to understand and solve problems and explore conflict.
- Listen effectively and articulate an informed opinion and argument orally and in writing.
- Gather and evaluate information.
- Work effectively with a team to analyze and solve problems.
- Function with professional competency in a chosen discipline.
- Understand that problems often elicit complex, conflicting and ambiguous responses.
The Central Curriculum is designed to foster in students:
- Knowledge of the limits and contexts of their own experience and the ability to value the different experiences of others.
- The ability to examine their own strengths and weaknesses critically and realistically.
- A willingness to strive for responsible actions personally and interpersonally.
The Central Curriculum is intended to help students develop an integrated sense of personal ethical responsibility focused on their:
- Interaction with the natural environment.
- Continued growth and development as contributing members of a number of communities within human society.
- Recognition and understanding of the diversities of human experience.
- Commitment to an ongoing development of the life of the mind.
