Advisement and Core CurriculumDr. Paul J. Ballard, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Student Success & Retention

• Graduation Requirements

• Guiding Principles of SNC’s Advisement Function

• How Advisement Works at SNC

• The Liberal Arts and The Core Curriculum

Overview

128 credit hours (8 semesters each with 4 x 4-hour courses)

Fulfill the requirements of at least one majorFulfill the requirements of the Core

CurriculumMinimum 2.00 cumulative GPAMinimum 2.00 GPA across all major courses

Graduation Requirements

• College students are transitioning from adolescence to adult responsibilities and opportunities

• Advisement is an expression of SNC’s commitment to students’ personal, spiritual, and intellectual development

• Advisors are a key institutional resource made available to students

Guiding Principles of SNC’s Advisement Function

• Advisement leads to creation and maintenance of an academic plan that translates life and career goals into a program of courses

• The advisor/advisee relationship deepens during a student’s time at the College with benefits that extend long past graduation

Guiding Principles of SNC’s Advisement Function

• Summer Advisement – student orientation and registration

• In the fall, student is assigned a permanent academic advisor, usually a faculty member

• All classes are cancelled for two days each semester to allow for substantial individual advisor-advisee meetings

• Students and advisors discuss personal and career plans, and determine a course plan for the remaining semesters

• Advisors provide many forms of academic and personal advice and mentorship

How Advisement Works at SNC

• Programmatic Goals

• Foundations Courses

• General Core Requirements

• Advanced Requirements

Elements of Core Curriculum

 

• The acquisition of intellectual and cognitive skills

• Understanding the world and one’s place in it 

• Understanding religious and spiritual dimensions of life 

• The development of creativity and self-expression

• The development of personal character and virtue

Core Curriculum Goals

• To be Taken During a Student’s First Year:– Theological Foundations– Philosophical Foundations

• Required By End of Second Year:– Quantitative Reasoning– Writing Intensive Course

• Required by End of Third Year:– Second Language Competency

Foundations

• Beyond Borders

• Catholic Imagination

• Difference and Diversity

• Expression and Interpretation

• Individual and Society

• Physical and Natural World

• Western Tradition

General Core Requirement Areas

• 4 of the classes can be taken at any time

• 3 must be taken at the 300-400 level during junior/senior year

• One Core or Foundations course must be “Writing Intensive”

• Courses can “count” for both major/minor and in the core

Questions?