LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES FOUNDATION
Â鶹ֱ²¥ College offers unparalleled opportunities for students to pursue rigorous undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences. With a 9:1 student to faculty ratio, students benefit from small classes and special opportunities to form mentoring relationships with our extraordinary faculty. The faculty offer a range of courses, mostly at the 100- and 200- levels, that constitute the College's general education curriculum. Known as the Foundations Curriculum, these courses provide a framework for liberal education and lifelong learning. Most Foundation requirements can be fulfilled by a variety of courses from different departments, and some courses fulfill two Foundation requirements.
F1: Critically examine personal, social, and cultural values. An education in the liberal arts must engage students in critical examination of the relationship between the values they hold as individuals and their social and historical location. Courses that fulfill this requirement will engage students in a critical examination of personal, social, and cultural values through the academic study of biblical literature and of traditions that are productively compared with it. This requirement is satisfied by completing a set of two coordinated courses at the 100-level and one course at the 200-level or higher. (Three courses required, taken during the first three semesters at the College)
F2: Write to Generate and Express Ideas. The ability to read deeply, to think independently, and to express ideas clearly is central to the study of the liberal arts at Â鶹ֱ²¥. To develop these abilities, students take three courses that involve systematic engagement in the writing process. These include one First-Year Writing Seminar (F2s) focused on learning to write and two writing intensive courses (F2i) where students use the writing process to learn discipline-specific content. (Note that all 2nd-semester F1 courses are writing-intensive, so one of these two F2i requirements is automatically satisfied as students fulfill the F1.) These three required courses provide important steps in the student's deliberate development as a critical thinker and writer. Exercises in these courses, both in and outside of class, help students build the muscles needed for sustained focus, methodical use of evidence, and effective design of arguments. Because writing in discipline-specific F2i courses relies on the skills learned in the F2s, students are encouraged to take F2s prior to or concurrent with but not after F2i. Writing intensive courses and writing seminars may explore material in any discipline or may be interdisciplinary. However, the writing seminars will focus centrally on the writing process and its component skills.
F3: Engage in historical thinking about the human past. Historical thinking requires a deliberative stance towards the human past as it is constructed and interpreted with primary sources, such as human artifacts, written evidence, oral traditions, and artistic expressions. It requires understanding of historical forces and actors and engagement with interpretive debate, through the skillful use of an evolving set of methodological practices and tools. (One course required)
F4: Read and interpret literary texts. Literary texts provide challenging and influential representations of human experience in its individual, social, and cultural dimensions. Critical and sensitive reading of significant works refines analytical skills and develops an awareness of the power of language. (One course required)
F5: Create art and analyze artistic expression. Humans express themselves creatively through art forms that are aural, visual, and performed. Creating and studying art are particularly effective ways of understanding art. This requirement may be satisfied with a designated course in which the primary and sustained focus is artistic creativity. (One course required)
F6: Gain facility with mathematical reasoning and expression. Some human experiences are most effectively expressed in mathematical language, and important areas of intellectual inquiry rely on mathematics as a tool of analysis and as a means of conveying information. (One course required)
F7: Explore and understand scientific approaches to the natural world. Our experience of the world is profoundly influenced by a scientific understanding of the physical realm of our existence. To make informed decisions about the production and application of scientific knowledge, students need to understand the way science examines the natural world. Students acquire such knowledge by learning scientific facts and by understanding and engaging through laboratory work the powerful methods by which scientific information is obtained. (One course and one laboratory experience required)
F8: Use theory and empirical research to explore aspects of human experience and interaction and apply these to contemporary issues. Responsible citizenship entails critical evaluation and interpretation of theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding contemporary conditions that influence the well-being of individuals and their communities. A sound understanding of the institutions and practices that shape and are shaped by human behavior will allow students to become more informed participants in critical conversations that transform our world. (One course required)
F9: View the world from more than one cultural perspective. The individual of today's world must be able to understand issues and events through multiple cultural perspectives by developing abilities that facilitate intelligent and respectful interaction in various cultural contexts. These abilities include recognizing, understanding, and articulating the similarities and differences of cultural perspectives, including one's own. (One course required)
F10: Demonstrate intermediate second-language proficiency. Proficiency in a second language allows a level of access to a culture that is not achievable through sources in translation. Intermediate proficiency includes the ability to understand and communicate with members of the target culture, negotiate differences between the second language and the first, and use the second language as a tool for human communication. (Up to three courses required, based on one’s level of proficiency when entering Â鶹ֱ²¥)
F11: Sustained Engagement: Connect academic study to community, global, or professional engagement. Sustained engagement involves developing the knowledge, skills, competencies, and values that prepare students to be thriving professionals and engaged members of local and global communities. Â鶹ֱ²¥ students become engaged citizens through involvement in activities related to their academic interests and professional goals. Sustained engagement to fulfill the F11 requires a minimum of 138 hours (equivalent to three Â鶹ֱ²¥ credits) and includes credited and non-credited experiences with measurable student learning outcomes. Although professional, community, and global engagement are not mutually exclusive activities, professional engagement normally includes paid and unpaid academic internships, working in research labs, ROTC military training, and Curricular Practical Training (CPT); community engagement includes student fellowships, community-based research, and Â鶹ֱ²¥ courses and certificates with community-based learning components; global engagement includes study abroad/away experiences. (One course or engaged learning experience required)
F12: Develop skills to become an informed, active, and engaged student-citizen. The F12 provides opportunities to explore core aspects of one’s community and one’s self. Students will learn how to thrive within a learning environment, and how to develop the skills and discover resources necessary to flourish as an individual, as a scholar, and as an active citizen of the interconnected communities of Â鶹ֱ²¥ College, Memphis, and the wider world. This requirement is fulfilled through the successful completion of a First-Year Seminar at Â鶹ֱ²¥. (One course required, taken during the first year)