The Seattle University Core Curriculum
For more than 450 years the Jesuits have been educating students around the world, and while the form of that education has changed across cultures and ages, the central focus has remained constant: helping students develop into empowered leaders for a better world. That same tradition is at the heart of Seattle University’s undergraduate education, the Core Curriculum.
The Core Curriculum is a 15-course sequence of classes that take place over the entire four years of a typical undergraduate’s SU experience. These courses, in subjects ranging from Astronomy to Theology, are organized into three phases designed to help SU students develop critical academic and intellectual skills, reflect on their roles and responsibilities as members of society, and find effective and ethical ways to act as “leaders for a just and humane world.” This curriculum is far more than simply a set of general education requirements scattered across a variety of disciplines. Instead, these courses are designed to form a coherent and developmental educational experience that helps students develop as whole persons, think deeply about the world and their place in it, and find and apply the special talents they have to share with the world to make it a better place.
This web site provides key information about the Seattle University Core, with resources for current students, new or prospective students, and faculty.
Welcome!
Dr. Jeff Philpott, Core Curriculum Director