Core Curriculum

Cultivating Intellectual Leadership for a Complex World

Champlain’s Core curriculum prepares you to be an intellectual leader in the professional world. Studies demonstrate that the ability to think critically and creatively and to communicate effectively leads to leadership opportunities and long-term career success.

Given the career focus here, our Core courses are unlike any other general studies or liberal arts requirement; we have designed our comprehensive and interdisciplinary Core specifically to support and integrate with the professional education you receive in your program.

The Core courses, taught in cohorts of 20 students, are inquiry-focused and challenging. To promote your ability to express, defend and expand your ideas, Core classes are discussion-oriented, problem-based and experiential. Faculty and students partner to explore questions from multiple perspectives in order to understand how different disciplines construct and convey knowledge. In each class, the questions asked are much more important than the answers, because in the 21st century there are few clear-cut “right” answers to the big issues.

Year 1: Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies

Looking at the theme of human identity through art, literature, psychology and neuroscience, you will cultivate your ability to think innovatively and write effectively. History, philosophy and economics provide disciplinary approaches from which you can integrate your personal response to the question “What makes a community good, just and sustainable?” You will use writing and group-based activities to think deeply and communicate your ideas effectively, and you’ll have an opportunity to participate in your first Global Module, Champlain’s signature global engagement program. The courses are: Concepts of the Self; Concepts of Community; Rhetoric I; and Rhetoric II.

Year 2: The Western Tradition

The second-year Core courses explore paradigm shifts in Western thought and look at the evolution and development of big ideas in science, art, literature, music, religion, politics and economics. The courses are: Scientific Revolutions; Aesthetic Expressions; The Secular & the Sacred; and Capitalism & Democracy.

Year 3: The Global Experience

Through the third-year Core courses, you’ll immerse yourself in studying the world, and the curriculum is flexible enough for you to study abroad for a semester as well. You’ll consider human rights issues, evaluate technology’s impact in the First World and the Third World, and immerse yourself in a focus culture to understand and appreciate that not everyone sees the world the way Americans do. The courses are: Global Studies I: Technology & Development; Global Studies II: Human Rights & Responsibilities; and two region-specific, culture-focused courses either in Burlington or abroad.

Year 4: The Capstone Experience

In the final year of study, you will do a project that integrates the knowledge you’ve acquired in your major, your learning in the Core and contemporary issues in professional ethics. You’ll have the opportunity to define and articulate critical questions and possible solutions for a challenge that professionals in your field face today. Your college capstone is highly personalized and will serve as a career-launching experience.

More on the Core

Please visit the Core Division website for a detailed look at the books you'll read, some frequently asked questions, and a list of our talented and dedicated faculty.