The Core Curriculum

Michele O'Connor
500 Conwell Hall
Telephone: (215) 204-5662
Fax: (215) 204-3175
michele.oconnor@temple.edu
http://www.temple.edu/core/

The world changes, experience changes, networks grow, dot-coms come and go. Where does college take you?

No matter how fast the world changes, your education will provide you with an experience that will make you grow and change at the same time, but you will always be able to rely on it. When we speak of liberal education, we mean learning that will endure: broad acquaintances with areas of knowledge and experience that will help you live well, using your intellectual powers, imagination, and judgment. A liberal education prepares you to deal with a rapidly-changing world. It prepares you for leadership and responsibility in the vocational, social, and personal areas of your life. It enables you to keep on learning throughout your life.

A liberal education is bigger than the sum of its parts. General education, major, and elective courses; internship, volunteer, and other learning experiences; the social milieu of the campus--all come together to give you something full, whole, integrated. A liberal education happens inside and outside the classroom as you meet and learn with a diverse array of peers and teachers. This is the kind of learning that enhances experience in all dimensions of life. It's the kind of education a degree from Temple University represents.

The Core Curriculum is one part of that education. The goals of the Core Curriculum include teaching students how to do things and providing the means to gain new knowledge. The Core courses will teach students how to use language effectively, handle quantitative data, and appreciate the creative arts; students will also gain an understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and the impact of technology on society, the history and culture of the United States and of other societies, the differences between individual and communal needs, and the many ways in which race and racism affect all of us. Each Core area focuses on one of these goals, but courses and experiences in other Core areas and in the majors build upon and reinforce Core skills and knowledge. All undergraduate students at Temple complete some form of the Core Curriculum.

Students entering Temple as freshmen and transfer students with fewer than 45 transfer credits complete these Core requirements:

* Three Writing-Intensive courses are required in addition to the two Writing-Intensive Intellectual Heritage courses. The three additional courses include a Writing Capstone course (3 credits) required by the student's major and two other approved Writing-Intensive courses. A range of credits is given because those courses may overlap with another Core area (X, R), and so are not counted as separate credits, or may be Writing-Intensive only (W).

**The results of placement tests and options in the International Studies area may result in lower numbers of required courses and credits.

Advanced transfer students satisfy the Core through either the 45+ Transfer Core or Core-to-Core Transfer and should see below for information on these versions of the Core.

Highly motivated students who seek especially challenging courses may wish to apply for admission to the University Honors Program, which offers special Honors courses that meet Core requirements.

Core Information

Each Core area has a list of courses approved as satisfying the requirements for that area. Descriptions of the Core areas and their approved courses follow at the end of this section. Although Core courses no longer offered by departments do not appear in these lists, students who took them continue to receive Core credit for them, as indicated in their DARS document. Questions about the past, present, or future Core status of a course can be answered by the Core and Transfer Office.

Descriptions of Core courses are available in the printed Undergraduate Course Descriptions published each Spring before the registration period for Fall courses, and online through the web version of this Bulletin (www.temple.edu/bulletin/ugradbulletin/ucd/ucdtoc.html). Because not all approved courses are offered every semester, each semester's Class Schedule contains a list of Core courses being taught that term. Lists of newly approved Core courses, other changes and notices, additional information about the Core, and an e-mail link for questions are available on the Core web site (http://www.temple.edu/vp_ugstudies/corecurr.html).

Core Course Numbering

The course number provides important information about a course, including whether or not it receives Core credit and, in some cases, which Core requirement it meets. Because some courses exist in several Core versions, or in Core and non-Core versions, students should pay careful attention to course numbers and be sure they know which version of a course they are taking.

Numbers for courses that meet Core requirements begin with the letters "C," "R," "W," or "X." Those prefixes, along with the two-letter Required Course Indicator (RCI), provide information on the Core requirement a given course will meet.

Important Core Policies for All Students

· All Core courses must be completed with a grade of C- or higher to satisfy a Core requirement.
· Core courses cannot be taken for credit/no credit. See Credit/No Credit Courses.
· Students may not complete requirements in more than two Core areas with courses in their major fields. This restriction does not apply to Writing-Intensive courses that are not also in a Core area (W courses) or Studies in Race courses that are not also in another Core area.
· The three-semester sequence of College Composition (English C050/C051, R050, or H090) and the two Intellectual Heritage courses (X051 or X091 and X052 or X092) is intended to serve as the foundation of general education at Temple and to provide students with the skills and knowledge necessary for successful completion of other Core requirements. To make the most of these opportunities, students should take these courses as soon as possible after entering Temple, in order, and immediately after one another.
· In two Core areas, 1) Quantitative Reasoning and 2) Science and Technology, students should not take a second-level (B) course until they have completed an appropriate prerequisite first-level (A) course with a grade of C- or higher. Students should check with their advisors for the A-B sequences appropriate for their program of study. However, the policy on transfer of Core science courses applies to all students with transfer credits in science (see Science and Technology).  Students who are candidates for a Bachelor of Arts degree in the College of Liberal Arts or the College of Science and Technology are required by their college to complete both the foreign language and the International Studies components of the Core (see International Studies or Language).