A group of students in a classroom

Core Curriculum

A More Well-Rounded Education

The Core Curriculum at Chestnut Hill College provides students with a well-rounded education, accountable skill development, and a wide variety of engaging learning experiences.

Unlike traditional Core requirements at other liberal arts schools which only touch on various disciplines, the Core Curriculum at CHC digs deeper to offer students not only a more complex knowledge base across multiple disciplines, but also accountable skill set development​.  The combination prepares CHC students for success ​when facing real-world challenges.

The New Core Curriculum Offers Students:

BROADER EXPOSURE to wider array of disciplines

HEIGHTENED PRACTICAL TRAINING and applicable workforce skill development

DEEPER AWARENESS of the larger world and their capacity to make change in it

A professor leads her class. The students, seated facing her, have their laptops open engaging in the class activity.

The NEW Core structure aligns with and reinforces the College’s interdisciplinary Academic Center Model, integrating the student’s major, their Center’s interdisciplinary focus, and the knowledge and skills that the student gains in the Core. These connections make the CHC degree distinctive, graduating students who are alert to changing interrelationships that characterize the fast-paced 21st century.

Additionally, CHC students receive real-world learning experiences throughout their college curriculum, helping them “connect the dots” of their cross-discipline learning and put their new knowledge into action solving real-word problems happening now in the world.

Core Curriculum

The Core Curriculum consists of approximately 39 credits (out of the 120 credits students need to graduate),bringing academic content, skills, and our mission together, for a well-rounded approach.

The Core Four Areas of Study:

DISCOVERY
Students are grounded in college skills and a liberal arts background:

  • Welcome to CHC
  • Liberal Arts Seminar
  • College Writing
  • Foreign Language and Culture

MISSION
Students are encouraged to not just study the mission, but to live it. Students take one course in each area:

Courses include:

  • Religious Studies
  • Global Studies
  • Ethics
  • Diversity and Equity

INQUIRY
Students recognize and embrace the interdisciplinary nature of the way modern thinkers approach real-world problems. Students take one course in each of six areas (one of which will be an interdisciplinary team-taught course that incorporates Religious Studies content):

  • Arts and Creative Expression
  • Meaning and Interpretation of the Human Experience
  • Scientific Investigation
  • Qualitative Analysis/Data Literacy
  • Analysis of the Social World
  • Civic Life and Engagement

The REAL-WORLD CONNECTIONS
INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSE is a CHC signature experience. Students contemplate and address a real-world issue from two disciplinary perspectives.

Examples of topics are: climate change, poverty, war, or combatting disinformation.

illustrative graphic outlining the four components of the Chestnut Hill College core curriculum: discovery, inquiry, mission, and real world experience

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