Mar 28, 2024  
2012-2013 Academic Catalog 
    
2012-2013 Academic Catalog [Published Catalog]

The Core Curriculum


Click on any of the following links for information:

 
  1. Primary Level: 16-28 credit hours
  2. Secondary Level: 12 credit hours:
  3. Capstone Level: 6 credit hours


Goals and Objectives

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“A Liberal Arts education is a celebration of learning that encompasses pretty much everything: the arts and the humanities, the social sciences and the ‘hard’ sciences, business training and other professional studies. It grounds us in a sound understanding of our own culture and history, but also makes us aware and tolerant of the histories and cultures of others. Liberal learning seeks to emphasize the growth of intellectual self-reliance and independence while encouraging co-operative endeavor. It is the competence to think, analyze and understand independently.” - Former AUC President Thomas Bartlett

The primary aim of AUC’s Core Curriculum is to ensure that all students, regardless
of major, receive a strong grounding in the traditional liberal arts and sciences. The Core Curriculum is a body of courses designed to provide a broad liberal arts base for students. It aims to develop basic academic and intellectual traits while enhancing students’ writing skills, as well as their ability to reason and construct a logical argument. It strives to familiarize students with a diverse body of knowledge and intellectual tradition, and helps them understand themselves, in addition to their culture, society and place in the world. It encourages them to address the patterns of rational thought and argumentation that underpin the world’s great intellectual traditions, and introduces them to the ways in which science seeks to comprehend the natural world. In sum, the Core Curriculum lies at the heart of AUC’s commitment to the liberal arts. It is, first and foremost, an education in the fundamentals of learning itself.
 

General Description

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The Core Curriculum is a body of 10 to 15 courses (30 to 46 credit hours) that all students are required to complete, regardless of major. It is divided into three components.

The Primary Level consists of a set of English and Arabic language requirements
(3 to 15 credit hours) and four arts and science courses (13 credit hours). They are designed for AUC freshman and most will complete them during their first three semesters. The four courses include Scientific Thinking, Philosophical Thinking (all students must take both), a natural science course and a freshman requirement in the humanities or social sciences. All students majoring in the fields of science and engineering (except actuarial science) are exempted from the general science elective. In addition, students who demonstrate the appropriate competence may be exempted from up to six credit hours of Arabic language and up to six credit hours of English writing courses.

The Secondary Level consists of four requirements in the social sciences and humanities
(12 credit hours) including one course in the general humanities and social sciences; one that deals with world history, culture, society, politics and economics; and two that deal with the history culture, society, politics and economics of the Arab world. Most students will complete one of these four requirements in each semester of their junior and senior years.

The Capstone Level consists of two requirements that students are intended to meet in
their senior year or beyond. The goal is to ensure that students meeting the requirements in their senior or fifth year take courses that are designed for seniors, challenge them to the highest level of their ability and prepare them for life after graduation.
 

Restrictions


No course which a student employs to meet a requirement of the Core Curriculum in the secondary level may also be used to meet any of the requirements - including concentration requirements, specialization requirements, collateral requirements, major core requirements, concentration electives, and general electives - of that student’s major. Similarly, no course that a student employs to meet any of the requirements of a major may be used to meet any of the requirements of the Core Curriculum except in the core capstone level. In other words, one course may not be double-counted for both Core Curriculum and major credit in the core capstone level. Moreover, a student may employ a course that meets any of the requirements of the Core Curriculum to meet the requirements of a minor.


I. Primary Level: 16-28 credit hours

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Category 1: English Composition and Communication (3-9 credit hours)


Rhetoric and Composition

Students must fulfill this requirement in one of the following options:

A.

 
     
      

Or

B.

 
     
    **Any RHET 300 or 400 level course
    ( ,  ,  ,  ,   ,   , ,  ,  ,  ,   ,  ,  , ,   , ,  ,  ,   ,  )

Or

C.

 
    **Any RHET 300 or 400 level course
      ( ,  ,  ,  ,   ,   , ,  ,  ,  ,   ,  ,  , ,   , ,  ,  ,   ,  )


Or


D. **Any RHET 300 or 400 level course
    (

 ,  ,  ,  ,   ,   , ,  ,  ,  ,   ,  ,  , ,   , ,  ,  ,   ,  )


*RHET courses taken as core curriculum electives at the secondary and capstone levels may NOT be double-counted for RHET requirements in the primary level.

**Junior level
 

Category 2: Arabic Language (0-6 credit hours)

 

All newly admitted students, except those who have passed the thanawiya amma exam or its equivalent, will take an Arabic placement exam. Based on the exam results, students may be required to take up to two modern standard Arabic courses.

 

  101, 102, or 103;   201, 202 or 203

Category 3: Information Literacy

LALT 101  

(non-credit)


Category 4: Fundamental Intellectual Skills Requirement (6 credit hours)

 


Category 5: Natural Sciences or Quantitative Thinking (3 credit hours plus 1 lab credit)

Restriction: Students majoring in any of the fields of the School of Sciences and Engineering are exempted from the natural science requirements. Actuarial science students should take a lab.
 

(Choose one course with lab)


Category 6: Humanities or Social Sciences (3 credit hours)

(Choose one course from the two sub categories: humanities or social sciences)
 

 

Subcategory 1: Humanities Option

 

Subcategory 2: Social Science Options

If students choose a course in the social sciences in the primary level, they must choose a humanities course in the secondary level and vice versa.

Most students will complete these requirements in their first three semesters.
 


II. Secondary Level: 12 credit hours

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Category 1: Humanities and Social Sciences (3 credit hours)


Sub-Category 1: Humanities Options

Every student must choose and complete one course from the following sub-category lists. The requirement should be completed by the end of the student’s sixth semester. If students choose to meet the primary level Humanities/Social Science requirement by taking a Humanities course, they must choose from the list of Social Science options below to meet this requirement. If students choose to meet the Primary level Humanities/Social Science requirement by taking a Social Science course, they must choose a course from the Humanities options below to meet this requirement.
 

Sub-Category 2: Social Sciences Options


Category 2: Arab World Studies (6 credit hours)

Every student must choose and complete two courses from the following list. This requirement should be completed by the end of the student’s sixth semester.


Category 3: International/World Studies (3 credit hours)

Every student must choose and complete one course from the following list. The requirement should be completed by the end of the student’s sixth semester.

 

III. Capstone Level: (6 credit hours)

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The requirements may be met by selecting two courses from a variety of options, including Senior Project or Thesis, Senior Seminar, Senior Inr\ternship, Study Abroad, Community Engagement, Honors Seminar, Interdisciplinary Senior Seminar or a 400 level course counting toward a double major. All pre-requisites apply.*

* All prerequisites apply
** by instructors permission
 

To see SEMR courses description, please click here.

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