Provost's Message: Undergraduate Core Curriculum Update

03/26/2020

Dear members of the SLU community,

I write today to share historic news about the future of SLU’s approach to the undergraduate experience. As you know, for the past several years the University Undergraduate Core Committee has led a Core Invention process, with the goal of presenting the SLU community with distinctive University-wide Core—rooted in our shared Catholic, Jesuit mission and traditions—that would structure a common intellectual experience for all students and all faculty, regardless of College, School or Campus.

The UUCC presented a final Core Proposal to the SLU community on January 31t, 2020, and on Friday, March 20th, voting on this proposed University Core concluded. I am pleased to report that the faculty assemblies of all SLU Colleges and Schools that deliver undergraduate programs voted to approve this University Core. With this passage across all units, the UUCC now can begin the work of implementing this new approach to the SLU undergraduate experience.

The work of bringing our SLU community together around its first ever shared undergraduate curriculum took significant time, careful planning, and lots of patience—on the part of both the UUCC and the SLU community at large.  I want to recognize and sincerely thank all of those whose energy, collaboration, and good will made this possible. In particular, I wish to thank the committee that guided this process.  They worked for the good of the whole, sometimes even when they disagreed with certain elements of the Core.  They represented their disciplines and schools, but more, they represented the interests of the University. This meant that they were willing to compromise and to work collaboratively. And again, I want to thank Ellen Crowell for her leadership and tireless efforts to bring this to fruition. Well done, Ellen. We all owe you a debt of gratitude.

The next stage of Core implementation will present different challenges, but we should stop to recognize what we accomplished together this spring by approving a common Core for all SLU undergraduates.

Sincerely,

Chet

Chester Gillis

Interim Provost