Core Updates: Launch Year 2022-23

05/17/2022

Dear SLU colleagues, 

Greetings from the University Core! I am happy to report that our new Core is on track to launch for all incoming SLU students this coming Fall 2022 semester.

It has taken a great deal of collaboration, deliberation, patience and grace to arrive at this significant milestone. I write today with thanks to all who have worked to get us here, and to offer a snapshot of where we are now and where we are headed as we look ahead to the Core Launch Year. 

All Students New to SLU 

The University Core is now the general education curriculum for all new SLU students. When an incoming student joins us for their summer 2022 SLU 101 session, they will begin their Core experience by signing up for an Ignite Seminar and enrolling in a section of Cura Personalis 1: Self in Community—along with other courses commonly completed in a student’s first year, such as Ultimate Questions: Theology, Ultimate Questions: Philosophy, or Eloquentia Perfecta 1: Written and Visual Communication.  

Entering freshmen who choose to take courses this Summer 2022 will also be on the new University Core, as will all new transfer students other than those entering into certain designated "cohorted" programs. In order to ensure that we have capacity to deliver the new Core to all new SLU students, continuing students are NOT eligible to opt-in to the University Core.  

Courses Submitted and Approved for the University Core 

The University Undergraduate Core Committee (UUCC) runs eight separate Core curricular subcommittees, each charged with reviewing courses and experiences for a given Core area and recommending these for approval by the full UUCC.  

Between April 2021 and April 2022, SLU faculty and staff submitted over 400 courses and experiences for review; that total rises to almost 600 when we count courses submitted for inclusion in multiple Core areas. Of these submissions, 90% have been fully approved for the Core launch year. These numbers reflect a huge amount of time, dedication, and collaborative effort across our University.  

Faculty and Staff Development for the Core 

One significant challenge the UUCC faced in standing up a new curriculum was how to design and implement a faculty and staff development program that would offer orientation and support for instructors teaching in our new Core.  

Due to the dedicated efforts of the Core's team of Associate Directors and our colleagues in the Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, I am pleased to report that by the start of the Core launch year, over 260 SLU faculty and staff members in both St. Louis and Madrid will have participated in one or more Core instructor development sessions. This number includes people from all colleges, schools and campuses--and represents hundreds of cross-unit, cross-disciplinary conversations between colleagues in deliberative discussion of best practices for engaging the minds and hearts of our SLU undergraduate students.   

Looking Ahead to Fall 2022 

As the official launch of our University Core comes into view, we are working on several continuing projects. This summer, 20 new Core Curricular Innovation Faculty Fellows will begin developing new courses for the Core to be submitted in 2022 and offered in the 2023-24 academic year. We have three new Undergraduate Core Curricular Fellows joining the UUCC to share in the work of reviewing and approving new courses for the Core. This summer, the Core is partnering with the Saint Louis University Museum of Art to design an exhibit entitled IGNITE: Teaching and Learning at Saint Louis University, which will run for the entirety of our 2022-23 launch year.  

The UUCC will continue building course and experience capacity for the Core, especially in areas that we anticipate students will complete later in their time at SLU. In particular, we are looking for course and experience submissions in the areas of Collaborative Inquiry; Cura Personalis 2: Self in Contemplation; Reflection-in-Action; and Global Interdependence. Please contact the Core Associate Director overseeing these areas for more information.  

Thanks to everyone across SLU who has worked tirelessly to bring our new Core to life. Wishing you all a restful summer, 

Ellen Crowell, Ph.D.
Director of the University Core
Associate professor of English