6 2 - Dominican University

INTEGRATIVE SEMINARS – CRITICAL THINKING IN THE REAL WORLD
For the past 30+ years, Dominican’s liberal arts and science seminars
have been a central component of the university’s core curriculum,
offering students opportunities to apply multiple perspectives to the
“big” questions and integrate these perspectives into their learning
and life experiences.
“The seminars prepare students for real-world thinking about topics
that require a variety of approaches and areas of knowledge,” says
Jeffrey Carlson, PhD, dean, Rosary College of Arts and Science.
“The seminars are the vertical spine of our liberal arts and sciences
education, and they allow students to connect their majors with the
core curriculum during all four years at Dominican.”
While many schools offer similar courses and seminars as part of their
curriculum, Dominican is relatively distinctive in requiring students to
take seminar courses each year through to graduation. “Seminars help
our students think multidimensionally. They are interesting and
frustrating because just like in the real world, these big questions don’t
have immediate answers,” says William George, PhD, director of the
core curriculum and professor of theology. “It is a significant
undertaking and commitment and many schools are amazed that we
are able to provide such a comprehensive and rich seminar program.”
Modeled in part on the yearly seminars that were a central component
of the Rosary College Honors Program, the seminars evolved and
expanded in breadth and depth, ultimately being integrated into the
undergraduate’s core curriculum some 20 years ago.
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Accreditation by third-party organizations is a demonstration
that the university meets acceptable levels of quality and
competence, and that it meets the highest standards of
achievement. Accreditation is a voluntary process and Dominican
University holds accreditations from the following organizations:
• The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools
as a baccalaureate and master’s degree-granting institution.
• The American Library Association for the Master of Library and
Information Science program.
• The Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs
for the accounting and business administration programs in
the Brennan School of Business.
Seminars bring students and faculty together to collaborate in
a distinctive way, George says, and this collaboration allows
students and teachers to explore big questions and real-world
problems from different perspectives and drawing on a range of
academic disciplines.
“Seminars allow students and teachers from all different backgrounds
to bring their views, experiences and opinions to the table,” says George.
“These kinds of questions and problems are rarely resolved without
the contribution of several disciplines and various points of view.”
The courses follow specific themes by class – Freshman: Dimensions
of the Self; Sophomore: Community, Culture and Diversity; Junior:
Technology, Work and Leisure; and Senior: Virtues and Values. Within
each seminar series are numerous courses that students can choose
from with titles as intriguing as “Facebook: Images of the Self as
Friend,” “I Am My iPod,” “Lifesizing in an Era of Downsizing,
Digitalizing and Fantasizing” and “Myths that Shape Our Lives.”
“Seminars are the classes that make sense of all the other classes,”
Carlson says. “They are practice sessions for the rest of our students’
lives, as they think and live in relation to critical issues and questions,
not merely as well-trained specialists in this or that narrow area,
but as educated persons with an informed and ethically responsible
personal stance.”
“Education is a life-long learning experience,” George says,
“and we are preparing students for life.”
• The Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Social Work
Education for the Graduate School of Social Work.
• The Illinois State Board of Education.
FEATURE
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DOMINICAN ACCREDITATIONS – MEETING THE HIGHEST STANDARDS OF QUALITY
• The Illinois Department of Registration and Education, and the State
Approving Agency for Veterans Affairs.
• The program in nutrition and dietetics has development accreditation
from the Commission on Accreditation for Dietetics Education.
Dominican University is in the process of seeking accreditation from the
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
Fall 2010 Dominican University Magazine
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