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ALL-UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM
All-University Curriculum
The All-University Curriculum (AUC), the University’s nationally
recognized interdisciplinary program, is committed to educating
students broadly by exposing you to fundamental areas of knowledge
and by challenging you to go beyond your chosen specializations.
Faculty who developed the curriculum selected classical and
traditional knowledge that has value for today. They also identified
knowledge in the social sciences, business, engineering, and
technology necessary to prepare graduates for the contemporary
world. All of these areas of study are integrated in interdisciplinary
courses in which you examine in-depth problems, ideas, and issues
from multiple perspectives.
All-University Curriculum courses also emphasize the development
of essential abilities and skills. These include the ability to
speak and write, think, make decisions, take action, and apply
knowledge effectively. Values identification, social interaction,
and responsibility for civic life are included as essential abilities. Each
course emphasizes the development of two or three of these abilities
throughout the semester. For example, Western Heritage emphasizes
written communication and values identification; Living in the
Environment emphasizes oral communication and responsibility
for civic life. Written feedback, conferences with instructors, in-class
activities, and group assignments encourage students to develop their
essential abilities.
In addition, courses in the All-University Curriculum are
developed to stimulate active learning. By using creative and
interactive teaching styles, the faculty encourage you to take
responsibility for learning. The courses are intended to create a
challenging and supportive community in which students and faculty
join together in shared learning experiences.
All students in baccalaureate programs are required to take at
least four All-University Curriculum courses over their four years
as part of graduation requirements. Multiple sections of each of
the 25 courses in the curriculum are offered each semester. You are
required to take one course from four of the five breadth categories,
for a minimum of 12 AUC credits. The AUC committee, along with
college faculty, determines which category may be waived for majors.
Students may take an additional AUC course as an elective. The five
breadth categories are as follows:
Living in a Cultural Context: Western Heritage—AUCW
Courses in this category seek to develop a knowledge of Western
culture. We live in a blend of constantly changing societies and need
to understand both how such societies function and how they were
developed. In order to participate effectively as citizens, students
need to understand past events and their links to present ones.
Living in a Cultural Context: Other Cultures—AUCC
Courses in this category seek to develop cultural empathy and an
ability to project imaginatively into different cultural worlds; and to
appreciate the richness, complexity, and importance of other ways of
living. This category provides access to a diversity of cultures and to
the traditions, values, and practices that inform those cultures.
Living Responsively to the Arts—AUCA
Courses in this category engage the imagination, foster flexible
ways of thinking, and provide distinctive ways of understanding
human beings and nature. Knowledge of architecture, art, dance,
drama, literature, and music opens channels of communication and
leads to a realization of the complexities and interrelationships of
human society.
Living in a Social Context—AUCS
Advising Information: 860.768.4705
Courses in this category are designed to provide students with an
understanding of themselves and how they relate formally and
informally with others in groups, institutions, and political and
economic contexts. Courses emphasize human needs and behaviors;
group relationships and processes; the evolution and nature of
value systems; and techniques for accumulating, widening, and
transmitting experience and knowledge to succeeding generations.
Living in a Scientific and Technological World—AUCT
Courses in this category seek to develop a greater awareness of
science and technology and their human, social, and political
implications. These courses encourage an understanding and
application of scientific methods. Students learn to differentiate
between science and technology, understand the limitations that are
inherent in scientific inquiry, and evaluate the risks and benefits of
technological advances.
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