The Gold Core Curriculum

Knowledge

Knowledge content areas represent the traditional, broad-based subject matter that is necessary for you to be intellectually well-rounded and to understand your roles and responsibilities in society. The learning goals supporting these Outcomes examine your understanding of faith, as well as your fellow man, your environment, and your connections to them, and how those connections have played out in societies over time. They include:

• Knowledge and integration of historical and contemporary Christian perspective
• Knowledge of human behaviors and structures
• Knowledge of the physical and natural world
• Knowledge of global historical perspectives

Skills

Skill areas represent the practical abilities you need to apply the knowledge you have attained, both in your major and your career. As you advance through your coursework, these abilities will be connected and honed through progressively more challenging experiences within the core, as well as through environments and technologies specific to your major. They include:

• Critical thinking: inquiry and analysis and creative problem-solving
• Information literacy
• Technological and digital literacy
• Quantitative literacy
• Written communication
• Oral communication
• Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies

Dispositions of Engagement

Dispositions of engagement answer the challenge of how to interact with the world around you, utilizing the knowledge and skills you have acquired. Many of these dispositions, such as collaboration, digital communication skills, creative problem-solving and intercultural awareness, are among the “soft skills” that employers believe are crucial to your career success. They include:

• Moral and ethical reasoning and action
• Professional, interpersonal and digital communication skills and preparedness
• Collaboration and teamwork dynamics
• Intercultural awareness and understanding
• Local, national and global citizenship and civic engagement
• Aesthetic engagement through creative production or patronage of the arts
• Habits of physical health and well-being

The Gold Core’s Integration into your Major and University Life

You will carry the Common Learning Outcomes into your upper-level Core and major courses that show how the disciplines interconnect. The Gold Core Curriculum is also integrated with life outside the classroom. Your participation in extracurricular programming reinforces The Gold Core Curriculum through cultural presentations, professional workshops, visiting scholar lectures and other activities.

Christ-centered Liberal Arts Education

The Gold Core Curriculum reflects our commitment to developing Christian servant-leaders. The Gold Core will show you how Christian beliefs can be applied within a context of creative problem-solving and how faith can lay the foundation for a critically examined understanding of ethical behavior. Building blocks of character such as empathy, charity, respect, and stewardship are woven into course content. You’ll be equipped to pursue a productive and satisfying life as a team-minded professional, family member and citizen in a rapidly changing world.