Eloquentia Perfecta
Eloquence in written, oral, and visual communication is central to the Jesuit, liberal arts curriculum and essential to academic excellence and action for the common good.
Eloquence in written, oral, and visual communication is central to the Jesuit, liberal arts curriculum and essential to academic excellence and action for the common good.
The cultivation of eloquence in speech and writing has been a fundamental part of the Jesuit tradition since the 1599 Ratio Studiorum defined eloquentia perfecta (perfect eloquence) as a central goal of the liberal arts curriculum. The University Core advances this tradition with courses in written, oral and visual communication, and creative expression that foster forms of reasoned discourse essential to academic excellence and action for the common good.
Eloquentia Perfecta: Written and Visual Communication guides students in learning to write effective expository prose, design effective visual messages and participate in academic discourse. Through a variety of formal and informal assignments that require several stages of invention and revision, students gain rhetorical awareness of purposes, audiences, and contexts.
Eloquentia Perfecta: Oral and Visual Communication teaches students how to prepare and deliver effective oral and visual messages. As students build oral and visual communication skills, they also advance their ability to think critically about oral and visual messages and to reflect on how identity and values shape their own and others’ oral and visual communication.
Eloquentia Perfecta: Creative Expression cultivates critical thinking through engagement with a creative process. These courses foster technical skills that allow students to communicate ideas creatively, advance students’ capacity to become informed critics of art, media and/or design, and develop their awareness of how creative expression is influenced by personal and cultural contexts.
Finally, students take one Writing Intensive-attributed course—in the Core, major or other coursework—that further strengthens their ability to write effective argumentative prose within the context of a specific Core or disciplinary inquiry.
Click on the icons below for information on each Core component, including a description, teaching resources, proposal submission information, and artifact design/assessment when applicable.
Any questions may be directed to:
Nathaniel Rivers, Ph.D. / nathaniel.rivers@slu.edu
Associate Director of the Core: Eloquentia Perfecta (Written and Visual Communication and Writing Intensive)
Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences
Gary Barker, Ph.D. / gary.barker@slu.edu
Associate Director of the Core: Eloquentia Perfecta (Oral and Visual Communication and Creative Expression)
Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
AY 25-26 EP1 & WI Subcommittee Members
Chair: Nathaniel Rivers, English
Kyle Crews, School for Professional Studies
Elaine Young, School of Nursing
Ryan Day, English / SLU-Madrid
Anne Mulhall, SLU-Madrid
Amanda Kovathana, Undergraduate Core Fellow
AY 25-26 EP2 & EP3 Subcommittee Members
Chair: Gary Barker, Visual & Performing Arts
Annie Smart, Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Saneta Thurmon, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Natasha Case, Biomedical Engineering
Rosana Vivar, SLU-Madrid
Bella Gustafson, Undergraduate Core Fellow