Ignite Seminar and Collaborative Inquiry act as "bookends" for the beginning and end of the Core experience.
Ignite Seminar -
Focus is on the Ignatian pedagogical paradigm—an integrative and personal approach to learning rooted in context, experience, reflection, action, and evaluation.
Faculty teach topics they are passionate about - but the content is not the focus
Most seminars are intentionally not tied to a student’s major
Cura Personalis
Cura Personalis sequence focuses on caring for the whole student. The sequence must be taken in order.
CP1: Self in Community - (1 credit hour) ideally taken in the first semester, designed to offer grounding and support as students join the SLU academic community. The course contains 4 modules: Jesuit Mission and History; Success and Wellness; Diversity, Equitey, & Inclusion, Our St. Louis/Madrid Community.
CP2: Self in Contemplation - ideally taken as a sophomore, structured process of reflection and discernment informed by or in dialogue with the Ignatian tradition. These non-credit-bearing experiences invite students to envision a clearer sense of who they are and how they might contribute to their communities by considering how their values and calling shape their vocational aspirations.
CP3: Self in the World - ideally taken as a senior, ask students to look outward by articulating how their skills, competencies, and knowledge transfer to professional, personal, and/or civic vocation. Students are guided in an examination of both academic and non-academic options and logistics; preparing career-enhancing tools, and developing appropriate career-enhancing practices.
Eloquentia Perfecta
Eloquence in written, oral, and visual communication (all forms of expression) is central to the Jesuit, liberal arts curriculum and essential to academic excellence and action for the common good. Students take a course in Written & Visual Communication, Oral & Visual Communication, Creative Expression, and a course designated as Writing Intensive.
Theological and Philosophical Foundations
The disciplines of Philosophy and Theology lie at the center of Jesuit education. Students select a course from each category, Ultimate Questions: Theology and Ultimate Questions: Philosophy, that challenges them to reflect on their own and others’ worldviews by wrestling with “ultimate questions” in dialogue with the Catholic, Jesuit tradition.
Ways of Thinking - A hallmark of a liberal arts, Jesuit education is exposure to a breadth of disciplines and intellectual traditions. Each category exposes students to a distinct, disciplinary lens through which to encounter and engage with the world around them. Students complete one course in each of the following areas: Quantitative Reasoning; Aesthetics, History and Culture; Social and Behavioral Sciences; and Natural and Applied Sciences.
Reflection-in-Action - This signature requirement enhances students’ understanding of acting with and for others through community engagement and reflection. Reflection-in-Action can be a stand-alone experience or tied to a course, typically completed sophomore year or later.
Equity and Global Identities - At the center of the University Core is a commitment to helping students understand the world in which they live so that they can better advocate for justice and act in solidarity with people who are disadvantaged and oppressed. Students complete a course with content in each of the following areas: Identities in Context; Global Interdependence; and Dignity, Ethics, and a Just Society.
Collaborative Inquiry - Students choose from a list of seminars where they work together to integrate concepts and methodologies from previous Core and other coursework to explore complex questions. Their Collaborative Inquiry course typically falls in the Junior or Senior year.