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.
Nathaniel Rivers, Ph.D.
Associate Director of the Core: Eloquentia Perfecta (Written and Visual Communication and Writing Intensive)
Department of English
College of Arts and Sciences
314-977-2571
Tim Huffman, Ph.D.
Associate Director of the Core: Eloquentia Perfecta (Oral Communication and Creative Expression)
Department of Communication College of Arts and Sciences tim.huffman@slu.edu.
314-977-3345
Allen Brizee, Ph.D.
Director, Writing Across the Curriculum
Associate Director of the Core: Eloquentia Perfecta (Writing Intensive)
Department of English College of Arts and Sciences allen.brizee@slu.edu
314-977-3458
EP1: Written and Visual Communication
Eloquentia Perfecta: Written and Visual Communication Core courses are part of a rigorous and cohesive sequence designed to cultivate “perfect eloquence” in writing, speaking and other forms of creative public expression in alignment with the foundational goals of the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum. In these courses, students are trained in the five duties of the rhetorician: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Courses that satisfy the Written and Visual Requirement develop students’ ability to write effective messages and arguments in expository prose, design effective visual messages and arguments, participate in academic discourse, and advocate for the common good. Students advance their writing and visual design skills through a variety of formal and informal assignments that require several stages of invention and revision and the acknowledgement of multiple and contradictory perspectives. Through these assignments, students gain rhetorical awareness of purposes, audiences, and contexts. They also reflect on the ways in which rhetorically fluent communication is vital to ethical public discourse, understood as effective communication in service of the common good.
EP2: Oral and Visual Communication
Eloquentia Perfecta: Oral and Visual Communication Core courses are part of a rigorous and cohesive set of courses designed to cultivate “perfect eloquence” in writing, speaking and other forms of creative public expression in alignment with the foundational goals of the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum. In these courses, students are trained in the five duties of the rhetorician: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Courses that satisfy the Oral and Visual Communication requirement develop students’ ability to prepare and deliver effective oral and visual messages and arguments within academic and professional contexts and advocate for the common good. Students advance their oral and visual communication skills through assignments that require them to consider their own positions, present audience-appropriate messages and arguments, and acknowledge multiple and contradictory perspectives. In this process, students learn to evaluate oral and visual arguments and reflect on the ways in which identity, values and diverse cultural contexts shape their own and others’ oral and visual communication. They also reflect on the ways in which rhetorically fluent communication is vital to ethical public discourse, understood as effective communication in service of the common good.
EP3: Creative Expression
Eloquentia Perfecta: Creative Expression Core courses are part of a rigorous and cohesive set of courses designed to cultivate “perfect eloquence” in writing, speaking and other forms of creative public expression in alignment with the foundational goals of the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum. These courses invite students to explore how the duties of the rhetorician (invention, arrangement, style, memory, delivery) are also crucial in acts of creation in the arts or design. Courses that satisfy the Eloquentia Perfecta: Creative Expression requirement cultivate students’ abilities to articulate persuasive positions through engagement with a creative or design process. These courses foster technical skills that allow students to communicate messages and arguments creatively in a specific linguistic, performance, design and/or artistic medium. As students practice modes of creative expression in these courses, they also advance their capacities to produce informed evaluations of arts, media, performance, or design. These courses develop students’ awareness of how creative expression is influenced by personal and cultural contexts. Students also reflect on the ways in which rhetorically fluent and technically proficient creative expression and design are vital to ethical public discourse.
Writing Intensive
Eloquentia Perfecta Writing Intensive courses are part of a rigorous and cohesive set of courses designed to cultivate “perfect eloquence” in writing, speaking and other forms of creative public expression in alignment with the foundational goals of the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum. Courses that satisfy the Eloquentia Perfecta: Writing Intensive requirement build students’ ability to write effective prose within the context of a specific Core or disciplinary inquiry.
Through a range of formal and informal writing assignments involving multiple stages of invention and revision, students will develop persuasive written claims and analyze and synthesize material from a variety of sources appropriate to the course inquiry. As they write messages and arguments for specific audiences and purposes, students will gain the ability to reflect critically on the ways identity and values shape written communication. They also further reflect on the ways in which rhetorically fluent communication is vital to ethical public discourse, understood as effective communication in service of the common good.
To find out more about writing-intensive courses, select this link for the WI page.
ep_writing_intensive_flier_fa20.pdf