Le Moyne Core | Tom Brockelman

Le Moyne’s Core Curriculum is central to our Catholic and Jesuit mission of graduating students who are liberally educated, passionately curious, and actively engaged in the promotion of peace and justice in their personal and professional lives. Le Moyne graduates are committed to building and serving the world in dynamic, principled and generous ways. Inspired by the signature Jesuit quest to seek God in all things, the Core fosters an understanding of knowledge as a means to service and leadership in an interdependent world.

Through the Core sequence, students develop knowledge and skills across multiple disciplines and the confidence to engage in intellectual inquiry as members of a fglobal community. Their liberal education empowers students to explore diverse ways of knowing; to appreciate cultural and artistic expression; to understand the moral, ethical, and political frameworks essential to making fair and just decisions; and to pursue new intellectual experiences as integral to the life-long process of self transformation.

Distinctive Elements in Le Moyne’s Core Curriculum

Le Moyne’s new core curriculum is designed to ensure that all Le Moyne students receive a thorough education in the liberal arts. Its interdisciplinary approach, global emphasis, and inclusion of mathematics and science reflect international trends in liberal arts education. While it follows exciting developments in higher education in some ways, Le Moyne’s core curriculum is distinctive in other ways.

1. A Thorough and Comprehensive Writing sequence

Le Moyne’s core curriculum ensures that students have ample opportunity to develop their academic and career-relevant writing skills. In the first year, students develop and practice the critical writing skills that are necessary for success in college. Next, they refine and enhance their skills through a three-course, writing-instructional sequence in Philosophy, History, and English. In addition, students develop and practice discipline-specific skills in a writing-intensive course within their academic majors.

2. Small Classes up Front In their first years at Le Moyne, students take small, seminar-style Core classes with talented and dedicated professors. These early Core courses focus on development of skills, discovery of intellectual passions, and creation of academic community. By providing careful, personal attention, these classes genuinely educate the whole person.

3. From the Basic to the Complex

Given the complex issues facing the world today, interdisciplinary learning is essential and Le Moyne’s core curriculum provides it. In the first two years, students establish solid foundation knowledge in History, Philosophy, English, Religious Studies, and Natural and Social Sciences. In the junior year, students build on that foundation through interdisciplinary courses that explore how different ways of knowing affect intellectual inquiry. In the senior year, trans-disciplinary capstone courses consider contemporary issues and challenge students to address them from various disciplinary perspectives.

4. The Core’s Bookends

Le Moyne’s core curriculum includes both a first-year Transitions seminar and a senior Transformations capstone. These two courses bookend the Le Moyne experience by introducing students to college in an exciting, intellectually provocative seminar and by preparing them for life after college in a capstone course that synthesizes their learning. These companion experiences represent one of the ways that Le Moyne strives to fulfill the Jesuit mission to educate the whole person.

Le Moyne Core Curriculum information pamphlet face

Download the Core Curriculum informational brochure

Le Moyne Core Curriculum Bookends pamphlet cover

Download the Core Curriculum Bookends brochure

Le Moyne Core Curriculum Distinctive Elements pamphlet cover

Download Distinctive Elements of the Core Curriculum brochure

Visit the Core Curriculum page on the Le Moyne College website.

Le Moyne College Core

Tom Brockelman is Professor of Philosophy at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. He is the former Director of the Core Curriculum and Interim Provost there.

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