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Core Curriculum
The Core Curriculum at Millsaps is truly the heart of a liberal education. It is designed to introduce you to the breadth of knowledge that every educated person should have, and to help you develop the skills that you will need to succeed in college and beyond. Most of the Core is concentrated in your first two years, and serves as the foundation for the more narrowly focused study of your major. The final piece of the Core, however, is reserved for the senior year. This capstone course, Reflections on Liberal Studies, relates the work of your major to the goals of a liberal education. It may be the senior seminar in your major or an interdisciplinary course specifically designed for this purpose, but either way you will be challenged to reflect upon your Millsaps education and to integrate what you have learned throughout your college years. You will see how your education has prepared you for life in the twenty-first century.
Core Curriculum Requirements
To complete the Core Curriculum, you must take courses covering specific areas during your four years at Millsaps: Introduction to Thinking and Writing (Core 1); the humanities, including history, literature, religion and philosophy, and the fine arts (Cores 2-5: IDST courses or Heritage); social and behavioral science (Core 6); natural science (Core 7 and 9); mathematics (Core 8 and 9); and Reflections on Liberal Studies (Core 10, usually in your senior year). Specific courses meeting each requirement are listed in the College Catalog, and indicated as such in the print version of the Course Schedule. Please read the accompanying Core courses section of the Millsaps website for descriptions of each of the Core courses offered term.
Core 1—Introduction toThinking and Writing (IDST 1000 or 1050)
All students are required to take this course. A special section (IDST 1050) is offered for transfer and Gateway students. The goals of the course are to develop your skills in critical thinking and communication and to instill an appreciation for an interdisciplinary view of lifelong learning and development. It is an interdisciplinary course in which you will read, discuss and write about many different issues. Each section is small to facilitate active discussion by all members of the class.
Core 2 – 5—Arts and Letters
You may meet this requirement in one of two ways:
Heritage is an intensive course that provides a broad view of the development of human culture from antiquity to the present. It integrates the history, literature, philosophy, religions and art of all periods into a coherent sequence of human intellectual development.
Topics courses are a sequence of Core Curriculum courses designed to engage your thinking about distinct historical periods from multiple perspectives. Each class brings together various strands of thought to provide a detailed view of one particular aspect of that period, emphasizing a distinct focus - history, literature, philosophy, religion or fine arts. To ensure a broad exposure to the liberal arts, students taking this approach must include at least three different foci in their choice of topics courses.
Either option offers opportunities to explore the development of societies and culture, to read widely, discuss issues in depth, and to hone your writing skills in a variety of ways. However, the two options are fundamentally different in that Heritage examines the broad sweep of history, encompassing the development of literature, art, philosophy and religion in panoramic view, while the topics courses each focus on a particular aspect of a time period, such as the development of religion, political and social mores, artistic themes, or of literary movements, within the context of the historical events of the time.
In a sense, Heritage may be seen as a vibrant tapestry depicting major themes and events in human history, while the Topics courses are smaller canvases on which specific events are painted in exquisite detail. The descriptions below and in the Core Curriculum section of the Millsaps website may help you decide which option suits you best.
Option 1—Heritage (Core 2—5)
Heritage of the West in World Perspective (IDS 1118-1128)
Heritage is a year-long, multi-disciplinary course extending from antiquity to the present. Team-taught by faculty from several departments, Heritage integrates major developments in Western culture while incorporating pivotal events and seminal ideas from other cultures. Comparisons with Eurasia, Africa and the Americas help to define the origin and nature of Western civilization while fostering an appreciation for cultural diversity and global interdependence.
The first semester of Heritage covers the same historical periods as the first two courses in the Topics sequence, while the second semester is equivalent to the sophomore Topics courses (Core 4 and 5). This course, for freshmen only, counts as a total of 16 semester hours (8 in the fall term and 8 in the spring) and fulfills the requirements for Core 2-5 and the fine arts requirement
Option 2—Topics Courses (Core 2—5)
Students choosing this option take only Core 2 and 3 in the first year and Core 4 and 5 in the second year. Topics courses should be chosen to include at least 3 of the 5 foci: history, religion, literature, philosophy, and fine arts. If the foci of the courses you choose do not include fine arts, you will also take a separate course in the fine arts to fulfill this requirement (see the section on fine arts, below).
Core 2—Topics of the Ancient World (fall of freshman year):
The first course in the topics sequence covers the ancient world, which for purposes of the Millsaps core extends from the beginning of recorded history to the fall of the Roman Empire, the birth of Mohammed, and the classical age in India. Multi-disciplinary topics courses do not attempt to survey an entire period, but rather to provide a window in the culture of an earlier time. In a course on the ancient world you may expect to learn about the rise of civilization, mythical world views, social hierarchies, and early forms of technology.
Core 3—Topics of the Pre-modern World (spring of freshman year):
The next course in this historical sequence centers on the premodern world. It encompasses the period commonly know in the West as the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In a premodern world course, you may expect to learn about institutionalization of group identity, expansion of mythical world views, and further developments of agricultural systems and social hierarchies. Since this period includes the Crusades and the beginnings of global exploration, there will be ample opportunity to observe the effects of contact with other cultures, including the Americas, India, China, and Japan, on the development of Western civilization.
Core 4—Topics of the Modern World (fall of sophomore year):
The modern period is characterized by the rise of science and the influence of thinkers such as Galileo, Newton, and Descartes, but it also includes writers, artists, inventors, statesmen, and religious leaders of various nationalities. Courses in the modern period introduce you to developments such as individualism, nationalism, industrialization, and colonialism. Because they are taught at the sophomore level, these courses present students with more complex thinking and writing assignments.
Core 5—Topics of the Contemporary World (spring of sophomore year)
The concluding course in this sequence takes you into the 21st century. It is the most difficult period to characterize because we are still living through it, but it is also one that particularly challenges us to look critically at ourselves. Topics of the contemporary world have included "Ritual Masks: Religious Meaning, Social Function," "Advertising and the Rise of Consumer Culture," and "French Film: The French (Out) Look." The cross-cultural dimension present in all of the courses in this sequence is particularly prominent in the contemporary period.
Core 6—Social and Behavioral Sciences (open to freshmen and above)
- Human Experience-Cross Culture – IDST 1610
- Psychology 1000
- Economics 2000 (for sophomores or higher)
- Intro to Human Services - HMSV 1600
- Political Science 1000
- Sociology/Anthropology 1000, 1100, 1110
Core 7—Natural Science with Lab
- Biology 1000, 1010, 1020
- Geology 1000
- Chemistry 1213 + 1211
- Physics 1003+1001, 1203 + 1201
- Biology 1710 / SOAN 1710 - Human Evolution (designed for non-science majors)
- IDST 1710 + 1720 - Natural and Human Disasters and How Things Work (designed for non-science majors) - 2 semesters (taking both semesters fulfills Core 7 and 9).
Core 8—Topics in Mathematics (open to freshmen and above)
If you are pursuing a bachelor of arts degree, any course in mathematics at Millsaps will suffice to meet this requirement. If you are planning to earn a bachelor of science degree, you must complete the mathematics sequence through Analytical Geometry and Calculus I. Those pursuing a bachelor of business administration degree may satisfy the mathematics requirement with College Algebra and Survey of Calculus. The mathematics faculty will make a recommendation as to your initial placement in the mathematics sequence based on your high school record and SAT or ACT scores.
Core 9—Topics in Mathematics, Natural Sciences or Computer Sciences (open to freshmen and above)
All courses approved as satisfying (but not used as) Core 7:
Computer Science 1000, 1010, 1020, and
any mathematics course numbered 1200 or above that has not been used to meet another Core requirement.
Fine Arts Requirement
The following courses offered this fall meet the fine arts requirement: Art 2200, 2210, 2230, 2240, 2250, 2500, 2560, 3350, 3450; Music 1000; Theatre 1010. Any IDS course with a fine arts focus or the two-semester Heritage sequence will also meet this requirement. In addition, completing four semester hours in Singers or a music ensemble, or significant participation in four Millsaps Players’ productions will satisfy the fine arts requirement.
Language Placement
If you have studied a foreign language in high school and plan to continue with it at Millsaps, placement examinations for French, German and Spanish will be given during new student orientation at the beginning of the fall semester. In the interim, you may register for classes in those languages based on the number of years of high school language classes you have taken, pending the results of the placement examinations. If you have studied Latin or Greek and wish to continue at Millsaps, please consult with Dr. Catherine Freis for placement. If you plan to study Hebrew, please consult with Dr. James Bowley before you register.
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