Course Listing for Sophia Program | Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN

A New Way of Integrating Your Entire Education

Sophia

All students complete the Sophia Program in Liberal Learning over their four years of study at Saint Mary’s College. Sophia is a vision of a liberal arts education that is uniquely Saint Mary’s. The program calls upon each student to understand the purpose of a liberal arts education and how it prepares her to make a difference in the world.

The Sophia Program has the following three foundational learning outcomes:

  • Knowledge Acquisition and Integration of Learning
  • Cognitive and Communicative Skills
  •  Engagement through Intercultural Competence, Social Responsibility, and Global Learning

These learning outcomes cultivate both the mind and the heart, ensuring that a Saint Mary’s education includes the hallmark of a Holy Cross education. Thus, the Sophia Program provides knowledge and skills for the twenty-first century, underscoring the importance of women’s voices as well as the social responsibility and intercultural competence befitting global citizens and shaped by the distinctive tradition of the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

What makes the Sophia Program distinctive?

The Program seeks to make learning intentional and integrated. It does this by transferring focus away from particular courses in a variety of disciplines that you must study to instead focus on the learning outcomes, or knowledge, skills, and abilities you should expect to gain from your general education experiences.

Knowledge Acquisition and Integration of Learning (LO1)

Culture and Systems

Traditions and Worldviews

Science for the Citizen

Arts for Living

Cognitive and Communicative Skills (LO2)

Engagement through Intercultural Competence, Social Responsibility, and Global Learning (LO3)

  • Intercultural Competence (IC)
  • Social Responsibility (SR)
  • Global Learning (GL)
  • Academic Experiential Learning (AEL)

LO1 courses may be used to satisfy LO2 and LO3 requirements.

Introductory-level Course Offerings

The following introductory-level courses are offered during fall semester 2022 and fulfill Sophia Program requirements:

Knowledge Acquisition and Integration of Learning (LO1)

Cultures and Systems

Literature

(one course)

Courses that meet the Literature learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
4
4
4
4
4
3
3
3

History 

(one course)

Courses that meet the History learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
4

Modern Languages

(two courses of the same language at a level appropriate to the student’s previous experience with that language)

Courses that meet the Modern Languages learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4

Traditions and Worldviews

Philosophical Worldviews

(one course)

Courses that meet the Philosophical Worldviews learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3.5
3
3

Religious Traditions I

(one course)

Courses that meet the Religious Traditions I learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
4

Religious Traditions II

(one course, not normally taken in first year)

Historical Perspectives

(one course)

Courses that meet the Historical Perspectives learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
3
4
3
3
4
3
3.5

Science for the Citizen

Natural Science

(two courses, at least one of which must be a laboratory course)

Courses that meet the Natural Science learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

4
2
2
4
3
4

Social Science I  

(one course)

Courses that meet the Social Science I learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
3
4
3
3
3

Social Science II

(one course)

Courses that meet the Social Science II learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
3
3
3

Arts for Living

Creative and Performing Arts

(Single courses satisfying this requirement must be 3 credits. Multiple courses that fulfill the appropriate learning outcomes may be used to satisfy this requirement as long as they add up to at least 3 credits and come from the same discipline.)

Courses that meet the Creative and Performing Arts learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
3.5
3
3
3
3
3.5
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
4
1 or 2
3
3
1
1
1
3

 Professional Arts 

(one course)

Courses that meet the Professional Arts learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
3
3

Mathematical Arts

(one course)

Courses that meet the Mathematical Arts learning outcomes:

Course List

Code
Title
Credits

3
3
4
4
4

LO2: Cognitive and Communicative Skills

Critical Thinking Seminar

(one course) Most students fulfill this requirement during the fall semester of their first year. If a CTS does not fit into a student’s fall semester, there are additional CTS courses offered in the spring semester.

Critical Thinking Seminars are spread throughout the curriculum so that students can select from a wide range of different disciplines and knowledge.

Courses that meet the Critical Thinking Seminar requirement:

(The courses listed below also fulfill an LO1 requirement.)

Writing Proficiency

(one course) Students generally fulfill this requirement during the fall or spring of their first year.

Many students find it helpful to take a W course in field that engages them; they discover they enjoy writing, and make more progress, when the course topic is one they especially want to explore. All W courses fulfill a Sophia Program requirement and provide the opportunity to earn the Basic W.

Courses that meet the Writing Proficiency requirement:

(The courses listed below also fulfill an LO1 requirement.)

Course List Code Title Credits 3.5 4 3.5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3.5 3.5 4