Faculty FAQs
A core curriculum describes the required courses that make up the general education portion of an academic degree. All Baylor University degrees require students to complete at least 124 hours of coursework which is divided into:
- General education courses (the core curriculum)
- Courses required for a given major or majors,
- Elective courses
- The Bachelor of Arts (BS) degree is typically pursued by students majoring in humanities and by some students majoring in the fine arts, social sciences, and sciences.
- The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree is typically pursued by students majoring in art, film and digital media, music, and theatre arts.
- The Bachelor of Science (BS) degree is typically pursued by students majoring in the sciences and by some of the social sciences.
- The Bachelor of Science in Aviation Sciences (BSAS) degree is pursued by students majoring in aviation.
These degrees are granted by Baylor University and certified by the College of Arts & Sciences. More than half of all Baylor undergraduates are now pursuing one of these four degrees.
"Unified" refers to the fact that in the Arts & Sciences core curriculum, all four degrees have the same required core.
ProFuturis, Baylor University's strategic vision launched in May 2012, including a call to "strengthen the undergraduate core curriculum and deepen our excellence in the liberal arts." Therefore, the College began a process of reviewing the Arts & Sciences core curriculum, which had not been reviewed or updated for many decades.
- The College of Arts & Sciences core curriculum review was a multi-staged process that began in 2012.
- During Phase One (2012-2015), after extensive study and deliberation, the faculty affirmed the University's call to improve the core.
- During Phase Two (2015-2016), an Arts & Sciences faculty task force wrote a vision document determining what the core should achieve. That vision document was approved unanimously by the Council of Chairs, the Arts & Sciences governing body made up of the chairs of all 25 academic departments in the College.
- During Phase Three (2016-2017), a faculty task force proposed the size and content of the new core curriculum based on the approved vision. Following input from faculty across Arts & Sciences, this proposal was also approved by the Council of Chairs.
- During Phase Four (2018-2019), following provisory approval from the Provost's Office that was granted in January 2018, departments wrote and submitted for review course proposals to the College of Arts & Sciences' faculty committees. On Oct. 10, 2018, the Provost approved courses to populate the unified core courses for the 2019/2020 academic year.
The unified core curriculum launched in fall 2019.
Yes, for students pursuing BA, BFA, BS, and BSAS degrees, beginning with the class of 2019-20.
First, instead of different requirements for each of the four degrees (BA, BFA, BS and BSAS), in the unified version all four degrees have the same requirements. Whether students are majoring in biology, art, religion or sociology, they have one set of core requirements. These requirements, considered foundational for any Baylor degree, assist students in becoming informed and productive citizens of a democracy and servant leaders of faith communities without regard to their major specialization or vocational interests and aptitudes.
Second, the credit hours required in the unified core provide students with much more flexibility in course selection, and in their overall degree plan. For example, the pre-2019 core curriculum requirements for the BA and BS degrees called for between 65 to 79 hours of coursework -- comprising one of the largest core requirements in the United States. By contrast, the new unified core requires 49 hours -- meaning that students have 16 to 30 more hours available to take additional electives, or to successfully complete more second majors, minors and certificates.
Third, there are more common courses in the unified core. Just what are common courses? While some requirements of the core curriculum can be satisfied through student selection, common courses are ones that all Arts & Sciences graduates must take, such as Chapel, the U.S. Constitution and Christian Scriptures. The unified core includes seven of these common courses, instead of the five required in the pre-2019 core. These additional courses allow students to have more vocabularies, texts and experiences in common with their classmates.
Fourth, the unified core calls for multidisciplinary courses and upper-level courses. Few such courses were available in the pre-2019 cores. Multidisciplinary courses examine common challenges or areas of interest that require input from various academic disciplines to solve or understand more completely.
- Creative thinking: A creative thinking component is now required, consisting of one common course and one elective (from a fine arts list).
- Formal reasoning: The formal reasoning requirement in the unified core includes one course from either mathematics, statistics or logic. While many students may choose a mathematics course, it is no longer a required course.
- Foreign language: The foreign language requirement in the unified core is nine hours, in contrast to the pre-2019 requirement of six to 14 hours (depending on the degree). Note: there are no longer four-hour foreign language courses in the core curriculum. See the Undergraduate Catalog for details.
- Writing: The research writing requirement in the unified core is one course, compared to the two courses that were required. ENG 1302, which many students would place out of with dual or transfer credit, is no longer required. And students have multiple choices in the type of research writing course they wish to take to fulfill the research writing requirement.
- Communication: While most pre-2019 Arts & Sciences degrees did not require a course in communication, the unified core requires one three-hour course be completed in the all-important area of media literacy.
- History: One common three-hour course in history is required; students previously had to take zero to six hours of history.
- Science: Two science courses are required in the unified core; pre-2019 students were required to take either two or three science classes.
- Social science: The social science requirement in the unified core is one course, while pre-2019 requirements in social science varied.
There are 15 hours of common courses (specific courses that all Arts & Sciences students must take):
- Chapel (zero credit hours)
- Creative Arts Experience (zero credit hours)
- American Literary Cultures (3 hours)
- The United States in Global Perspective (3 hours)
- The U.S. Constitution, Its Interpretation, and the American Political Experience (3 hours)
- Christian Scriptures (3 hours)
- Christian Heritage (3 hours)
There are 34 hours of distribution list courses (varied courses that can be chosen to satisfy the requirements of a specific topic area):
- Communication and Media Literacy (3 hours)
- Contemporary Social Issues (3 hours)
- Fine Arts (3 hours)
- Foreign Language and Culture (9 hours)
- Formal Reasoning (3 hours)
- Literature in Context (3 hours)
- Research Writing (3 hours)
- Scientific Method I (4 hours)
- Scientific Method II (3 hours)
No. It is against Arts & Sciences policy to do so.
Yes.
No, except for the 2019-2020 school year.
Visit the Core Course Submission page for more information about adding an entirely new course, adding an existing course with catalog changes, adding an existing course with no catalog change, adding a non-A&S course, and removing a Core course:
If you would like to propose an in-person, synchronous online, or asynchronous online event for consideration as a CAE event, please visit the CAE website. Alternatively, you may propose an event by contacting a member of the 2021-2022 CAE Standing Committee: Chair & Art, Jennings Sheffield (ART) | Film, David Garcia (FDM) | Literature, Maura Jortner (ENG) | Music, Michael Alexander (SOM) | Theatre, Sam Henderson (THEA) | World Cultures, Jennifer Good (MLC) | ex officio, Kaity Briscoe | ex officio, Danielle Williams