The Franciscan Core Curriculum is an endeavor on the part of the faculty of the University of Saint Francis to incorporate the Franciscan values into the General Education curriculum and to integrate the liberal arts tradition within the academic majors.

This framework creates the opportunity for students to discover the connections between the Core Curriculum outcomes and the lives we hope they lead both professionally and personally.

Franciscan Core Curriculum Vision Statement

The Franciscan Core Curriculum promotes learning, leadership and service to prepare students for lives of integrity.

Graduates of the University of Saint Francis embody the Franciscan Values in their personal and professional lives, lead with expertise and responsibility, reason with evidence and clarity, serve with compassion, and advocate with empathy.

Franciscan Core Curriculum Outcomes

• Apply the Franciscan values to reflect on one’s vocation and serve the community.
• Apply scientific or mathematical reasoning to analyze problems and make knowledgeable decisions.
• Demonstrate effective writing and speaking to communicate to diverse audiences.
• Demonstrate leadership and collaboration to build community.
• Develop digital and information literacy to make informed decisions.
• Employ the philosophical tradition to analyze assumptions about reality.
• Examine historical or social context to understand human behavior.
• Examine the richness of Catholic-Christianity, the life of St. Francis, and the Franciscan movement in dialogue with one’s own life.
• Examine the theological tradition and its contribution to the pursuit of truth across time and cultures.
• Interpret literature or creative arts to understand the human experience.

The first-year seminar or Engage is an introduction to college level study and service, collaboration and leadership. The capstone is a place of integration where the knowledge, skills and values gained in the Franciscan Core Curriculum and the student’s particular major are brought to bear in an original project.

Students will take courses from specific academic disciplines to meet each of the Franciscan Core Outcomes.

First-Year Seminar-Engage and Foundations Course (Cornerstone)

• Apply the Franciscan values to reflect on one’s vocation and serve the community.
• Demonstrate leadership and collaboration to build community.

Science or a Math Course

• Apply scientific or mathematical reasoning to analyze problems and make knowledgeable decisions.

Composition and Rhetoric Course

• Demonstrate effective writing and speaking to communicate to diverse audiences.

Fundamentals of Public Communication Course

• Demonstrate effective writing and speaking to communicate to diverse audiences.
• Demonstrate leadership and collaboration to build community.

Rhetoric and Research Course

• Demonstrate effective writing and speaking to communicate to diverse audiences.
• Develop digital and information literacy to make informed decisions.

Philosophy Course

• Employ the philosophical tradition to analyze assumptions about reality.

History or a Behavioral Science Course

• Examine historical or social context to understand human behavior.

Franciscan Tradition Course

• Apply the Franciscan values to reflect on one’s vocation and serve the community.
• Examine the richness of Catholic-Christianity, the life of St. Francis, and the Franciscan movement in dialogue with one’s own life.

Care for Creation or a Social Justice Course

• Apply the Franciscan values to reflect on one’s vocation and serve the community.

Theology Course

• Examine the theological tradition and its contribution to the pursuit of truth across time and cultures.

Creative Art or a Literature Course

• Interpret literature or creative arts to understand the human experience.

Major Specific Capstone Course

• Apply the Franciscan values to reflect on one’s vocation and serve the community.
• Demonstrate effective writing and speaking to communicate to diverse audiences.
• Develop digital and information literacy to make informed decisions.