The hallmark of a liberal education is that it entices a student to examine the tree of knowledge, to see both the distinction and interdependence of its branches. Through its program, the College of Arts and Sciences offers students the opportunity to examine areas of the humanities and sciences in depth, while exposing them to the breadth of the related disciplines.

The following core curriculum is the basis of the education of all students in the College of Arts and Sciences. This statement of the core curriculum begins with a discussion of the aims of a college education and proceeds to a listing of the various elements of the old and new core requirements.

For students who entered Seton Hall prior to Fall 2008 or as transfer students with 30 or more credits completed, the requirements of the “Old” A&S Core Curriculum, integrated into each student’s departmental major requirements and a number of free elective courses to a total of 130 credits, constitute the four-year framework of the education offered by the College of Arts and Sciences.
 
For incoming freshmen and transfer students with 29 or fewer credits entering Seton Hall in Fall 2008 and later, the requirements of the “New” A&S Core Curriculum, integrated into each student’s departmental major requirements and a number of free elective courses to a total of 120 credits, constitute the four-year framework of the education offered by the College of Arts and Sciences.

An effective core curriculum is based on a set of educational goals that set out the faculty’s understanding of the University’s mission as a Catholic institution of higher learning at this time in its history:

1. The University should develop in students a critical intelligence, which is primarily, but not exclusively, a matter of intellect. It includes the ability to wonder, inquire, discern, distinguish, judge and grasp issues, and see relationships.
2. The University should promote the capacity to live in context, in community. This is to have a sense of history and of roots, and to participate in the building of community during a time of change in an interdependent world that is, paradoxically, endangered by fragmentation.
3. The University should develop communication skills and personal growth in the ability to articulate ideas and to receive them critically. Students should be able to read, write, speak and listen effectively.
4. The University should promote an understanding of the methods of the sciences and the humanities and an ability to confront the gap between them, as well as an understanding of its historical and philosophical origins.
5. The University should develop an appreciation of beauty and human work as they contribute to making life more humanly productive and creative.
6. The University should assist in the development of a vision of human life and its meaning, and an understanding of the values and grounds of values that shape it.
7. The University should develop in students, in addition to this broad liberal education, a specific competence in a particular academic discipline or area of study.

For these purposes, the following core curriculum of requirements has been established for every student in the College of Arts and Sciences.

A course taken to fulfill one core requirement may not be used to fulfill another requirement.