General Education Curriculum

Students entering Dominican University New York for the Fall 2024 semester or later are required to complete the Dominican Curriculum.  A Quick Guide to the curriculum is available as a PDF file. The curriculum requirements and the courses that fulfill them are listed below.

DC-1: Foundations of Inquiry (15 – 16 credits depending on English placement)

Component-1, Foundations of Inquiry, focuses on the development of skills and practice in understanding through reasoned study and discourse.

Students fulfill this requirement by succeeding in the five courses described below.

DC 111          Persuasive Speaking (3cr)

DC 119         Reading & Writing in the Academy with Lab Support (4cr)  [Fall course]
     or
DC 120          Reading & Writing in the Academy  (3cr)  [Fall course]

DC 125          Quantitative Reasoning (3cr)*

DC 130          Introductory Logic (3cr)

Through Cultural Lenses (students are required to complete one):

• • • DC 150: Through Cultural Lenses: Baseball
    • DC 155: Through Cultural Lenses: The Game of Chess
    • DC 160: Through Cultural Lenses: Dragons
    • DC 170: Through Cultural Lenses: Broadway
    • DC 180: Through Cultural Lenses: Hair
    • DC 190: Through Cultural Lenses: The City**

* Select majors (i.e., those requiring MA 221, MA 225, or SS 221) will substitute alternative course.
** DC 190 is for Honors Students only.

DC-2: Roots of Our Contemporary Society (12 credits total)

DC-2, Roots of Our Contemporary Society, builds on and further develops the skills at the heart of component-I, while directly addressing the second educational goal by engaging our heritage and intellectual history such that students are brought to reflectively understand their own identities, origins, heritage, and values in relation to our collective past.

Students fulfill this requirement by passing one course from each of the following thematic groups. At least two of those four courses must be writing focused (identified here by an asterisk). No duplication of disciplines.

Prerequisite for all DC-2 courses: Through Cultural Lenses.

Cosmos

‘Cosmos’ courses are based in the ancient time-period and look at the development of a coherent intellectual framework that allowed people to make sense of human existence and the context in which humans lived. While the temporal focus must be in the ‘ancient’ period, a course in this section must also draw explicit and extended connections between the time-period under study and the modern world, and preferably to other time-periods too.

Cosmos courses: DC 200-219 [typically Fall courses, sophomore year]

• • • DC 201: Human as Artist 
    • DC 203: Patterns in Nature
    • DC 210: Myth and Reason*
    • DC 212: Discovering Ancient Voices*
    • DC 214: Speaking of Jesus*

Institutions:

Institutions courses focus on the creation and development of an institution at the core of the Western tradition. While the temporal focus must be in the ‘medieval’ period, a course in this section must also draw explicit and extended connections between the time-period under study and the modern world, and preferably to other time-periods too.

Institutions courses: DC 220-239 [typically Spring courses, sophomore year]

• • • DC 221: Culture and Tradition
    • DC 224: Faith, Reason, and Knowledge in the Medieval World
    • DC 231: Married or Single? Medieval Women Speak Up*
    • DC 232: Walking on Two Feet*

Revolutions:

Revolutions courses focus on a major aspect of the changes that occurred from the American and French revolutions to the end of the nineteenth century that fundamentally altered important dimensions of European life and subsequently led to significant changes for essentially all human societies. While the temporal focus must be on the ‘revolutionary’ time-period itself, a course in this section must also draw explicit and extended connections between the time-period under study and the modern world, and preferably to other time-periods too.

Revolutions courses: DC 240-259 [typically Fall courses, sophomore year]

• • • DC 241: Industrial Revolutions
    • DC 242: Ferment of Revolutions
    • DC 251: Enlightenment and the Age of Revolutions*
    • DC 252: We the People*

Innovations:

To satisfy the ‘innovations’ designation, a course will focus on some aspect of the rise of new technologies, and the effects they have had on wars, the creation of the modern world of human affairs, how humans interrelate, or on the environment. The time-period that is the focus for this section is the first half of the twentieth century. While the temporal focus must be on the first half of the twentieth century, a course in this section must also draw explicit and extended connections between the time-period under study and the modern world, and preferably to other time-periods

Innovations courses: DC 260-279 [typically Spring courses, sophomore year]

• • • DC 261: Global Interactions
    • DC 262: International Relations
    • DC 263: Biotechnology
    • DC 271: Cinema, Story, and Society*
    • DC 274: Intercultural American Modernism: “Fascinating Rhythm”*

DC-3: Issues in Contemporary Life and Culture (12 additional credits)

DC-3 brings together much of what is required to prepare students to engage as civically minded, compassionate leaders, making a positive impact in the community informed by respect for the diversity and interdependence of its inhabitants.

Fulfillment of this requirement entails completing a group of four courses designed to serve as the core of a Dominican Curriculum minor. Each of these minors is in an interdisciplinary, value-laden area and explores a problem or issue in our contemporary world that is, by its very nature, multi-disciplinary and acknowledges the complex interdependence of diverse factors and stakeholders, rather than simplistic, linear cause and effect abstractions.

Students fulfill this requirement by passing completing one of the following Dominican Curriculum Minors:

Biorisks

Some of the most serious social concerns and risks of our time, including emerging (and re-emerging) infectious diseases, food and water security, the development of new biotechnologies, and environmental quality, are intrinsically biological. The Biorisks minor will explore how we might address these potential biological risks through an intervention or response, thereby taking responsibility for our collective future.

Requirements for the Biorisks minor:*

• • • DC 125: Quantitative Reasoning
      or
      DC 210: Myth and Reason
    • DC 263: Biotechnology
    • EV 221: Introduction to Environmental Science
    • DC 261: Global Interactions 
    • PH 337: Bioethics
    • DC 472: Experimental Design [Fall course, all other gen. ed. courses need to be completed prior to taking this course]

*While there are three courses in this minor that fulfill other DC requirements, NO MORE THAN TWO can be used to fill multiple requirements.

Ethnic and Racial Relations

This minor focuses on ethnic and racial relations, with an eye to how these large-scale group designations are fostered and manipulated, and how the divisions they entail can be overcome. These distinctions have resulted in slavery, genocide, and the systematic impoverishment and dehumanization of a great many human beings, and are clearly at the heart of numerous conflicts in the world today. For America specifically understanding prejudice and its effects is of enormous ethical and practical significance.

Requirements for the Ethnic and Racial Relations minor:

• • • SO 226: Social Problems 
    • Two of the following three:
      • Through Cultural Lenses (any one of: DC 150, 155, 160, 170, 180, or 190) 
      • SO 330: Ethnic Group Interaction
      • EN 444: The Search for Identity
    • PS 236: Social Psychology
    • PH 335: Identities and Inequalities 
    • DC 475: Ethnic and Racial Relations [Fall course, all other gen. ed. courses need to be completed prior to taking this course]

Gender, Justice, and Equity

The Gender, Justice, and Equity minor is designed to increase the students’ interdisciplinary knowledge about the gendered nature of women’s experiences and the ways that gender, sexuality and other identities shape and are shaped by history, culture, and society in  today’s challenging, diverse, and complex world. Understanding the issues facing gender, opportunities for advocacy, and ways to continue to strive to equality is essential in an educated society.  The Gender, Justice, and Equity minor captures a variety of social justice issues facing women and gender diverse individuals across the world. 

Requirements for the Gender, Justice, and Equity minor:

• • • DC 180: Through Cultural Lenses: Hair
    • DC 231: Married or Single? Medieval Women Speak Up
    • HU 225: Introduction to Gender Justice
    • PS 229: Psychology of Gender
    • SO 325: Global Perspectives on Gender
    • DC 476: Gender, Justice, and Equity [Fall course, all other gen. ed. courses need to be completed prior to taking this course]

Longtermism (this minor is restricted to students in the Honors Program)

The most urgent issues facing human communities today are issues that will only be resolved through the collaboration of people with different kinds of knowledge and experience. From the climate emergency to resource scarcity to the myriad problems created by the inter-connectedness of modern global culture, the world faces new challenges both large and small that will require new, diverse, and flexible modes of thinking and research. The Honors Minor seeks to produce thinkers that will take on the challenge that is the future – thinkers able to create just and sustainable solutions to dynamic global and local challenges…thinkers able to envision and help create a more equitable and livable future for everyone.

This is a self-constructed minor that serves as the core of the Honors Program.

Requirements for the Honors minor:*

• • • DC 190: Through Cultural Lenses: The City
    • DC 490: Honors Tutorial
    • DC 499: Become a Changemaker (Note: the title may change) [Fall course, all other gen. ed. courses need to be completed prior to taking this course]

*Some course numbers or titles are tentative and may change.

See Honors Committee Adviser for specific requirements and consultation.

All curricular and co-curricular activities at Dominican University New York are designed to reflect and support the University’s educational goals, embodied in the following statement.

Reflective of its mission and informed by its heritage, Dominican University New York has as its primary educational goals for every student:

Educate the Mind– acquire knowledge, skills, and understanding through reasoned study and discourse.
Develop the Self– reflectively understand one’s identity, origins, heritage, and values while igniting the spirit.
Serve the Community– engage as civically minded, compassionate leaders, making a positive impact in the community.
Inspire Change– promote a just, ethical, and sustainable world informed by respect for the diversity and interdependence of its inhabitants.

Dominican Curriculum Learning Objectives

The Dominican Curriculum was, therefore, designed to help students achieve those educational goals. Within that context, the Dominican Curriculum and the courses within it support students in their achievement of the curriculum’s learning objectives. 

At the completion of the Dominican Curriculum, Students will:

discover and utilize information through responsible use of appropriate technologies

Students who satisfy this objective demonstrate information literacy and technological competency through their ability to identify, critically evaluate, and responsibly use appropriate and reliable sources and search tools.

1. Information Literacy Skills

• • • Identify information needs
    • Identify appropriate and reliable sources, search tools
    • Evaluate sources critically
    • Use information ethically and legally

 2. Technological Competency Skills

• • • Perform basic computer operations and utilize pertinent software applications
    • Navigate learning management systems, download and upload files, and post participatory files or entries to class discussion boards and other applicable platforms
    • Utilize methods for securing and backing up data and accessing the internet

consider diverse perspectives, beliefs, and values in relation to their own cultural frameworks

Students who satisfy this objective demonstrate the ability to critically analyze their own perspectives, explore alternative perspectives, compare the varied perspectives, and grow in intellectual empathy by respecting and understanding other points of view through awareness of their own values and beliefs.

• • • Gather, assess, and compare information with an open and curious mind
    • Analyze critically and reflect to develop self – awareness
    • Conduct evidence-based research
    • Listen actively to diverse opinions
    • Support one’s own position with evidence and logical argumentation

analyze, synthesize, and evaluate ideas and information to formulate meaningful conclusions

Students who satisfy this objective demonstrate the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate ideas and information in at least three specific contexts: a) scientific and quantitative reasoning, b) critical reading, and c) critical reasoning and analysis.

• • • Dissect concepts or ideas into simpler parts
    • Compile component ideas into a new whole or propose alternative solutions
    • Formulate and defend judgments based on the evidence and relevant criteria

evaluate the ethical implications of their actions     

Students who satisfy this objective demonstrate that they have developed greater awareness of the ethical implications of their actions and those of others.

• • • Analyze critically various systems of ethics
    • Appraise the impact of their actions
    • Reflect on the ethical repercussions of various courses of action.

express and exchange ideas effectively through various modes of communication

Students who satisfy this objective demonstrate the ability to effectively express their ideas and opinions through, but not necessarily limited to, oral and written communication.

1. 1. 1. Oral Communication: convey thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively
      2. Written Communication: clearly and coherently express ideas in writing

 demonstrate social responsibility in service of the common good

Students who satisfy this objective express concern and demonstrate effort towards the social welfare of the local and global community.

• • • Exhibit knowledge of the interconnectedness between oneself, others, society at large.
    • Understand how personal decisions and actions can affect others and the environment.
    • Be accountable for one’s choices and actions.

Students entering Dominican University New York prior to Fall 2023 are required to complete the General Education Curriculum (GEC) requirements in place when they entered the University.

In the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters, courses serving both the previous GEC requirements and the new Dominican Curriculum requirements were offered. Starting Fall 2024, the former GEC courses no longer carry GEC designations (i.e., C, M, P, V, and G) on either the course schedule or students’ transcript and cannot be utilized to fulfill GEC requirements. Instead, courses have been identified as substitutes to be used to fulfill remaining GEC requirements.

Table of GEC requirements and the courses that can be used to fulfill those requirements starting August 2024.