Core Curriculum
Messina College students will complete core course requirements that are aligned with Boston College’s distinctive Core Curriculum. Students are provided with a broad liberal arts foundation that prepares them well for their future endeavors.
Throughout their two years, students will take courses in the following disciplines:
- Arts
- Cultural Diversity
- History
- Literature
- Mathematics
- Natural Science
- Philosophy
- Social Sciences
- Theology
- Writing
There is no language proficiency requirement.
Core Course Offerings
| Core Area | Example Course Offering(s) | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| English (Writing) | First-Year Writing Seminar: Crossing Borders (with corequisite lab) | 4 |
| English (Literature) | Crossing Borders—Reading, Thinking, Writing or other Literature Core course options | 3 |
| Mathematics | Principles of Statistics for Life and Social Science (with corequisite lab) | 4 |
| Natural Science 1 | General Biology | 3 |
| Natural Science 2 | Ecology & Sustainability of Our Living Planet; Microbiology; Anatomy & Physiology I; Life Science Chemistry (all with lab component) | 4 |
| Social Science 1 & Cultural Diversity | Examining Self, Community, and Society or other Social Science Core course options | 3 |
| Social Science 2 | Principles of Economics; Family, School, Society; Nursing Assessment of Health across the Lifespan | 3 |
| Philosophy | Philosophy of the Person | 3 |
| Theology | God, Self, and Social Responsibility (with service-learning component) | 3 |
| History | Globalization I: Power, Culture, and Identity; Modern History II | 3 |
| Fine Arts | Drawing I; Introduction to Theater | 3 |
| 36 (total credits) |
Students completing the Boston College Core Curriculum will:
- Demonstrate the critical, mathematical, informational, analytic, expressive, and creative skills that are essential tools of the educated person well-prepared for a meaningful life and vocation.
- Understand the major ideas and methods of inquiry of the scholarly disciplines that comprise the university and be able to use those methods of inquiry as beginning practitioners to address complex contemporary problems.
- Be able to identify and articulate the strengths and limitations of the disciplines and the relationship of the disciplines to one another, and demonstrate an understanding of the breadth and diversity of human knowledge as well as its openness to integration in more comprehensive wholes.
- Be conversant with and able to discuss intelligently enduring questions and issues that are fundamental to human inquiry and that have shaped the traditions from which the university has emerged.
- Demonstrate the ability to apply more than one disciplinary perspective to the same enduring question or complex contemporary problem.
- Be familiar with the scholarly exploration of religious faith and understand how faith and reason are related in the search for truth.
- Demonstrate the ability to examine their values and experiences and integrate what they learn with the principles that guide their lives.
- Be prepared and disposed to use their talents and education as engaged global citizens and responsible leaders in service of the common good.