Marquette Core Curriculum

The Marquette Core Curriculum (MCC) is the center of every Marquette University undergraduate student's educational experience, providing a distinctive approach that is:

1. Grounded in the Jesuit Tradition. The specific courses included in the Marquette Core Curriculum are shaped by the more than 400-year-old tradition of Jesuit education, which has always emphasized the disciplines students need not just to succeed in a career but also to thrive as a human being. From Foundations courses in Rhetoric, Philosophy and Theology to courses across the humanities, social sciences and natural science and math as well as courses exploring social systems and values, the MCC embodies the Jesuit commitment to a firmly grounded education that prepares its graduates to make a difference in the world.
2. Oriented to Integration. Unlike a typical general education program, which might simply require a distribution of introductory classes from a variety of disciplines, the Marquette Core Curriculum extends across all four years of a student's undergraduate experience and invites connections between classes in the MCC and with classes in a student's major. With Discovery classes united by a common theme and a Culminating Experience course taken during junior or senior year, the MCC encourages students to view their studies as a unified whole that serves a larger purpose.
3. Essential for Transformation. By using resources from the Jesuit tradition and highlighting the connections between courses, the Marquette Core Curriculum plays a pivotal role in the transformative education that makes Marquette distinctive. Specifically, the MCC provides the time and tools for students to evaluate not just what they want to do when they graduate but who they want to become.

Marquette Core Curriculum Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes of the Core are rooted in Jesuit perspective and values and focus on creating students who communicate responsibly and ethically, engage the world as moral actors and citizens with purpose, collaborate with diverse others using a broad disciplinary focus, and become leaders in discovery to solve global problems.

Responsible and Ethical Communicators

Marquette students will be able to responsibly and ethically use written, spoken and visual communication to express ideas, create meaning, build relationships, foster understanding and advocate for a better tomorrow.

Moral and Ethical Actors

Marquette students will be able to articulate appropriate professional and personal judgments that are rooted in an ethical and moral foundation and informed by Catholic, Jesuit thought. They will use these foundations to make decisions that promote stronger communities and a just society.

Citizens with Purpose

Marquette students will develop a sense of purpose professionally, personally and as global citizens who demonstrate critically reflective discernment processes that are rooted in their theological, intellectual and personal commitments.

Collaborators Promoting Equity and Justice Across Cultural Contexts

Marquette students will develop skills to understand how power, positionality and privilege shape their own lives and those of others, locally and globally. They will be able to describe how racism, colonialism, classism, sexism, other forms of prejudice and other oppressive forces have impacted and continue to impact the well-being of marginalized groups and to identify historical and structural barriers to equity and inclusiveness. They will also be able to recognize the innate human dignity shared across diverse groups and to apply skills learned in class to work within and across cultures to promote justice and equity.

Leaders in Discovery

Marquette students will advance understanding of the world by identifying significant questions and then searching for answers based on a systematic process of discovery that is rooted in intellectual inquiry and the Jesuit liberal arts tradition.

Global Problem Solvers

Marquette students will be well practiced in cooperative and cross-disciplinary problem-solving skills and they will be able to present innovative solutions that draw from theological, philosophical, qualitative and quantitative perspectives to address the increasingly blurred lines between local and global challenges.

Structure of the Marquette Core Curriculum

The Marquette Core Curriculum includes three tiers: Foundations, Discovery and Culminating.

1. Foundations courses help students build a combined intellectual and practical base for subsequent learning both within the Core and throughout their undergraduate studies at Marquette. Foundations courses invite students to consider, from multiple angles, the wholeness and diversity of knowledge and its relevance to making change in the world. More specifically, they aim to engage students in contemplating, analyzing and communicating with others about concrete situations in multidisciplinary ways, drawing in particular on theology, philosophy and rhetoric. It is essential to help students to engage globally with people who are fundamentally different from themselves. As such, the Foundations tier includes an Engaging Social Systems and Values requirement. The goal of this Core requirement is to prepare students to encounter different social systems and engage with other systems of value. This requirement allows students to experience difference and lead them to work for greater equality and inclusivity. An important element of this part of the Core involves students reflecting upon and developing their capacity for engagement with others.
2. Discovery courses provide an opportunity for students to apply foundational learning and more deeply engage in interdisciplinary learning. Students choose one theme that best connects to their personal and professional goals for their Discovery requirements. Students take four courses from within their selected theme. Students take one course from each of three content areas of Humanities, Natural Science and Mathematics and Social Science, as well as one additional course (elective) from any of the three content areas. This tier allows students to discover the ways in which multiple disciplines approach a particular question, challenge or problem. Beyond the Foundations tier, students then have an opportunity to build upon their knowledge of foundational writing and ESSV concepts and sharpen their skills with more sophistication and in a second, highly experiential, ESSV designated requirement and a writing intensive-designated requirement. The second-level ESSV and writing requirements can be designated courses within or outside of the Core.
3. The Culminating course further integrates the Marquette Core experience, emphasizing reflection on and application of knowledge and skills developed in the Core. A special focus on vocation and discernment invites students to evaluate their course work at Marquette alongside their own worldview and transcendent commitments, in order to identify ways in which they are uniquely equipped to work for justice in the world. A collaborative, interdisciplinary analysis of a lasting problem in the local or global community presents a test-case for this integration of academic experience and personal faith for the promotion of justice. The course provides both a culminating Core experience and the foundation for an analogical application to students’ lives and work after Marquette.

Marquette Core Curriculum (MCC) - 30 Credits

Foundation Tier - 15 Credits

Engaging Social Systems and Values 1 (ESSV 1) Course Options

Some faculty-led study abroad courses have also been approved for ESSV1, consult the MCC website for a complete list.

Honors (H) designation of same course number also fulfills MCC requirement.

Discovery Tier - 12 Credits

Students must complete four Discovery Tier courses, all from the same Discovery Theme. These four courses must include one course from each of the three content areas (Humanities, Natural Science and Mathematics, and Social Science), and one elective (an additional course from any of the three content areas). A maximum of two courses in the Discovery Tier can be applied toward a primary major. Additional dual counting may be allowed towards college-level requirements.

Students declare their Discovery Theme using the Discovery Tier Declaration Form in CheckMarq.

For students who participate in a full-time (12 credits or more) Marquette-approved study abroad program, one study abroad course (minimum 2.5 transfer credits awarded) may fulfill the elective requirement of the Discovery Tier. Any additional MCC requirements may be fulfilled only when the approved transfer equivalent is an exact match to a specific MCC course.

Discovery Themes

The five discovery theme options are listed below. See additional information and course listings.

• Basic Needs and Justice
• Cognition, Memory and Intelligence
• Crossing Boundaries: The Movement of People, Goods and Ideas
• Expanding Our Horizons
• Individuals and Communities

Culminating Course - 3 Credits

ENGAGING SOCIAL SYSTEMS AND VALUES 2 (ESSV2) - ONE COURSE or Experience Required

Students must complete a course or approved experience that is designated "ESSV2." This requirement can be completed via one of the four Discovery Tier courses or through other degree requirements.

Some faculty-led study abroad courses have also been approved for ESSV2, consult the MCC website for a complete list.

Honors (H) designation of same course number also fulfills MCC requirement.

WRITING INTENSIVE COURSES (WRIT) - ONE COURSE REQUIRED

Students must complete a course that is designated "WRIT." This requirement can be completed via one of their four Discovery Tier courses or through other degree requirements.

Some faculty-led study abroad courses have also been approved, consult the MCC website for a complete list.

Honors (H) designation of same course number also fulfills MCC requirements.

With PHTH 7974 Clinical Education Experience 1

With PHTH 7505 Patient/Client Management 3

Grade Minimums & Additional Information

• A grade of C or better is required in Honors MCC courses. A passing grade is required in non-Honors MCC courses.
• Review the Marquette Core Curriculum section of the bulletin for additional information, including transfer student requirements and Discovery Theme details.

Students must complete four Discovery Tier courses, all from the same Discovery Theme. These four courses must include one course from each of the three content areas (Humanities, Natural Science and Mathematics, and Social Science), and one elective (an additional course from any of the three content areas). A maximum of two courses in the Discovery Tier can be applied toward a primary major.

Students declare their Discovery Theme using the Discovery Tier Declaration Form in CheckMarq.

For students who participate in a full-time (12 credits or more) Marquette-approved study abroad program, one study abroad course (minimum 2.5 transfer credits awarded) may fulfill the elective requirement of the Discovery Tier. Any additional MCC requirements may be fulfilled only when the approved transfer equivalent is an exact match to a specific MCC course.

Basic Needs and Justice

This theme explores the interrelationship between basic needs and justice. If something is so essential to human life that no human being can survive without it, then access to this basic need would seem to be a matter of justice. Yet the identification of basic needs is not necessarily straightforward. Food, water, clothing and shelter are all essential for survival, but how much of each constitutes a basic need, and how much is a matter of luxury? In what ways have these thresholds been culturally conditioned? Are higher order concerns like health care, education, social connection and freedom from the threat of violence fairly defined as basic needs as well?

This theme encourages a fuller study of the nature of the human person and the notion of a fully human life in order to answer these and related questions. At the same time, because the distribution of basic needs is a matter of justice, this theme also invites students to examine how different descriptions of basic needs have influenced the definition of justice and vice versa.

At what point does the lack of access to one’s basic needs become an injustice? How should one react to the unjust distribution of basic needs? Can violence be used in the pursuit of justice or are nonviolent means the only option? Who bears the responsibility for ensuring a just distribution? Who (or what) is to blame for an unjust distribution? With a clearer picture of the basic needs that make up a human life and the norms of justice that regulate access to them, students will be prepared to identify and address injustices in the world around them.