Interdisciplinary Programs of Study

The University offers a variety of programs of study that are informed by more than one disciplinary field. They include the Honors Program and minors in Community Service-Learning (CSL); Core Texts and Enduring Questions (CTEQ); Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS), Law, Ethics, and Constitutional Studies (LEX); Racial and Ethnic Studies (RES) and Women’s Studies (WMS).

Pre-Law Program 

To prepare students interested in law school to meet the many intellectual and ethical challenges of the legal profession, the Pre- Law Program combines Assumption University’s commitment to a strong liberal education with the personalized advising, co-curricular activities, and development opportunities necessary for success in law school and careers in law. In keeping with guidance from the American Bar Association and law school admissions staff, Assumption’s Pre-Law Program does not require a specific slate of courses. Instead, dedicated advisors help students from all majors identify law schools and areas within the law that best fit their interests and skills. They also help students tailor their academic programs, extracurricular activities, and community service opportunities in the way that best prepares them for law school and a career in the law. This approach provides students the freedom to choose a course of study that best suits them. Reflecting Assumption University’s commitment to the liberal arts and forming well-rounded individuals, the best preparation for law school is a field of study about which students are genuinely enthusiastic and in which they can excel.

In addition to academic advising, Pre-Law advisors hold informational meetings for students, arrange meetings with Assumption University alumni who are in law school or in the legal profession, help identify legal internships, and organize professional development opportunities. They also aid students in identifying opportunities for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) preparation, while guiding them through the law school application process.

Assumption University’s Pre-Law Program emphasizes cultivating relationships among students, faculty, staff, and alumni interested in careers in law. Pre-Law students and the Pre-Law advisors form a community for sharing advice, mentoring, and networking to aid students in achieving their goals for studying law and pursuing a career in law. This student-centered approach distinguishes Assumption’s Pre-Law Program from programs offered at most colleges and universities. For more information contact one of the Pre-Law advisors, Prof. Carl Robert Keyes, ckeyes@assumption.edu, or Prof. Michael Matraia, mt.matraia@assumption.edu 

Programs of Study

Courses

CLT/ENG/HIS/PSY/SOC/WMS 285: WOMEN’S STUDIES I: IMAGES OF WOMEN IN AMERICA

Credits 3
This team-taught course is an introduction to the study of women. The course develops a coherent, integrated view of women and their roles; emphasizes the full range of contributions of and the limited opportunities for women; examines and appraises the experiences of women; and critically examines the thinking about women at various times and from various perspectives. The basic approach is interdisciplinary and the concentration of the course is on women in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present. This course satisfies either one Social Science requirement or the second literature requirement in both Cores. In addition, the course can serve as an elective in the major or minor programs in Psychology, Sociology, or History. In Modern and Classical Languages, CLT 285 may count for the one course that French or Spanish majors may take from the Modern and Classical Languages offerings in English.

CLT/ENG/HIS/PSY/WMS 385: WOMEN OF THE WORLD

Credits 3
This team-taught course helps students learn about the character and quality of women’s lives across cultures in the contemporary period and to study the consequences of globalization by examining it through the prism of gender. Accounts of women’s lives in regions outside the United States are presented along with readings that provide the historical, social, political, and economic background needed to fully understand these lives. In this course we encounter the powerful and the powerless; the rich and the poor; the courageous and the meek; and in learning their stories we also learn something about the world they inhabit and that we inhabit along with them. In experiencing this world of women, we learn about the human struggles that unite and divide people across cultures in the modern world. This course qualifies as an elective in the major and minor programs in Anthropology, History, Psychology, or Sociology. It also can be chosen to fulfill the Cultural Perspectives requirement in the Health and Human Services major. This course satisfies the Global Awareness Core requirement, and, if taken as Comparative Literature or English, fulfills the second literature requirement in the Great Conversation part of the Core.

GLS 112: PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN RELIEF

Credits 1
This course challenges students to develop critical judgment about complex global justice issues like migration and climate change. Students will take advantage of the expertise and resources of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) as they learn more generally about a challenging social problem, and then consider how Catholic social teaching can help individuals and organizations formulate and implement potential solutions. Course content will be drawn from the annual CRS Faculty Learning Commons core theme and associated resources and will require students to gain a deep understanding of that year’s theme and the relevant humanitarian efforts of CRS. Students will work together on a major public advocacy project to education the campus and/or local community about the global issue and the work of Catholic Relief Services.

HON 299: HONORS ROUNDTABLE

Credits 1
Dedicated to the spirit of open inquiry and civil disagreement, this one-credit course consists entirely of student-led conversations about important texts centered around a topic. Texts are chosen by the professor, who acts as a moderator. Learning objectives include fostering (1) openness to ideas and love of the intellectual life and (2) oral communication skills as virtues of citizenship. In their discussions, students should seek to demonstrate a spirit of open inquiry, thoughtful reading, careful listening, a high tolerance for divergent positions, attentiveness to reasons behind positions, and habits of civil disagreement. Grades will be based entirely on the quality of student discussion and on a final project or event during the exam period.

HON 300: HONORS WORKSHOP

Credits 3
The Honors Workshop helps students identify a faculty mentor and propose a project for their Honors Capstone thesis (HON444). Each student will prepare a substantial description of the project, an annotated bibliography of relevant sources, and a plan with a timeline for completion of the project. As a workshop, this course requires substantial peer review in which students help each other develop and refine their proposals. During the final weeks of the semester, students will present and defend their proposals to an audience of their peers and faculty mentors.

HON 444: HONORS CAPSTONE

Credits 3
In the Honors Capstone, each student will produce an independent research thesis or creative project under the supervision of a faculty mentor. (The project is proposed and approved during HON300 Honors Seminar.) Students will meet on a weekly basis with their faculty mentor for advice and guidance, but primarily will work independently on the project throughout the semester. A summary and defense of the capstone work will be organized by the faculty mentor and completed by the end of the spring semester.

IDS 425: SEMINAR IN SERVICE-LEARNING

Credits 3
Thee capstone course for CSL minors, IDS 425, an independent study course, combines interdisciplinary readings, critical thinking and analysis, and community service. Students are encouraged to explore the connections between text and experience, between ideas and lived events. Students are engaged in 45 hours of community service throughout the semester. They pursue a research project of their choice. The culmination of the seminar is a research paper and a formal presentation.

WMS/SOC/CRM/HUS 215: INTRODUCTION TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Credits 3
This course will examine the problem of Gender-Based Violence from a theoretical, historical, sociopolitical, sociological, and psychological framework. We will delve into intimate partner violence, sexual assault and rape, stalking and other forms of gender-based violence. We will consider how GBV is experienced differently based on persons’ experiences of discrimination and systemic oppression. We will consider whether and how survivors access support infrastructure and how social institutions may present barriers in help seeking.