“That's not to say that Merton isn't already present in our curriculum, but we are
looking at how we might do this in a more robust way university wide,” said Dr. Jon
Blandford, assistant provost. The artistic estate of the influential
Trappist monk is housed in Bellarmine’s Merton Center, and Merton is at the center
of the university’s Catholic identity. A diverse group of faculty from across the
university has been working for about a year on ways to infuse Merton and the university’s
values into the core curriculum in a more intentional way. With the new core curriculum
launch approaching, Blandford said, “it seemed like unusually good timing to put these
two ongoing projects together and apply for this capacity-building grant through the
Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest
University’s Program for Leadership and Character, which is funded by the Lilly Foundation.” The
grant will provide Bellarmine faculty and staff the resources over the next year to
develop Merton-infused coursework and new programming. Among other things, the Merton
and Mission Working Group plans to host eight teaching workshops in 2024-25;
create three new undergraduate courses and/or upper-level seminars; and revise six
existing courses and/or seminars. Character at Bellarmine is based upon educating
the whole person to realize their highest potential as part of an interconnected world,
Blandford said. “We're fortunate to have Merton as a North Star here.” Merton was
in many ways ahead of
his time, writing about race, about differences, and about the interconnectedness
of all our lives. The new core curriculum was designed by faculty across all schools
and departments, with input from staff in the Center for Community Engagement and
the Student Success Center. “We have refreshed our core curriculum to make it more
relevant to 21st century students, building on our liberal arts foundation and incorporating
skills-based and competency-based education,” Blandford said.
The new core curriculum:
- increases the university’s emphasis on experiential learning and community engagement;
- highlights the eight dimensions of wellness (emotional, intellectual, occupational, financial, physical, environmental, social and spiritual);
- updates some foundational courses to make them more relevant to today’s learners. History of Western Civilization, for example, has become Global History, reflecting what graduates need to know in order to succeed in an increasingly interconnected world.