University Core Curriculum

Overview
Pace University offers an innovative, cutting-edge Core Curriculum central to all undergraduate degrees at Pace University. Core courses, regardless of a student’s major, address fundamental problems and issues in the Arts and Sciences. These courses consider diverse perspectives and approaches, and ensure that Pace graduates achieve competency in a variety of skills that are sought by employers and are needed for graduate level work.

Core courses are enriching intellectually and personally, and will prepare students to become lifelong learners, better able to respond to the inevitable changes and challenges of their professional and personal lives. Students will develop abilities that are essential to success in college study and in careers through the 12 learning outcomes of the Core Curriculum:

  • Communication
  • Analysis
  • Intellectual depth, breadth, integration and application
  • Effective citizenship
  • Social Interaction
  • Global, National, and International Perspectives
  • Valuing
  • Problem-solving
  • Aesthetic response
  • Information Literacy and Research
  • Scientific and quantitative reasoning
  • Technological Fluency

Features of the Pace University Core Curriculum include:

  • Community Building
  • Social Responsibility and Civic Engagement
  • A Focus on Student Learning Outcomes
  • Choice and Flexibility
  • Ability to complete a minor in the Core

The Pace University Core Curriculum is composed of three distinct and integrated areas, each of which allows for flexibility and choice, so you can fulfill the Core according to your own abilities and preferences.

Section I, Foundational Requirements, ensures that you achieve competency in a variety of communication and quantitative skills. You may be eligible to place out of some foundational requirements by taking proficiency or placement exams in English, language, or computing. If you require additional work and support in these vital skill areas, you will find the help you need through this series of coursework.

Section II, Areas of Knowledge, offers broad exposure to a variety of approaches and perspectives in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences, and to different modes of analysis and understanding. These courses are intended to develop a sense of social, civic, and global awareness and responsibility. There are hundreds of courses to choose from.

Section III, Inquiry and Exploration, is an area where you have free choice to complete a minor, in-depth sequence, or concentration, take courses of special interest, personal fulfillment, or take auxiliary courses in your major.

Other Core requirements that fit into one of the three sections include:

  • A Learning Community
  • Two Writing-Enhanced Courses
  • A Community-based Learning Experience

If you enrolled prior to fall 2003 or are resuming your studies after an absence of three or more years, please contact an advisor.

Contact us if you have any questions about the Pace University Core Curriculum.