Valpo Core: The Human Experience

What is the Valpo Core?

Core is about what it means, what it has meant, and what it will mean in the future to be human.

The Valpo Core is a two-semester, eight credit course required of all first-year students except those enrolled in the Christ College Freshman Program. Core is designed to welcome and initiate new students into the Valparaiso University community, and into academic life generally, by putting them in dialogue with great teachers, great texts, and each other. Three days a week (50-minute sessions) or two days a week (75-minute sessions), students and their instructor explore, as a community, some of the most essential aspects of what it means to be human.

Core Lab events will help us to extend this community beyond the classroom. The Core Lab is designed to help each student explore events outside of class that connect with our themes in the classroom. These offerings will also serve the purpose of helping first-year students become aware of and connected to campus life.

First-year students need particular skills to navigate the academic world and become successful students and global citizens. The Valpo Core is designed to help students develop necessary academic skills such as argumentative writing, close reading and critical thinking. Additionally, students will work to develop their discussion skills (both leading and participating) as well as presentation skills. Great opportunities also exist in the course for students to become more adept at retrieving, evaluating, and managing information, as they connect to the rest of the world through our electronic information services.

Contact Information

Core Director
Dr. Lisa Jennings
Email: lisa.jennings@valpo.edu