Integrative Studies

This part of the Core focuses on an intellectual interest or passion that you want to explore in depth and integrate into your overall studies. Does some idea spark your curiosity? With your advisor, you will choose three courses to help you explore that interest and articulate your own enduring question.

For example, one student was interested in how genocide affected future generations and chose these three courses to integrate:

  • Religion — Auschwitz and After: Religious Questions and Dilemmas
  • Sociology — Deviance or Race, Ethnicity and Society
  • History — Native Americans: Removal to Present
How to Determine if a Course can be an IS course

Is my course an IS or not?

Follow the flowchart to help you decide or watch this video.

Notes:

  • We realize that not all courses are 3 credits; however, you should have at least 9 credits of IS (typically three 3-credit courses)
  • Transfer credits that follow the flowchart are allowed for IS courses
How to Intentionally Choose Integrative Studies (IS) Courses

Think about what interests you outside your major, like equity, wellness, or how people come to be who they are. Then do some research to find courses related to your interest that will help you explore it. If equity is your interest, you might want to start with a course like social problems or human rights/social and environmental justice. For wellness, perhaps you want to take Religion and Healing: a global perspective. For identity, perhaps a course in child or adult development or Trauma-Informed Youth Development: Historical and Cultural Impacts. To help you do this research:

  • Watch this video which discusses how to choose your IS courses based upon a Big Idea of Interest
  • Explore the Descriptions of Big Ideas with example enduring questions to help guide you in your thinking
  • Use this consistently updated spreadsheet to start making a plan for a list of potential IS courses that you are interested in taking.
    • The spreadsheet has tabs for 4 Big Ideas that have been popular Big Ideas in the past (Power, Wellness, Identity, and Meaning) as well as a tab for "create your own" and a tab for the upcoming semester so you can quickly and easily see courses being offered that semester.
  • Talk to your advisor, professors, Nazareth staff and your friends.
Integrative Studies, Uncommon Core

Click here to view a Spreadsheet of Potential IS Courses by Big Idea