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Created for a Purpose

UST’s Core Curriculum is a journey of discovery and transformation that prepares each student for an extraordinary life.

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Each of us receives, discovers, and brings to life our purpose. At University of St. Thomas, our Core illuminates who we are – including our nature and purpose – and prepares us to fulfill our calling wisely and courageously. Throughout the university years, we have the unique opportunity to grow in wisdom, goodness and discipline so that we might embody our God-given purpose in the world. Informed by the Catholic intellectual and spiritual traditions, the University of St. Thomas offers a unique and integrated Core that can serve as a primary pathway for this journey of discovery and preparation.

WE DISCOVER THIS PURPOSE THROUGH FRIENDSHIP. 

At the University of St. Thomas, we are a community born from wonder and faith, committed to a form of friendship that animates our common search for wisdom. It is a search that we pursue together – professors and students alike – seeking answers to life’s never-changing and fundamental questions. 

WE PURSUE THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TOGETHER.

Before arriving at answers, however, we must clarify the questions. Our Core is oriented to articulating the questions that have animated human life for millennia. But we do not stop with the questions. Together, we seek to discover the wisdom – ascending on the wings of faith and reason – that enables us to answer them.

WE DISCOVER WISDOM IN COMMUNITY.

Through our comprehensive, integrated and deeply Catholic core curriculum at the University of St. Thomas, we – the students and professors in purposeful dialogue – come to know ourselves within a community, develop the skills of the mind and heart that are essential to a fully human life, and build a foundation of wisdom for a life well-lived.

WE ANSWER THE CALL TO A LIFE OF SERVICE THAT WILL LEAVE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.

By opening our minds and hearts to all of reality – integrating both the natural and supernatural – our Core enables us to prepare ourselves to achieve the greatest goods for our families, society, and the world. Through our uncommon Core, one in which Faith and Reason make whole and give depth to the stories of our lives, we integrate our liberal education with professional preparation, and apprentice ourselves for a life of greatness and significance through service.   

The Core Curriculum is the vital heart of a UST education. In their journey through the Core, students build themselves up as persons. They come to understand themselves as free and intellectual beings, hone their skills in reasoning, persuasion and more, and cultivate the beginnings of wisdom via a holistic perspective on the individual disciplines they study. At the same time, the University’s new core explicitly focuses on integrating the tradition of liberal education with students’ professional aspirations. These two goods: the person and the profession, are not opposed. Rather, building yourself up as a person is an investment that prepares you for building up your career.

About the Author — Dr. George Harne

AvatarAs Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Harne brings a vision of Catholic education to his work that is animated by the thought of Plato, Cardinal Newman, Josef Pieper, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. In his role as Dean, Harne cultivates the treasures of the School—its faculty, students, and programs—ensuring that it flourishes in light of the greater mission of the University and draws ever more deeply on the sources of that mission: particularly the great Catholic intellectual and spiritual traditions. He also champions the School within Houston, regionally, and in the nation at large.

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Community

Discipline

Goodness

Knowledge