The Integrated Curriculum

The Integrated Curriculum is designed to help students develop over the entirety of their time at Elmhurst University.

Elmhurst University’s Integrated Curriculum (IC) is designed to inspire students to form themselves intellectually and personally and also to prepare for meaningful and ethical work. It proceeds from the recognition that concentrated specialization alone is not enough to prepare students to succeed. Information and procedures soon become outdated; the job they have prepared to do proves limited, or the knowledge they have becomes obsolete. This integrated program seeks to prepare students to be lifelong learners in a changing economy and a developing global society.

The Integrated Curriculum rests on the University’s nine educational goals. It seeks to educate students in three ways: exposing them to areas of knowledge, requiring them to have practice and/or proficiency in skills, and expecting them to have several experiences to assist in value development. The program prioritizes four outcomes defined by the faculty: critical thinking, effective communication, understanding and employing the content and perspectives of varied disciplines, and valuing tolerance and social justice. In addition, the program is committed to integrative and applied learning: as such, a central theme of this curriculum is that of integrating, of connecting—between and among the disciplines, from classroom to experience, across liberal and professional studies, between general education and the major.

The Integrated Curriculum itself includes developmental requirements that run throughout the student’s time at Elmhurst University. It is founded on three proficiencies that all students must address. Thereafter, it includes required work in nine areas of knowledge and seven skill and value development areas. There is no set number of courses in the Integrated Curriculum.

Requirements in these areas, along with appropriate objectives and outcomes as set by the faculty, are specified in the sections below. Unless specifically approved by the faculty, independent study courses may not be used to fulfill Integrated Curriculum requirements.