Core Philosophy

Regis University

Undergraduate Core Educational Experience

Philosophy Statement

 I.      Framework and Goals of the Core Educational Experience 

rom its origins in the Renaissance and Reformation, Jesuit education has provided leadership in bringing the traditions of Christianity and classical learning into fruitful engagement with new developments in thought and culture. This task remains central at Regis University, where the core educational experience seeks to provide all undergraduate students with a Jesuit liberal arts education. The core educational experience challenges students to reflect on tradition, continuity, and change, and to explore the question “How ought we to live?” in terms of the development of Western thought from classical to contemporary. 

nspired by Catholic tradition and Ignatian spirituality, the core educational experience at Regis celebrates the essential goodness of the world and the joy of learning. This education is grounded in the belief that faith and reason are complementary; it emphasizes the basic values of human dignity, diversity, freedom, and justice; and it promotes the formation of conscience and character through imaginative and critical discernment. The core educational experience aims to develop the whole person. It seeks not only to enable students to meet the challenges and goals of their personal and professional lives, but also to cultivate their leadership in service to others and in work for the common good.   

II.     Characteristics of the Core Educational Experience

The specific structure of the core educational experience varies within each of the University’s three Schools because of the different student populations and instructional formats in Regis College, the School for Professional Studies, and the School for Health Care Professions. Nonetheless, the core educational experience in all three Schools is characterized by:

Development of the Whole Person

The core educational experience is designed to nurture the whole person: head, heart, and hands; intellect, sensibility, and skills. The whole person, however, is not understood in terms of an isolated self. Rather, Regis seeks to develop leaders whose compassion and concern for others inspires them to contribute to the common good.

Academic Challenge

Regis University is committed to academic excellence: the disciplined search for knowledge and the joy of discovery and understanding. The core educational experience is designed to strengthen students’ skills in critical reading and thinking, speaking and writing, research and scholarship, and the use of information technologies. Students are encouraged to become partners in a collaborative process of learning and discovery.

Liberal Arts Foundation

The core educational experience promotes literacy in the major academic disciplines: the arts, the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. By giving students an opportunity to explore the questions, methods, and understandings of different disciplines, the core educational experience establishes a broad foundation for more specialized studies.

Integration

The core educational experience challenges students to integrate new learning with prior knowledge and personal experiences. It seeks to strengthen habits and skills of integration, thereby encouraging students to become life-long learners and to achieve more comprehensive understandings of truth.

Ethical Inquiry and Reflection

By challenging students to examine the ethical dimensions present in all of their studies, the core educational experience seeks to cultivate the habit of critical reflection on values. Students are encouraged to reflect upon crucial human concerns and to strengthen values that lead to sound decisions and just actions.

Spirituality and Religion

Rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition, Regis University is committed to integrating faith with learning. The core educational experience fosters a critical appreciation of religious questions and spiritual experience. While special attention is given to Catholic philosophical and theological tradition, the core educational experience also involves exposure to other philosophical and religious traditions. It encourages mutual respect and genuine dialogue in the context of a shared search for meaning.

Concern for Social Justice

The core educational experience seeks to nurture a life of service for the common good and a commitment to work toward a more just and peaceful world. By challenging students to develop the analytical skills necessary to understand relationships of power and privilege in contemporary society, the core educational experience strives to cultivate respect for human diversity and a special concern for the poor and the oppressed.

Global Awareness

While contemporary individuals operate in many different social contexts, the Jesuit tradition has always been global in its horizons and outreach. Thus, the core educational experience furthers students’ appreciation of the diversity of persons and cultures, the complexity of relationships in the new and evolving international order, and the impact of humans on the natural environment. 

Leadership

Regis University is committed to developing leaders in the service of others. Recognizing that there are many forms of leadership, the core educational experience challenges students to strengthen their personal leadership skills through academic courses, service learning experiences, and other campus and community activities. Special attention is focused on refining students’ abilities to listen and to engage in dialogue in diverse settings.