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College-Wide Requirements

All Dowling students must demonstrate competence in writing and quantitative reasoning by meeting the following three course requirements:
  • ENG 1001A Principles of Writing
  • MTH Mathematics (other than MTH 0001)
  • CLG 1001 College Orientation (Freshmen only)
(Note: The appropriate mathematics course to fulfill this requirement will usually be dictated by the student's major. In those cases in which a major makes no such requirement, the student will fulfill this requirement by completing an appropriate mathematics or quantitative skills course. Students who are candidates for Teacher Certification will be advised by the Office of Enrollment Services in consultation with the School of Education.)


Core Requirements

Dowling offers its students a curriculum intended to assure that all students are afforded the opportunity to acquire a knowledge of their world, their fellows, and themselves that constitutes our common heritage as Americans and provides the context for our personal and professional lives. It is this knowledge that enhances the quality of our lives by making accessible to us the best that has been thought and said and done.
Specifically, the College seeks to assure that:
  1. Each graduate is knowledgeable with respect to the course of Western Civilization from its Judeo Christian and Greco-Roman origins to the modern era including knowledge of the works, concepts, values, and attitudes that characterize the modern mind.
  2. Each graduate appreciates the role of the arts in human experience and possesses the ability to analyze a work of art and to distinguish different artistic styles and the social and intellectual conditions that fostered them.
  3. Each graduate is knowledgeable with respect to the nature of the biophysical universe and the scientific method that seeks to make it comprehensible and serviceable to society.
  4. Each graduate has an informed understanding of the dynamics of contemporary societies and the social, political, and economic systems that drive them, including the major trends (e.g., technology) and the major issues (e.g., environmental degradation) affecting them.
  5. Each graduate is knowledgeable with respect to the psychological and sociological dimensions of human experience as assessed from different cultural perspectives.


Freshmen Students (without transfer credits):

Students who enter the College as freshmen are required to complete a thirty-three credit general education core, as listed below.

Please note that core courses may be used to satisfy degree requirements for minors, majors, and certificate programs. Also, core courses may be used to satisfy a prerequisite for non-core courses. Six credit sequences must include both halves of the same discipline (e.g., HUM 1001 and HUM 1002).

Freshman Year
Western Civilization 6 credits 
This requirement is fulfilled by taking either: HST 1001C, 1002C; HUM 1001C, 1002C; or PHL 1001C, 1002C

Modes of Artistic Expression 6 credits 
This requirement is fulfilled by taking either: MUS 1001C, 1002C; VIS 1001C, 1002C; or DRM 1001C, 1002C


Sophomore Year
Dynamics of Contemporary Societies 6 credits 
This requirement is fulfilled by taking either: ECN 2101C, 2102C; POL 2101C, 2102C; or SOC 2101C, 2102C

Nature of the Universe
This requirement is fulfilled by taking either: NSC 2003C, 2004C; or NSC 2005C, 2006C.*
*for honors students and science majors only

Junior Year
Varieties of Human Experience 6 credits 
This requirement is fulfilled by taking either ANT 3101C, 3102C; PSY 3101C, 3102C; or PSY 3103C, 3104C

Senior Year
Varieties of Human Experience 6 credits 

Transfer Students:

At the time of admission to the College, a transfer student's record will be evaluated and a special core program developed for that student. The special core curriculum will be designed to provide a general education program that meets the College's goals for the transfer student. This curriculum, however, must include the Senior Seminar.