Contact Information
Phone: 401.865.2231
Fax: 401.865.1730
Location: Moore Hall 101
The Program
A Providence College education prepares a student to be someone, more than to do something. It prepares students to hear more when they listen, reach deeper when they think, and say more when they speak. The Development of Western Civilization (DWC) program, the cornerstone of our Dominican, liberal arts education and the centerpiece of Providence College’s Core Curriculum, is at the heart of this preparation.
When it was first introduced in 1971, DWC was the only program of its kind in the nation. Four decades later, the DWC Program has been revitalized in ways that will develop active, engaged learners, well-prepared to succeed in the 21st century. Anchored in tradition, the revitalized DWC remains unique among core curricula in higher education in terms of its intellectual goals, structure, and pedagogy.
The revitalized DWC is a four semester, 16-credit course taken in the freshman and sophomore years, organized around seminar-style classes. It is taught by a team of three faculty members, covering the Ancient, Medieval, and Modern periods of Western Civilization in the first three semesters, followed by a team-taught colloquium in the fourth semester focusing on a contemporary issue in the context of the Western tradition. To accomplish its goals, the seminar size has been reduced from 23-25 students to 15-17.
DWC epitomizes interdisciplinary, team-teaching in an intimate environment. Faculty members teaching in the program—predominantly from the English, history, philosophy, and theology disciplines—are committed to interdisciplinary inquiry and are experienced in collaborative pedagogy. Students are not only exposed in interdisciplinary approaches to enduring questions of Western Civilization, they are asked to speak and write with interdisciplinarity. The intellectual goals of the program include laying the foundation for developing the skills of lifetime learning and the intellectual habits central to the liberal arts. These include deep reading, thoughtful reflection, and articulation of reasoned arguments through an increased emphasis on the disputed question—a hallmark of the Catholic and Dominican tradition.
Program Structure
The first three semesters of the DWC consist of a seminar-style encounter with significant texts from Western and other world civilizations. These three semesters are four credits each and arranged chronologically, with the first semester dedicated to works from Antiquity, the second semester dedicated to works from the Medieval and Early Modern period, and the third semester dedicated to works from the Modern period. These team-taught classes engage students in contemplation of significant works in their historical and cultural contexts, with special attention, when appropriate, to philosophical and theological concerns.
The fourth semester of the Development of Western Civilization Program consists of a team-taught, four-credit colloquium. Students choose from a variety of colloquia according to their interests. Building upon the first three semesters, the advanced colloquium focuses on a specific, contemporary issue in the context of the western tradition. Colloquia seek to extend the interdisciplinary approach beyond the humanities, e.g., natural science, social science, education, and business, as well as seeking to relate western history and culture to the histories and cultures beyond the West. The fundamental goals of the colloquia are to extend the interdisciplinary learning experience beyond the humanities and to relate Western history and culture to the histories and cultures beyond the West.
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