2024-2025 Complex Problems and Enduring Questions Call for Proposals

The University Core Renewal Committee invites proposals Complex Problems and Enduring Questions Courses to be taught in the 2024-2025 academic year. Contributing to the rigorous intellectual development and personal formation of our students in the tradition of a Jesuit, Catholic university, these interdisciplinary courses bring together faculty from different departments and/or schools and fulfill two different Core requirements (Arts, History, Literature, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Theology, and Writing). 

• Complex Problems are team-taught, six-credit classes that address a contemporary problem. Each week they meet for three lectures, a lab taught by Core Fellows, and an evening Reflection session. Enrollment is capped at 76 students.
• Enduring Questions  courses are linked pairs of three-credit classes that meet separately. Each class meets on a normal weekly schedule plus four Reflection sessions each semester. Enrollments are set at 19.

Both Complex Problems and Enduring Questions courses integrate co-curricular programming—Reflection Sessions—that deepens academic study with opportunities for exploration and personal growth.

Full time faculty receive a stipend of $12,500 for Complex Problems courses, and $7,500 for Enduring Questions courses in exchange for preparing their syllabi and attending pedagogical workshops. For each faculty member, a Complex Problem class counts as two courses of his or her normal teaching load. Part-time faculty are not eligible to apply.