2025-2026 Complex Problem and Enduring Question Courses - Call for Proposals
Due October 1, 2024
Join us as we embark on the next decade of Core Renewal by teaching an Enduring Question or Complex Problem course!
The University Core Renewal Committee invites proposals for Complex Problem and Enduring Question courses to be taught during the notable 2025-2026 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 full-time faculty from different academic fields and fulfill at least two different University Core Curriculum requirements (Arts, History I & II, Literature, Mathematics, Natural Science, Philosophy, Social Science, Theology, and Writing). Some may fulfill an additional Core requirement for Cultural Diversity through either Difference, Justice, and the Common Good in the U.S. (DJCG) or Engaging Difference and Justice (EDJ).
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Boston College faculty discuss the challenges and rewards of teaching interdisciplinary Complex Problems and Enduring Questions courses.
Complex Problem courses are six-credit courses of 76 students, team-taught by two professors from different disciplines, that address a contemporary problem or concern. Each week, these courses meet on multiple days for 150 minutes of lecture, one 75-minute lab (taught by a Core Fellow/Visiting Assistant Professor), and one 110-minute evening Reflection session, which may involve group activities, guest speakers, or field trips off campus.
Enduring Question courses are two linked three-credit courses, taught by professors from different disciplines, centered on a single enduring question. The same 19 students take both courses. Four times during the semester, students and faculty gather for Reflection sessions, which may involve group activities, guest speakers, or field trips off campus.
Faculty receive a stipend of $12,500 for Complex Problem courses and $7,500 for Enduring Question courses for attending four two-hour Course Design Workshop sessions and submitting their final syllabi to the University Core Renewal Committee in the spring semester of the academic year prior to when the courses will be taught. For each faculty member, a Complex Problem course counts as two courses of the normal teaching load. Part-time faculty are not eligible to apply.
| Complex Problem Courses | Enduring Question Courses |
|---|---|
| Examine an issue of contemporary urgency and global significance. | Ask students to reflect upon issues and values related to fundamental concerns of human life. |
| Consider its historical context, various interpretations, and attempted solutions in a rigorous way. | Introduce students to influential thinkers, writers, or artists who have wrestled with the questions across discipline, time, and space. |
| Develop an attached lab that provides hands- on problem-solving activities for students involving multiple media. | Engage in a dialogue with the methods of the disciplinary approach of the other instructor. |
| Introduce students to various disciplinary approaches to the problem and to the ways in which they might intersect, cultivating appropriate analytical and creative skills. | Offer some common readings or assignments across the paired sections |
| Work intensively with students to improve their writing (with help from writing fellows if desired). | |
Both Complex Problem and Enduring Question Courses Incorporate opportunities for reflection on values and experiences that will promote students’ integration of what they learn with the principles that guide their lives - e.g., Why does studying this material contribute to my better understanding of what it is to be a person? Who am I becoming as I engage this material? How does my study of this material contribute to my better understanding of the world in its wholeness? | |
- Full-time faculty may apply to teach either a Complex Problem or an Enduring Question course. Typically, one applies as part of a previously arranged pair, but it is also possible to apply as an individual in the hope of finding a partner. In either case, each faculty member must submit an application.
- Application is via an online form (link below).
- Complex Problem course applications require:
(1) one joint course title and one-paragraph description (up to 100 words);
(2) a brief explanation (up to 500 words) of how the proposed course fulfills the characteristics of a Complex Problem course (above) and engages with the University Core Curriculum Learning Outcomes;
(3) the University Core Curriculum requirements your course fulfills;
(4) Department Chair’s approval; and
(5) teaching preferences and constraints.
- Enduring Question course applications require:
(1) an individual course title and one-paragraph description (up to 100 words);
(2) a joint course title and one-paragraph description (up to 100 words);
(3) a brief explanation (up to 500 words) of how the proposed course fulfills the characteristics of an Enduring Question course (above) and engages with the University Core Curriculum Learning Outcomes;
(4) the University Core Curriculum requirements your course fulfills;
(5) Department Chair’s approval; and
(6) teaching preferences and constraints.
- Applicants will be informed of decisions by the University Core Renewal Committee.
If you have any questions, please contact the Core Office at: core@bc.edu.