Student Learning Outcomes

     Marist is dedicated to helping students develop
     the intellect, character, and skills required
     for enlightened, ethical, and productive lives in
     the global community of the 21st century.   
            --The Marist College Mission Statement

 Photo: Victor Van Carpels

The Marist Core supports the College's Mission Statement by advancing the following student learning goals:

  1. To assist and challenge students to become more aware of their own values and the 
      ethical implications of the choices they face in their public and private worlds.
               This outcome furthers the Mission Statement's emphasis on students' characters and on the 
               importance of leading ethical and enlightened lives both in college and beyond. The Marist
               Core provides students with many opportunities to develop their values awareness.

2. To develop in students the capacity to synthesize and integrate methods and insights from 
      a variety of intellectual disciplines.
                In providing students with interdisciplinary learning experiences at the beginning, middle,
                and end of their undergraduate careers (through the First Year Seminar, the Pathway, and
                the Capping course, respectively) the Marist Core equips students to respond constructively
                and creatively to complex 21st-century problems and challenges.

3. To introduce students to the essential ideas and skills that comprise the disciplines of
     the liberal arts and the sciences.
               Both the breadth requirements in the Marist Core and the shared themes of the First Year Seminar
               and Writing for College (Nature & the Environment; Civic Engagement; Cultural Diversity; and 
               Quantitative Reasoning) develop students' intellects and prepare them for life as productive
               citizens and professionals in their local, regional, and global communities.

4. To develop in students the critical skills of written exposition, critical thinking, public presentation, 
    technological competency, and information literacy.
                Recognizing that intellectual abilities and values reflection are inextricably linked to effective research,
                technological competency, and communication in many formats, the Marist Core develops a wide range of
                key 21st-century skills.

Students’ mastery of these outcomes is regularly evaluated in a campus-wide Core assessment process that works with
material drawn from the senior-level Capping course.