Core Competency Catalog Courses
The purpose of an Ohio Wesleyan education is to equip students with “knowledge, competence, and character for leadership, service, and continued learning in a complex and increasingly global society” (OWU Statement of Aims). The Core Competencies are the ways of knowing, doing, and being in the world that OWU has judged most essential to achieving this purpose.
To fulfill the Core Competencies requirement, students must take one unit of credit from each Core Competency category. No more than two units with the same disciplinary prefix (e.g., ART, BIOL, ENG, etc.) may be taken across ALL Core Competency categories.
This is a list of all courses in OWU's catalog that fulfill Core Competency requirements. Click here to see a list of sections by term that fulfill the requirements. Courses numbered 250 or higher are upper level courses.
Note: Any eligible AP or transfer course that receives at least .70 unit of credit may be counted toward a Core Competency requirement. Transfer credit eligibility for Core Competencies will be determined when a preliminary or official Transfer Credit Evaluation is completed, either at the time of admission or after a student has submitted their enrollment fee.
Think Aesthetically
Courses in this category focus on creating new works of art (e.g., visual arts, music, dance, theatrical performances, creative writing) and/or analyzing existing works of art and artistic movements. Students may take one full unit course or the equivalent fractional unit courses to add up to one full unit (such as four 0.25 unit courses) to fulfill this competency.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| AMRS 110 | Thrice-Told Tales |
| ART 110 | Survey Art History I |
| ART 111 | Survey Art History II |
| ART 114 | Materials Foundation |
| ART 115 | Digital Foundations |
| ART 298 | Photography History |
| COMM 251 | Digital Media |
| DANC 100 2 | Studio Topics |
| DANC 105 | Introduction to Dance Studies |
| DANC 150 | Studio Topics |
| DANC 305 | Dance History |
| ENG 100 7 | Exploring Creative Writing |
| ENG 145 | Reading: |
| ENG 147 | Reading the Global Kitchen |
| ENG 200 3 | Fiction I |
| ENG 215 | Creative Nonfiction I |
| ENG 216 | Poetry I |
| ENG 254 | Introduction to Film |
| ENG 256 | Tragic Vision |
| ENG 258 | Studies in Shakespeare |
| ENG 496 | Literary Editing |
| FLMS 254 | Introduction to Film |
| MUS 105 | Appreciation of Music Literature |
| MUS 229 | Introduction to Electronic Music |
| MUS 300 9 | Analysis of Music in Film |
| MUS 351 | Analysis of Music in Film |
| MUSP 001 | Choral Art Society |
| MUSP 002 | Symphonic Wind Ensemble |
| MUSP 011 | Music Theater Workshop |
| MUSP 017 | Marching Bishops |
| PHIL 113 | Rock Music and Philosophy |
| PHIL 362 | Aesthetics |
| SPAN 300 13 | When a Woman Runs the Show: Early Modern Hispanic Theatre on the Contemporary Stage |
| THEA 101 | Introduction to Theatre |
| THEA 115 | Script Analysis for Performance |
| THEA 126 | Intro to Technical Theatre |
| THEA 160 | Beginning Acting |
| THEA 180 | Documentary Film Production |
| THEA 200 1 | Script Analysis for Performance |
| THEA 275 | Voice and Movement for the Stage |
| UC CCTA | Core Competency: Think Aesthetically |
| WLC 301 | Cinemas in French |
Reason Formally and Quantitatively
Courses that fulfill this competency have a substantial focus on quantitative methods and formal reasoning based on the use of arithmetical, algebraic, geometric, statistical, logical, and/or algorithmic approaches to solving problems.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ART 200 4 | Generative Art |
| CHEM 111 | General Chemistry II |
| CS 103 | Exploring Computer Science |
| CS 110 | Intro Computer Science & Programming |
| CS 210 | Intermediate Computer Science and Data Structures |
| CS 220 | Foundations of Computer Science |
| DATA 300 2 | Data Visualization and Presentation |
| DATA 300 3 | Methods in Data Analytics |
| ECON 110 | Principles of Economics |
| FIN 361 | Financial Management |
| GEOG 245 | Weather & Climate |
| MATH 104 | Great Ideas in Mathematics |
| MATH 104C | Great Ideas in Mathematics |
| MATH 105 | Basic Probability & Statistics |
| MATH 110 | Calculus I |
| MATH 111 | Calculus II |
| MATH 200 3 | Biostatistics |
| MATH 200 4 | Generative Art |
| MATH 230 | Applied Statistics |
| MATH 235 | Biostatistics |
| PHIL 341 | Logic |
| PSYC 210 | Quantitative Methods |
| PUBH 250 | Epidemiology |
| UC CCRFQ | Core Competency: Reason Formally and Quantitatively |
Question Scientifically
Courses in this category introduce students to the scientific method and how it can be deployed to investigate questions about the natural world.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ASTR 110 | The Sky and the Solar System |
| ASTR 111 | Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology |
| BIOL 100 8 | Biodiversity and Society |
| BIOL 101 | Human Biology |
| BIOL 102 | Biodiversity, Extinction and Society |
| BIOL 106 | Enology |
| BIOL 107 | Food |
| BIOL 120 | Introduction to Cell Biology |
| BIOL 122 | Organisms & Their Environment |
| BIOL 125 | Introduction to Microbiology |
| CHEM 100 1 | Principles of General, Organic, and Biochemistry |
| CHEM 110 | General Chemistry I |
| COMM 300 1 | Research Methods in Communication |
| COMM 310 | Research Methods in Communication |
| ECON 251 | Research Methods in Economics |
| ENVS 111 | Intro to Earth Science |
| ENVS 112 | Ecology and the Human Future |
| NEUR 110 | Introduction to Neuroscience |
| PG 279 | Conduct of Political Inquiry |
| PG 344 | Democratization in the Developing World |
| PHIL 343 | Philosophy of Science |
| PHYS 110 C | General Physics for Physical Science Majors I |
| PSYC 110 | Introduction to Psychology |
| PSYC 310 | Research Methods |
| UC CCQS | Core Competency: Question Scientifically |
Listen, Imagine, and Understand
Courses in this category examine the meaning-making practices that help people interpret the world, developing critical reading and listening skills for cultivating empathy for lives and cultures unlike our own.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| CLAS 122 | Classical Mythology |
| CLAS 319 | Alexander the Great |
| COMM 100 1 | Communication Theory |
| COMM 101 | Communication Theory |
| COMM 111 | Mass Media History |
| COMM 200 4 | Media Literacy & Analysis |
| COMM 220 | Media Literacy and Analysis |
| EDUC 300 16 | Children's & Young Adult Literature |
| EDUC 316 | Children's & Young Adult Literature |
| ENG 110 | Myth, Legend, and Folklore for Gamers |
| ENG 176 | Alternative Worlds |
| ENG 177 | Hero(ine) Sets Forth Medieval Quest Narratives |
| ENG 252 | Vengeance |
| ENG 300 16 | Literary Encounters in the Medieval Mediterranean |
| ENG 332 | Legends of King Arthur |
| ENG 334 | Chaucer and His Contemporaries |
| ENG 340 | The Renaissance Author |
| FREN 230 | Global Jeunesse: Language, Topics, and Debates in French |
| GEOG 360 | Environmental Geography |
| HIST 115 | Intro to Latin American History |
| HIST 332 | Argentina, Brazil and Chile Since Independence |
| MUS 349 | History of Rock in Song, Style & Story |
| PG 281 | Food Politics & Policy in America |
| PG 300 38 | Food Politics & Policy in America |
| PHIL 250 | Environmental Ethics |
| PHIL 345 | Philosophy of Religion |
| PHIL 349 | From Hegel to Nietzsche: The Struggle for Self-Determination |
| REL 111 | Hebrew Bible |
| REL 121 | New Testament History and Literature |
| REL 141 | Islam: An Introduction |
| REL 280 | Islam in America |
| REL 300 6 | Medieval Islamic Society |
| REL 372 | Philosophy of Religion |
| SOAN 260 | Changing Cultures, Changing Societies |
| SOAN 349 | Gender and the Body |
| SPAN 300 10 | Spanish Crime Fiction: Fatal Women, Murderers and Other Outcasts in Contemporary Spanish Literature |
| SPAN 300 7 | Sorceresses and Witches in Spanish Literature |
| SPAN 361 | Spanish Drama and Poetry |
| SPAN 365 | Cervantes and the Quijote |
| SPAN 366 | Spanish Crime Fiction: Fatal Women, Murderers and Other Outcasts in Contemporary Spanish Literature |
| SPAN 369 | Early Modern Spanish Literature & Culture |
| SPAN 370 | The Child in Contemporary Latin American Literature and Film |
| UC CCLIU | Core Competency: Listen, Imagine, and Understand |
Write and Speak Effectively
Courses in this category focus on written and oral communication skills, devoting substantial class time to all stages of the compositional process, from invention through revision.
Please note: First-year students should take ENG 105: College Writing Seminar before completing the Write & Speak Effectively core competency. If a student has exempted from ENG 105 through test scores, they may register for a Write & Speak Effectively course.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| BIOL 318 | Electron Microscopy: Theory and Practice |
| COMM 110 | Fundamentals of Journalism |
| COMM 300 15 | Strategic Communication & Message Design |
| COMM 315 | Strategic Communication & Message Design |
| EDUC 377 | Content Area Literacy |
| ENG 217 | Magazine Writing |
| ENG 250 | Introduction to Literary Study |
| ENG 255 | The Devil, the Hero, & God |
| ENG 265 | Literary and Cultural Criticism |
| ENG 300 9 | Magazine Writing |
| ENG 310 | Writing for the Workplace |
| ENG 312 | Writing for the Sciences |
| ENG 348 | The British Romantics |
| ENG 901 | Lower Level English Composition Elective |
| ENG 952 | Upper Level English Composition Elective |
| FREN 250 | Le mot juste: Composition and Cultural Analysis in French |
| GEOG 347 | Human Impacts on the Environment |
| HIST 250 | Historical Inquiry |
| NEUR 350 | Neuroanatomy |
| NEUR 374 | Topics in Neuroscience |
| NUTR 300 11 | Human Nutrition and Metabolism |
| NUTR 380 | Advanced Human Nutrition and Metabolism |
| PG 353 | Congress & Legislative Process |
| PG 371 | Power and Authority: Political Theory from the Canon to Fanon |
| PHIL 391 | Seminar in Plato |
| REL 344 | Gandhi: Religion & Social Change in Modern Asia |
| REL 358 | American Religion: Divinity in Diversity |
| SOAN 315 | Society and the Economy |
| SPAN 310 | ¡Luces, Cámara, Acción! The Hispanic World Through Film |
| UC CCWSE | Core Competency: Write and Speak Effectively |
Learn a Second Language
Courses in this category focus on written and/or spoken languages other than English. Students must complete a language through the 111 level or show competency at that level through a placement exam, standardized test performance, or exemption for non-native speakers of English.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| BWS 110 | Beginning Swahili I |
| BWS 111 | Beginning Swahili II |
| BWS 225 | Continuing Swahili |
| CHIN 225 | Second Year Chinese I |
| FREN 110 | Beginning French I |
| FREN 111 | Beginning French II |
| FREN 225 | Intensive Grammar Review |
| GERM 110 | Beginning German I |
| GERM 111 | Beginning German II |
| GERM 225 | Continuing German |
| GREE 110 | Intro to Classical Greek I |
| GREE 111 | Intro to Classical Greek II |
| GREE 330 | Readings in Greek Prose and Poetry |
| ITAL 110 | Beginning Italian I |
| ITAL 111 | Beginning Italian II |
| ITAL 225 | Continuing Italian |
| JAPN 110 | Beginning Japanese I |
| JAPN 111 | Beginning Japanese II |
| JAPN 225 | Continuing Japanese |
| LATI 110 | Beginning Latin I |
| LATI 111 | Beginning Latin II |
| LATI 225 | Continuing Latin |
| MFL 110 | Foreign Language I |
| MFL 111 | Foreign Language II |
| RUSS 225 | Continuing Russian |
| SPAN 110 | Beginning Spanish I |
| SPAN 111 | Beginning Spanish II |
| SPAN 225 | Continuing Spanish |
| SWAH 110 | Beginning Swahili I |
| SWAH 111 | Beginning Swahili II |
| SWAH 225 | Continuting Swahili |
| UC CCLSL | Core Competency: Learn a Second Language |
Examine Power and Inequities
Courses in this category explore the ways in which power is constructed, embedded, and employed in cultural, political, and social structures. Courses will consider the effect of such systems on cultures and individuals, as well as efforts to confront inequality.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| BWS 300 11 | Race, Ethnicity, and Health |
| BWS 300 5 | African Medical Systems |
| CLAS 251 | Women in Antiquity |
| CLAS 253 | Gender and Sexuality in Classical Antiquity |
| CLAS 322 | The Roman Empire |
| CLAS 325 | Empire and Ethnicity in the Ancient World |
| COMM 200 1 | Media Effects and Society |
| COMM 211 | Media Effects and Society |
| COMM 300 3 | Conflict Management |
| COMM 313 | Conflict Management |
| ECON 276 | Health Economics |
| ECON 277 | Labor Economics and Problems |
| EDUC 110 | The Role of the School |
| EDUC 115 | Teaching for Equity and Social Justice |
| ENG 266 | Women's Literature in English |
| ENG 300 15 | Britainistan: Literacy and Religious Narratives of British Muslims |
| ENG 346 | Eighteenth-Century Literature in the Digital Age: Gender, Genre, and Engagement |
| ENG 350 | The Victorians |
| ENG 355 | Great Books of Russia: Russian Literature and Thought |
| FREN 300 5 | Fourteen Kilometers: Mediterranean (Im)Migrations in Contemporary Francophone Culture |
| FREN 351 | Culture of Empire, Culture of Resistance: Representation and Power in the French-Speaking World from |
| GEOG 110 | Human Geography |
| GEOG 270 | Cultural Geography of the Middle East |
| HIST 111 | Introduction to Medieval History |
| HIST 112 | Introduction to Modern European History |
| HIST 113 | Introduction to Early American History to 1877 |
| HIST 114 | Introduction to Modern American History since 1877 |
| HIST 116 | Introduction to Pacific Asia |
| HIST 271 | Mexico From Conquest to Revolution |
| HIST 370 A | Topics: Famous American Trials |
| HIST 373 | Civil War and Reconstruction |
| PG 113 | Democracy, Dictatorship and Political Change |
| PG 346 | European Politics |
| PG 347 | Contemporary Political Topics: Protest and Violence |
| PG 360 | International Politics |
| PG 364 | International Political Economy |
| PG 366 | Great Power Politics and U.S.-China Relations |
| PHIL 110 | Introduction to Philosophy |
| PHIL 311 | Special Topics in Social & Political Philosophy |
| PHIL 351 | Philosophy of Law |
| REL 270 | Religion in Modern Thought and Culture |
| REL 300 15 | Britainistan: Literacy and Religious Narratives of British Muslims |
| SOAN 110 | Introductory Sociology |
| SOAN 117 | Social Problems |
| SOAN 347 | Health, Culture, and Society |
| SOAN 358 | Society, Politics, and Social Movements |
| UC CCEPI | Core Competency: Examine Power and Inequities |
| WGS 250 | Reproductive Politics in the Era of Globalization |
| WGS 325 | Women and Media: Gender, Race, Class and Popular Culture |
| WGS 351 | Global Feminisms |
Engage Diversity
Courses in this category focus on cultures, people, and places historically excluded by the Western academic tradition. Courses will engage issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and class, and their complex, interrelated histories.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| ART 251 | Latin American Art |
| ART 305 | Black Atlantic Art |
| ART 317 | The Art of Protest |
| ART 358 | Ceramics I |
| BWS 105 | Intro. to Black World Studies |
| COMM 300 10 | Health Communication & The Black Body |
| COMM 300 2 | Intercultural Communication |
| COMM 311 | Special Topics in Communication |
| COMM 312 | Intercultural Communication |
| COMM 314 | Health Communication & The Black Body |
| EDUC 120 | Introduction to Exceptionalities |
| ENG 227 | Black & Asian British Literature |
| ENG 270 | Caribbean Women Writers |
| ENG 300 14 | What's Love Got to Do with It? Sexuality in Premodern English Literature |
| ENG 356 | Race, Power, and Identity in Postcolonial Literature |
| HIST 285 | Women in American History |
| HIST 375 | Women in American History |
| PG 112 | Global Issues |
| PG 260 | Equality & American Politics |
| PG 265 | The Politics of Disability |
| PG 319 | Women and Politics |
| PG 348 | Latin American Politics |
| PG 349 | East Asian Politics |
| PHIL 111 | The Examined Life in a Diverse World |
| PHIL 212 | Critical Thinking: Ideology Critique |
| PSYC 285 | LGBTQ+ Issues in Psychology |
| REL 104 | Mystical Religions of the East |
| SOAN 111 | Cultural Anthropology |
| SOAN 300 10 | Special Topics in Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Justice |
| SPAN 371 | Latin America and the Quest for Identity |
| THEA 312 | Contemporary Queer Theatre in the United States |
| UC CCED | Core Competency: Engage Diversity |
| WGS 110 | Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies |
| WGS 310 | Special Topics in Women's and Gender Studies |
| WGS 310 A | Special Topics: Feminism and Sex Work |
| WGS 310 B | ST: Feminism and Intersectionality |
| WGS 310 C | Subversive Subjects: Sex & Gender in Literature |
| WGS 350 | Sexuality Studies |
| WLC 260 | Hispan Latinx Voic in US Cultu Lit Film |
Act Responsibly
Courses in this category equip students to engage as citizens of a diverse and interconnected world, drawing upon various ideas and ideals that guide human interaction, including historical, religious, ecological, philosophical, and ethical frameworks.
| Course | Title |
|---|---|
| BUS 105 | Exploring Business |
| BUS 269 | International Business Ethics |
| COMM 300 6 | Persuasive Communication |
| COMM 316 | Persuasive Communication |
| DATA 300 1 | Social, Ethical, and Cultural Impacts of Big Data |
| ECON 260 | Current Economic Issues |
| ECON 282 | Global Poverty |
| ECON 353 | Economic Development |
| EDUC 105 | Introduction to Early Childhood Education |
| ENG 342 | Drama and Theatre to 1700 |
| ENVS 110 | Intro to Environment and Sustainability |
| ENVS 399 | Sustainability Practicum |
| GEOG 345 | Economic Geography |
| NEUR 345 | Psychopharmacology |
| PG 111 | Power and American Politics |
| PG 280 | Environmental Politics and Policy |
| PG 363 | Human Rights in International Perspectives |
| PG 373 | American Political Thought and Politics |
| PHIL 211 | Ethics |
| PHIL 269 | International Business Ethics |
| PHIL 312 | Special Topics in Philosophy |
| PHIL 360 | Seminar in Bioethics |
| PSYC 345 | Psychopharmacology |
| REL 103 | Prophetic Religions of the West |
| SJ 110 | Introduction to Social Justice |
| THEA 351 | Drama and Theatre to 1700 |
| UC CCAR | Core Competency: Act Responsibly |