Note from Vince Fitzgerald for our pod: "Before class on Thursday the 1st, please take the Values in Action (VIA) Free Survey—http://www.viacharacter.org/www/Character-Strengths-Survey. IMPORTANT: Be completely honest with yourself! Don’t take the test based upon how you wish you are but upon how you truly are. Have the courage to be honest with yourself! Print it and bring it to the next class." (see link on email for quick access.JM)

See email for clearer version of this! Revised Course Outline-Quarter II Nov. 1 Read VOWR "Surviving Justice" chapters Nov. 3 Blog on your position on capital punishment Required: FYS Research Fair 3:00-4:30pm Cafeteria Nov. 8 Read VOWR "Palestine Speaks" Nov. 10 Blog on film, speaker and reading by midnight Nov. 11 Optional, Recommended: Veterans Day Prayer Service, Cunningham Chapel, 11AM Nov. 15 Read VOWR and blog "Voices from the Storm" and "Underground America" Nov. 17 Read VOWR and blog "Out of Exile" and "Hope Deferred" Nov. 17 Required: Social Justice Speakers Series--Ruth Jacobs Gibson Gellert Library, 4:30-6:00pm Nov. 21 Optional, Recommended: Thanksgiving Italiano at Maple Street Shelter 4-8pm Nov. 22 Read VOWR "Nowhere To Be Home" and "Patriot Acts"; blog on Ruth Gibson Nov. 24 Thanksgiving-no class Nov. 29 Read VOWR "Inside This Place" and "Throwing Stones" Dec. 1 Read VOWR "Refugee Hotel" and "High Rise Stories" Dec. 6 Read VOWR "Invisible Hands"; Final paper draft due Dec. 8 Read VOWR "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" Week of Dec. 12: Final Exam

Dear Students: Our book comes from this amazing San Francisco-based project, Voice of Witness. Instead of starting to read the book, the requirement for Thursday’s class is that you spend at least one hour, preferably 90 minutes, exploring the Voice of Witness website. http://voiceofwitness.org/ There are several key pages, including one which explains the book series and our volume in that series. http://voiceofwitness.org/books/ There interesting short videos like this one on the situation in Columbia: http://voiceofwitness.org/education/curricula/displaced-in-colombia/ Watch this and other available videos. Also, please read this interview with Dave Eggers and Mimi Lok in Salon magazine. http://www.salon.com/2015/06/13/dave_eggers_on_working_for_justice_through_oral_history_there_wasn%E2%80%99t_much_that_allowed_those_people_to_seem_fully_human/ Finally, do a blog entry on your opening understanding of this project from which our next textbook comes. (Summary and comment.) These will be your first points on the new quarter. Homework for next week: You will be responsible to have read from page 9-84 for next Tuesday. You will need to get started on this soon. These first two chapters are on the death penalty. Jim

Students: Attendance at the production in the Theater, "The Amateurs,"with blog review, is also an option along with the art/photography exhibit and/or the musical in Taube this weekend.

Nechama Tec article: http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20699.pdf

Online source #5 Eva Fogelman article https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/pdf/resources/fogelman_the_rescuer_self.pdf

Students: I do want to give you an alternative to the art gallery: if you can attend one of the performances of "A Little Night Music" this weekend (Brandon is one of the cast members) that could substitute. Jim

http://pinktrianglepark.org/

You are required to view and spend at least 30 minutes in the Wiegand Art Gallery with the Matt Black exhibit: "From Clouds to Dust." Here's a review

http://www.sfchronicle.com/art/article/Farmworker-images-from-California-and-Mexico-come-9222797.php#photo-10898377

 As you see on our syllabus, you are required to attend and write a summary and comment blog entry. The exhibit is open and runs through October 22--that's this Friday! Don't wait until the last minute.

Jim

Students:

This weekend is a good time to start your midterm paper. It is a five page summary and reflection on how you have processed all our reading, all the testimony, including the in-person testimony at our special event on Call to Action Day.

Summarize what you have learned from Frankl's book, the Rescuers book, the online sources and any preparation you did for Tuesday's interview. In this paper, you are trying to take at least a provisional position on the possibility of altruism, fully taking into account the prevalence of its opposite.

If you can get me a draft by Tuesday, I promise to read and give further direction.

The paper due date is also the time to have finished all make-up for absences. Check out the reserve material in the library or visit the Pink Triangle Memorial and/or Holocaust Memorial in San Francisco and write excellent blog entries.

All students be sure you have the required number of blog entries.

Thank you all for your participation on Tuesday. It was a beautiful event.

Jim

Pairings for Interviews, October 11


Meet at 10am in St. Joe's Lounge


Jeannette Ringold--Alexis Prieto and Jennifer Slowey


Hans Angress--Brandon Masterson and Trina Palomar


Fred Graebe--Chantal Zharndt and Chase Kupperberg


Ursula Pederson--Sydney Torrano and Paige Laver


Bihama Vedaste--Nicole Powers and Javier Santana


Alma and Almir--Nancy Chavez and Vanessa Sanchez

New assignment

Students:

In class today, we will first review some important protocols and sensitivities for interviewing survivors of genocide. Then we will head to the computer lab and do research in our teams of two, developing specific questions for our interviewee. A draft of six questions is due by the end of class, to be revised and resubmitted by Monday at noon for my review.

Take notes during your interview and submit to me on Thursday for completion of this assignment. This material will be incorporated into your midterm paper.

Students: Make a first and second choice from the list below and write a paragraph on your reason for those choices, i.e. what interests you particularly, personal connections, etc. Bring this paragraph to class on Thursday or email it to me before class. We will prepare for the interviews in class on Thursday (soccer players will meet on Monday with me; email me a time you are available.)

Jim

 

Perspectives on Altruism from Survivors of Genocide

This event brings together survivors and descendants of survivors of three genocides: the Holocaust, Rwanda and Bosnia. The students in a section of Freshman Year Seminar who are studying the possibility of altruism through the power of testimony will speak with these survivors in interviews over coffee at 10:30am at various locations around campus. All will join together for lunch in St. Joseph’s Lounge at noon . At the end of lunch and over dessert, the survivors and descendants will form a panel for summaries of their beliefs about altruism based on their experiences and after years of reflection. Those assembled will join in questions and comments, concluding the day with a lively discussion about what these historical experiences reveal about human nature and the potential to act in full regard for the other.

Guest Panelists

Ursula Pederson              Kindertransport from Germany to England

Hans Angress                    German refugee hidden in the Netherlands

Fred Graebe                     son of Herman Graebe, German engineer and rescuer of Jews in the Ukraine

Jeannette Ringold           Dutch Jewish child hidden in the Netherlands

Bihama Vedaste               child survivor of the Rwandan Genocide

Alma  Ferizovic and        child survivors of the Bosnian Genocide

Almir Zalihic

Dear Students:

Could you read this library guide.....

http://libguides.ndnu.edu/usingthelibrary/welcome

...and take the following "quiz

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnKVrod7uRYEF9pbgl9hmyx4XGmmeQEv7XPUPE5pmL8gmuoQ/viewform?c=0&w=1

by October 13th class.

Thanks!

Jim

Students: A copy of Block and Drucker's Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust is on reserve in the library. The bookstore also has plenty. Jim

Link to Ken Burns documentary on Holocaust rescue. On PBS Tuesday evening.
Substitute credit opportunity.

http://www.defyingthenazis.org/

Link to a review of the Burns documentary that mentions many other Holocaust rescue stories.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/opinion/sunday/would-you-hide-a-jew-from-the-nazis.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Link to a project related to the Burns documentary that can become a project option for you.

http://www.storiesofmoralcourage.org/

Reading all this material and writing a blog post: substitute credit for one class.
Watching the Tuesday night broadcast and writing review: substitute credit for two classes.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/art/article/Farmworker-images-from-California-and-Mexico-come-9222797.php#photo-10898377

Here's the link to a review of the new art exhibit in Wiegand Gallery. As you see on our syllabus, you are required to attend and write a summary and comment blog entry. The exhibit is open starting today and runs through October 22.

• Weapons of the Spirit The Astonishing Story of a Unique Conspiracy of Goodness (film)
• Irena Sendler In the Name of Their Mother (film)
• In Darkness (film)
• Schindler's List (film)
• Tak for Alt: Survival of the Human Spirit (film)
• The Courage to Care (film) and The Courage to Care:Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust by Carol Rittner (book) (to be done together)
• Besa Muslims who saved Jews in World War II, Norman H. Gershman (book)

Within two weeks of absence, read or watch any of these items and post a one-page review (summary and comment) on the blog.

Course Outline

Class # Date     Group        Assignment Due_                 rev.9/12

0          8/26      class    Martyr of the Amazon writing assignment

1          8/30      pod       Robert Coles, Call to Service writing

2          9/1        pod       Online Source # 1: viewing notes

3          9/6        pod            Portfolio started link sent

4          9/8        pod/class      Sr. DorothyStang 2 page paper due

5          9/13      class           Online Source #2: blog entry

6          9/15      class           Man’s Search for Meaning (MSM) to p.41

7          9/20      class                MSM to p.94 blog entry

8          9/22      class                read Rescuers, 1-18, 230-234

            9/22                  Required Besa: The Promise, NDNU Theater, 7pm         

9          9/27      class         Rescuers, 19-89; blog on Besa event

10         9/29      class*         Online Source #3: blog

                         Training for I-Witness project and presentation—*time TBD

11         10/4      class         Rescuers, 90-157; blog entry

12         10/6      class           Rescuers, 158-229; blog entry

            10/6                 Optional Recommended Activity: Matt Black’s Photography, Wiegand Gallery;

Required: Student visit during run of Matt Black exhibit  (it closes October 22) required, followed by blog entry

13         10/11                      St. Joe’s Lounge at 9:30am

14         10/13    class              Rescuers, 235-249; blog entry on CTA

15         10/18    class          Online Sources #4 and #5

            10/18      Optional Recommended Activity: Internship and Volunteer Fair

16         10/20    class        Man's Search for Meaning, pps. 97-165/ quiz on this and Hallmarks booklet

17         10/25    pod            Position Paper #1 due: "What I have learned about altruism so far"

18         10/27    pod            Personal Discernment/Mentor presentation                 

            10/28   Optional Recommended: Lenci Farkas, Shoah Survivor, Province Center 2pm

            10/28    Optional Recommended Activity: Halloween in the Tenderloin

19         11/1      class                       begin VOWR readings

20         11/3      pods                        continue VOWR readings

21         11/8      class                 VOWR pps.9-32, 369-396; blog

22         11/10    class                            VOWR pps.33-86; blog                                     

            11/11     Optional Recommended: Veterans’ Interfaith Prayer Service, Chapel at noon

23         11/15    class                            VOWR pps.87-148; blog            

24         11/17    class                             VOWR pps.149-196: blog

            11/17                     Required SDSC/Library Speaker Series 4pm; Ruth Jacobs Gibson

25         11/22    class                     VOWR pps.197-246;blog on speaker

26         11/24    no class                 Thanksgiving Holiday

27         11/29    class                        VOWR pps.247-284; blog

28         12/1      class                 VOWR pps.285-330; blog

29         12/6      class                  VOWR pps.331-368; Paper #2 due

30         12/8      class                        VOWR pps.397-404

Week of December 12: Final Exam (TBD)

http://academics.triton.edu/uc/Ethics/PDF_Files/Hallie.pdf

This link works!

Blog entries should be two well-developed paragraphs, the first summary and the second comment. Summaries should include main ideas and major details of the reading or experience; comments should be on strengths and weaknesses and other evaluative and summative reflections.

Course Syllabus

IDS 1300-02  Self and Other: A Testimony-based Inquiry into the Possibility of Altruism

First Year Seminar           Jim McGarry, Instructor

Taught in collaboration with FYS sections of Professors Madeleine Fitzgerald

and Vince Fitzgerald   St. Mary’s 113, 8:00-9:15am TTH

 

 

Philosophy of The Freshman Seminar

The instructors of the Freshman Seminar believe that great scholarship, academic success and 21^st century life and leadership skills require a strong academic foundation that transcends disciplinary boundaries. NDNU’s Freshman Seminar is taught with this premise in mind. This collaboratively-taught interdisciplinary course is intended to establish a rigorous foundation for academic excellence in a mission-driven university setting. The course is designed to be an intensive, transitional experience developing the intellectual vision, curiosity, interests and capabilities of the incoming student; promoting personal identity development and discernment; and providing an equitable introduction to NDNU’s high-impact pedagogical practices. We hope and trust that this integrated learning experience will encourage students to develop themselves as whole persons, agents in their own process of professional and vocational discernment, members of collaborative campus communities, and co-creators of a more just society. We are dedicated to helping every student succeed in these goals.

 

Course Theme

     Is it really possible for one person to act with full regard for another? If this is possible in everyday situations, can it also be possible for a person to risk even one’s family and one’s self to protect the life of another individual, another family in crisis? We will explore these questions from several disciplines, but we will particularly use a very privileged source: the testimony of those who have been the beneficiaries of very dramatic and risky altruistic rescue.  Specifically, we will hear directly from survivors of the Holocaust, most of whom are known as “hidden children.”  We will do this in historical context—really the context of cruelty, the Shoah—in which these acts occurred. So we will be studying the possibility of goodness in a time of radical evil. On Call to Action Day, October 11, you will be meeting, interviewing and sharing a meal with several of these honored guests who were gifted with altruistic rescue.

     In the second quarter of this class, we will be “testing” our empathetic listening as a foundation for altruism, as we read testimony from a variety of people in human rights crisis in our contemporary world. Your projects and your writing will help you towards the goal of a personal philosophy regarding the potential of human nature for evil and good.

     It is the intention of my colleagues in this FYS pod that our themes of the meaning of happiness, the process of learning and the possibility of altruism will support each other and enhance student learning.

 

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes for the course revolve around NDNU’s Mission and its Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) for Mission, Values and Engagement (MVE). Codes in parentheses below indicate how each course learning outcome maps to these broader areas. Course learning outcomes are pursued through a variety of activities including reading, writing, discussion, lecture and experiential engagement. Course activities will help students learn to…

 

 

 

Mission

·        critically engage with the mission of the university and the Hallmarks of a Notre Dame de Namur Learning Community; (Mission Statement, MVE ILOs 1-7)

·        demonstrate first-year academic skills in critical thinking, oral communication and information literacy, including introduction to and use of rubrics; (Mission Statement (academic excellence), MVE ILO 3)

·        demonstrate first-year technology skills; (Mission Statement (academic excellence))

 

Values

·        reflect on discernment of personal identities, values, vocation and curricular pathways, and identify areas of personal intellectual curiosity; (Mission Statement, MVE ILOs 1 & 7)

·        identify campus resources to assist in personal and/or community leadership development; (Mission Statement, MVE ILOs 4 & 7)

 

Engagement

·        distinguish between community engagement / service learning practices as conducted at NDNU and traditional forms of community service; (MVE ILOs 1-6) and

·        demonstrate practical skills in working with community partners. (MVE ILOs 2-7)

 

Course Format

The Freshman Seminar is a collaborative and participatory course. Sections are grouped in Pods of three, and the three sections in a Pod are collaboratively planned and taught. Pods meet as a group for approximately one quarter to one third of all class meetings. The following campus offices participate in the planning and teaching of the Seminar: Student Leadership, the Sr. Dorothy Stang Center, Center for Spirituality, Library, Academic Success Center, Writing Center, Institutional Research. Course assignments are developed in collaboration with these offices and provide the basis for informed class discussions designed to stimulate and develop critical thinking and communication skills. Students are expected to complete each assignment in a timely manner.

 

Course Outline

Class #   Date       Group         Theme/Focus                                                 Assignment Due_                     rev.8/30

0              8/26        class            Orientation Engagement Encounter          Martyr of the Amazon writing assignment

 

1              8/30        pod               Introductions and OEE Reflection             Robert Coles, Call to Service writing

2              9/1          pod               Sr. Dorothy Stang’s life and work             Online Source # 1: viewing notes submitted

 

3              9/6          pod               Holocaust Literacy/ Portfolio                     Portfolio started, 9/1 and 9/6 entries added

4              9/8          pod/class      Rubrics/ discussion of writing                   Sr. DorothyStang  2 page paper due              

                                               

5              9/13        class              Altruism, the Problem                                  Online Source #2: blog entry

6              9/15        class              The Shoah: indispensable testimony?     Man’s Search for Meaning (MSM) to p.41

 

7              9/20        class              Shoah: the meaning of atrocity                                 MSM to p.94 blog entry

8              9/22        class              Albania’s Rescue of Jews during WWII    Rescuers, 1-18, 230-234

 

                9/22                             Required Besa: The Promise, NDNU Theater, 7pm                                                                                                               

9              9/27        class            Understanding Rescue in Context: Holland   Rescuers, 19-89; blog on Besa event

10           9/29        class*           Nicki Bamberger, JFCS Holocaust Center:    Online Source #3: blog summary

                                                     Training for I-Witness project and presentation—*time TBD

 

11           10/4        class            Testimony of Individual Rescuers                    Rescuers, 90-157; blog entry

12           10/6        class            Preparing for Testimony of the Rescued         Rescuers, 158-229; blog entry

 

                10/6                             Optional Recommended Activity: Matt Black’s Photography, Wiegand Gallery;

     Student visit during run of exhibit required, followed by blog entry

 

13           10/11                           Call to Action Day; Interviews and Panel,    St. Joe’s Lounge at 9:30am

14           10/13     class             Reflection on Call to Action Day                    Rescuers, 235-249; blog entry

 

15           10/18     class             Summary, Review                                               Online Sources #4 and #5

 

                10/18                          Optional Recommended Activity: Internship and Volunteer Fair

 

16           10/20     class           Summary and Review, paper preview               I-Witness Projects due

 

17           10/25     pod              Hallmarks of ND Learning Institutions           Position Paper #1 due

18           10/27     pod              Personal Discernment/Mentor presentation                           

 

                10/28                          Optional Recommended Activity: Lenci Farkas, Shoah Survivor, Province Center 2pm

                10/31                          Optional Recommended Activity: Halloween in the Tenderloin

 

19           11/1        class            Presentations: I-Witness                                      begin VOWR readings

20           11/3        pods            Presentations: I-Witness (cont.)                       continue VOWR readings

 

21           11/8        class            Palestine Speaks                                                    VOWR pps.9-32, 369-396; blog               

22           11/10     class            Surviving Justice                                                    VOWR pps.33-86; blog                                                              

                11/11                          Optional Recommended: Veterans’ Interfaith Prayer Service, Chapel at noon

 

23           11/15     class            Voices from Storm/Underground America       VOWR pps.87-148; blog                             

24           11/17     class            Out of Exile/Hope Deferred                                 VOWR pps.149-196: blog

               

                11/17                          Required SDSC/Library Speaker Series 4pm; Ruth Jacobs Gibson

 

25           11/22     class            Nowhere To Be Home/Patriot Acts                      VOWR pps.197-246;blog on speaker

26           11/24     no class      Thanksgiving Holiday

 

 

27           11/29     class            Inside This Place/Throwing Stones                    VOWR pps.247-284; blog

28           12/1        class            Refugee Hotel/High Rise Stories                         VOWR pps.285-330; blog

 

29           12/6        class            Invisible Hands                                                       VOWR pps.331-368; Paper #2 due

30           12/8        class            Universal Declaration of Human Rights           VOWR pps.397-404

 

Week of December 12: Final Exam (TBD)

 

 

Required Books:

1.       Frankl, Victor, Man’s Search for Meaning

2.       Block, Gay and Drucker, Malka, Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust

3.       Eggers, David, (ed.), The Voice of Witness Reader: Ten Years of Amplifying Unheard Voices

4.       Murphy, Roseanne, Martyr of the Amazon

5.       Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, The Hallmarks of a Notre Dame Learning Community

Online Sources:

1.       https://vimeo.com/80408522  The Student, the Nun, and the Amazon (film)

2.       http://academics.triton.edu/uc/Ethics/PDF_Files/Hallie.pdf  “From Cruelty to Goodness,” Philip Hallie

3.       https://sfi.usc.edu/  and https://sfi.usc.edu/vha  Shoah Foundation website and Visual History Archive

4.       http://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20699.pdf  “A Glimmer of Light,” Nechama Tec

5.       https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/pdf/resources/fogelman_the_rescuer_self.pdf “The Rescuer Self,” Eva Fogelman

Requirements

1)      Formal papers and writings not to exceed 20 pages. Unless otherwise noted, all papers are due in hard copy at the beginning of the class period for which they are assigned.

2)      Critical reading and discussion of full-length and other texts as assigned by the professor.

3)      Attendance at the following six co-curricular activities which take place outside of normal class meeting times: Orientation Engagement Experience (8/26), Call to Action Day (10/11), Library Speaker Series (11/17), Freshman Research Conference (11/3), one Student Life activity, and one student performance event. For NDNU athletes, the student performance event must be a non-athletic event; for non-athletes, the student performance event must be an athletic event.

4)      Technology skills are developed through research, e-readings, appropriate use of email communications, and creation of an online portfolio containing: reflections on the six co-curricular activities noted above, three examples of first-semester student work of which the student is particularly proud, and one end-of-semester reflection on mission, values and engagement. Special training will be given for the I-Witness program.

5)      Information literacy skills are developed through rigorous research activities. All students will complete a research project relating to their course content and present this to their peers.

6)      Effective personal discernment also proceeds through rigorous research activities as part of a series of guided reflections on personal identity and values. Therefore, students will also complete a discernment project and this project will give students an opportunity to apply their research skills.

7)      Note-taking and careful reading are essential academic skills. Students are expected to keep appropriate and effective records of reading assignments and classroom activities, even when they must be absent from class. Following an absence, students should obtain notes from a peer, then follow up with the professor regarding any items that are unclear.

8)      Oral communication opportunities develop confidence and skill in public speaking.  These will include informal communication in discussions, impromptu speaking and formal presentations.

9)      First-year community engagement activities form the foundation for success in subsequent courses incorporating community engagement and provide an experiential platform for exploration of course content and discernment of student’s own ethics and values. All students will participate in community engagement activities as part of their Freshman Seminar.

10)  Attendance and participation are required. Each student may have up to 3 absences to deal with unexpected illness or emergency. Every absence greater than 3 will adversely affect your grade.

 

Evaluation

Attendance and Participation                 20%

Final Exam and Quizzes                        20%

Writing Assignments and Blog   20%

I-Witness Project and Presentation       20%

Position Papers                         20%

 

·        Attendance and Participation: Credit must be received for 30 class meetings plus mandatory special events. Any classes missed, up to a limit of three, must be made up through an alternative assignment which will usually involve attendance at an ancillary event on or off campus, including a report and reflection on the experience. See Course Outline for examples. No credit will be received in this category if more than three classes are missed. Three tardies equal one missed class. Unexcused absences include sports conflicts, illnesses (non-catastrophic) and family reasons (acute.)

·        Exams and Quizzes: No midterm, but project due that day. Final exam the week of December 12, plus reading quizzes, announced and unannounced throughout semester.

·        Writing Assignments and Blog: smaller written assignments based on prompts; blog entries as assigned.

·        I-Witness Project and Presentation: Special training will be given for this assignment and library and computer help will be available. Presentations will be made to the class and selected projects will be presented at all-FYS event

·        There are two position papers due just after the midterm and just before the final, describing your philosophical position, as it is forming, on the central theme of the class, altruism. Details on the elements of a “position paper” will be distributed and discussed.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a violation of NDNU’s code of student ethics and will not be tolerated. It is a form of intellectual dishonesty that involves the theft of another person’s ideas, language and/or written thought processes. One violation will result in a failing grade for the assignment; repeated or flagrant plagiarism may result in failure of the course or dismissal from the University. See Student Handbook.

 

Note to Students with Disabilities

Students with Disabilities: As required by section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the instructor will make appropriate accommodations for all students with documented disabilities. In order for accommodations to be in place, you are required to bring appropriate documentation (evidence must be in writing) to the PASS office. You should notify the PASS office by either calling Dr. Peggy Koshland Crane at 650-508-3670 or stopping by the office at New Hall 19E or sending an email to mcrane@ndnu in order to schedule an appointment.

 

Course Learning Outcomes Mapped to Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) and Mission

NDNU’s Institutional Learning Outcomes relating to Mission, Values & Engagement are as follows:

Upon graduating from NDNU, students will be able to…

1)       reflect on the heritage of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in the context of student’s own values and belief systems;

2)       develop relationships that honor the dignity of each person;

3)       connect ethical implications of professional and liberal arts course content to the promotion of justice and peace through personal decisions and actions;

4)       apply classroom learning to address community and social problems, using the Reflection-Action-Reflection model;

5)       demonstrate understanding of the value of diversity;

6)       assess the role of community-building activities and collaborative decision making processes; and

7)       demonstrate spiritual or ethical leadership skills in working toward a more just society.

 

The university’s Mission Statement is:

Founded upon the values of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and rooted in the Catholic tradition, Notre Dame de Namur University serves its students and the community by providing excellent professional and liberal arts programs in which community engagement and the values of social justice and global peace are integral to the learning experience. NDNU is a diverse and inclusive learning community that challenges each member to consciously apply values and ethics in his or her personal, professional and public life.

 

Average Student Workload Expectations:  Class time consists of 45 hours. Students are expected to engage in approximately 90 hours of out-of-class homework over the fifteen weeks, or approximately six hours per week. Course assignments are made in accordance with this expectation.