Core Curriculum for General Education

The core curriculum at Mercer builds upon our strong liberal arts heritage and supplements the knowledge students attain from majors and minors.

A hallmark of a Mercer education is that students take interdisciplinary courses to build strong academic skills while exploring interesting ideas and texts. These classes are small (18 students or fewer) and are typically taught in roundtable style so that students can interact easily with each other and the professor. Students can choose between the Great Books Curriculum or the Integrative Curriculum. Both tracks include a foundation of Writing Instruction and are supplemented by Experiential Learning.

Great Books Curriculum

Within the Great Books program, students study and discuss the works of classic writers and thinkers of Western civilization. The Great Books series of classes surveys political, religious, philosophical, and scientific thought to explore how ideas of the past shape our 21^st century lives. The approach is text-centered and student-focused, and the Great Books program at Mercer is unique in that it is open to all interested students, not just a select few.

Integrative Curriculum

The Integrative Program combines traditional disciplinary course requirements with three multidisciplinary courses exploring self and others, community, and world. Mercer students explore these themes in innovative ways that combine perspectives from the arts, natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Students can have the unique opportunity to engage in high-impact activities such as service-learning and study abroad. By wrestling with ideas and delving into the unknown, students gain new perspectives and make sense of the world.