Duke University - Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

The curriculum of a university serves as its hallmark: within it are reflected the values of the faculty, the capabilities of its students, and the aspirations of the institution. Curricula evolve through a continuing process of change. As institutions and areas of knowledge develop, so do courses of study and faculty interests. Such has been the case from the medieval trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic which formed the lower division of the seven liberal arts in medieval universities) to the open curricula of the 60's and 70's to the emphasis on active and experiential learning of the 80's and 90's. So it must also be today.
-- From the Curriculum 2000 Report

The Trinity College Curriculum

Instituted in 2000 and revised in 2004, the current curriculum was developed in response to the challenges we face in a time of extraordinary and extraordinarily rapid change. The transformations brought about by technological advances, the globalization of nations and markets, advances in science and genetics, and the emergence of entirely new fields of scholarly investigation challenge our students to think in new ways and to bring multiple perspectives to bear on complex issues. The curriculum is thus designed to better prepare our students for leadership roles in the increasingly knowledge-based economy and pluralistic, globally interconnected world.

Information on the Trinity College Curriculum, including general education requirements and competencies, can be found here.

Course Requests

The basic element of the curriculum is, naturally, the course, but Duke's curriculum recognizes explicitly that courses can and do teach more than a specific substantive topic. They often also teach ways of knowing, specific skills and/or the relationship of a specific topic to a broader, often
interdisciplinary, theme. Faculty and departments, in requesting approval for new courses and changes to existing courses, are also able to link each course to certain specific general education requirements.

Information on the processes and procedures for making course requests, including criteria, guidelines, forms, and templates for use by faculty when making requests for adding new courses or revising existing courses can be found here.

Curricular Proposals and Reviews

Because the intellectual inquiries and methodologies of disciplines and fields change continuously,  processes and procedures exist for periodic review and, at times restructuring, of both curricular and pedagogical approaches in the major, as well as in the minor and in interdisciplinary certificate programs. Departments and programs may propose new majors, minors, and certificate programs, or request approval to changes in existing ones.

Information on the processes and procedures for curricular proposals including guidelines, criteria, forms, and templates for use by faculty when making requests for adding or revising majors, minors, and certificate programs can be found here.  Guidelines for self-study for use by programs as part of the regular review process can also be found here.