About CSEM
The Arts and Letters College Seminar stands as the signature course for students in the College of Arts and Letters. Usually taken in the sophomore year, it provides a singular learning experience by concentrating attention upon a particular question or theme, consisting of a great idea or a significant issue. The College Seminar has two broad goals: to expose students to interdisciplinary study and to improve their speaking skills.
Interdisciplinary Study
Faculty will introduce students to the diversity of disciplines that characterize the College of Arts and Letters. Thus, every College Seminar is required to be interdisciplinary, meaning that the syllabus should include some component from each of the three divisions of the College: the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
Faculty members select topics that emerge from their own interests and expertise, and construct syllabuses that draw from a range of works reflecting the diversity of the College. The purpose is to expose students to the varied ways in which different disciplines take up and contribute to the understanding of important questions and topics.
Learn more at Student Learning Outcomes. Visit PATH for class descriptions by semester.
Inclusion Statement
Consistent with the mission of the University of Notre Dame, the faculty and staff of the College Seminar Program are dedicated to fostering a learning community that represents and builds on a rich diversity of human experiences, backgrounds, cultures, histories, ideas, and ways of living.
We also commit to the task of negotiating the dual priorities of authentic free speech and active regard for all others in a safe, supportive, and anti-oppressive classroom environment. An anti-oppressive environment means we work against language, actions, interactions and ideologies that hurt people.
Hate speech of any kind will not be permitted. This includes the use of slurs related to race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, class, age, or disability, and personal attacks on others’ ideas. This is not intended to exclude respectful discussion of hate speech.