Faculty Resources
Courses must go through the Cardinal Core Curriculum Committee's (CCCC) course proposal process to be designated as Cardinal Core. Cardinal Core courses should be at the 100 or 200 level and with special consideration, the committee will review courses at the 300 level. Courses should be foundational in nature and appropriate for first and second year students. They must be open to registration by students in any undergraduate unit of the university. Courses should have no prerequisites other than placement scores or other Cardinal Core courses (e.g., Math or English Composition). Special Topics courses will not be considered for Cardinal Core.
Cardinal Core Designations
| Content Areas |
| Skills |
| Written Communication (WC) |
| Oral Communication (OC) |
| Quantitative Reasoning (QR) |
| Disciplinary Perspectives |
| Arts & Humanities (AH) |
| Social & Behavioral Sciences (SB) |
| Historical Perspective (SBH) |
| Natural Sciences (S, SL, B) |
| Competencies |
| U.S. Perspectives (P1) |
| Global Perspectives (P2) |
*Courses designated as P1 or P2, must also fulfill a content area. There are no Perspectives standalone courses.
*Departments may propose 4-hour interdisciplinary content courses that fulfill a skill (WC, OC, or QR) and a disciplinary perspective (AH, SB, SBH, S, SL, or B). These courses will be held to a higher level of scrutiny in the review process and require collaboration between experts in the disciplines. (Students are restricted to taking one dual-content course to fulfill their Cardinal Core requirements.)
Cardinal Core (CC) courses should be offered on a consistent basis (recommended at least once every academic year) to ensure an accurate listing of courses for student registration and advising purposes. In accordance with Cardinal Core Curriculum Committee (CCCC) practice, courses that are not offered within a five-year cycle will have the CC designation removed and be removed from the official CC course listing. To restore CC status, the requesting department must submit an updated syllabus through the Course Inventory Management (CIM) system for an expedited review by the CCCC. (Courses that were previously designated as CC courses will not be required to adhere to the November 15th deadline for new course proposals.)
For questions related to the Cardinal Core program, please contact the Cardinal Core Office (gecc@louisville.edu).