Enduring Questions & Ideas (Q&I)
Concordia is among a distinctive group of universities that offer a coherent liberal arts curriculum for all of its students. Rather than asking you to cobble together a meaningful general education experience from a vast array of disconnected distribution courses, our signature curriculum Enduring Questions & Ideas (Q&I, for short) is carefully crafted so that you discover the purpose of a liberal arts education - to grow intellectually, ethically, and spiritually. Through Q&I Core and Exploration courses, all Concordia students engage in an academic experience that provides a foundation for further learning and for life.
Q&I Core Courses
Q&I Core is comprised of classic liberal arts courses offered in small, innovative learning communities. Q&I Core courses are taken together in linked pairs: biology with theology, mathematics with philosophy, and history with literature. For transfer students, we offer a unique pair: philosophy with theology. Q&I Core classes typically have just 25 students, giving you a close-knit learning community.
Concordia's Q&I Core classes are mostly taught by full-time professors. Interaction with the professors is not limited to the classroom setting either. You are encouraged to meet with your professors during office hours. In fact, Q&I Core classes typically offer tutorials where you meet with your professors individually to discuss your papers and develop your ideas.
Q&I Exploration Courses
Concordia’s Q&I Exploration courses build on Q&I Core. You will explore more big questions like “How shall I live?”; “How do I understand nature?”; “Why art?”; and “Who am I and who are they?” in disciplines like economics, exercise and sport science, astronomy, chemistry, music, creative writing, anthropology, and psychology.
Throughout Q&I, you will wrestle with life's foundational questions and ideas. You will be challenged to read great works closely, think critically and creatively about problems, communicate your ideas effectively in writing and speech, and make meaningful connections between academic disciplines, the Christian faith, and life. By developing your knowledge and strengthening your intellectual habits, you will become broadly prepared for life and further studies. You will develop into a wise, honorable, and cultivated citizen who can tackle life's challenges and use your gifts to serve society and the church.
Q&I Core challenged my faith but in the process made it stronger and really helped affirm why I chose Concordia over other private schools and especially over any public ones. I really grew and matured academically and spiritually.
Quick Notes on Q&I
- Concordia University Irvine is the home of the Association for Core Texts and Courses’ Liberal Arts Institute. This prestigious institute—composed of 11 universities that include Columbia, St. John’s, Pepperdine, and New York University—is committed to the preservation and promotion of “the integrated and common study of world classics and texts of major cultural significance.”
- In a recent survey of core liberal arts curricula at over 1,000 universities, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni rated just 24 colleges higher than Concordia. Concordia received a higher rating than numerous elite private and public universities like Harvard, Westmont, and the University of California—Irvine.
Q&I Core Courses
|
Freshman Year
Students entering with 29 or fewer semester units take 25 units:
|
| What are Truth, Goodness, & Beauty? |
| CMTH 101 |
The Nature of Mathematics |
3 |
| CPHI 101 |
Introduction to Philosophy |
3 |
| What is Truth? |
| CBIO 101 |
Integrated Biology |
4 |
| CTHL 101 |
Foundations of Christian Theology |
3 |
|
Sophomore Year
|
| Who is a Virtuous Citizen? |
| CENG 201 |
World Literature to the Renaissance |
3 |
| CHST 201 |
The West and the World |
3 |
|
Junior Year
|
| What is the Nature of a Good Society? |
| CENG 202 |
World Literature from the Enlightenment |
3 |
| CHST 202 |
America and the World |
3 |
|
Sophomore Transfer Q&I Core
Students entering with 30-59 semester units take 12 units:
|
| What Does It Mean to be Human? |
| CPHI 200 |
Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry |
3 |
| CTHL 200 |
Introduction to Theological Thought |
3 |
|
Choose one of the following course pairings:
|
| Who is a Virtuous Citizen? |
| CENG 201 |
World Literature to the Renaissance |
3 |
| CHST 201 |
The West and the World |
3 |
| What is the Nature of a Good Society? |
| CENG 202 |
World Literature from the Enlightenment |
3 |
| CHST 202 |
America and the World |
3 |
|
Junior/Senior Transfer Q&I Core
Students entering with 60 or more semester units take 6 units:
|
| What Does It Mean to be Human? |
| CPHI 200 |
Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry |
3 |
| CTHL 200 |
Introduction to Theological Thought |
3 |
Commendation for Q&I
Concordia's Q&I Core is rich in both educational traditions of the West and new explorations of the traditions of the wider world. Concordia's Q&I Core provides both disciplinary and interdisciplinary means of education, grounded in the Western, secular and Judeo-Christian, intellectual and spiritual developments, that will allow students to reach out from the West to works, faiths, and traditions around the world. The Q&I Core courses are remindful of the great courses in Literature, Humanities and Civilization that have been offered to students at some of the finest universities in the land.