The Kirkpatrick Signature Series is the intellectual linchpin of Bellevue University's undergraduate degree programs. The series focuses on various institutions and traditions of Western Civilization that have achieved unprecedented success in the United States. It finds ground for intellectual, social, and cultural progress through the productive tensions that can arise between tradition, change, freedom, and responsibility.
The series also highlights the importance of active citizenship in a rapidly changing world; one in which popular government, Western tradition, and American values are sometimes severely tested. With an emphasis on active intellectual discussion and experiential learning; this series affirms the values of limited government, popular rule, entrepreneurial processes, and reflective inquiry.
The Kirkpatrick Signature Series fits an information-age philosophy and reflects a dynamic approach to the complex realities of life in the 21st Century.
This course helps students discover what it means to be engaged citizens and how engaged citizenship relates to their education. This course introduces the principles expressed in the founding documents of the United States, and the role of education as the cornerstone of citizenship. Students will explore the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and Bill of Rights; consider what it means to be educated and engaged; and reflect on their experiences and aspirations as contributing members of their communities. Prerequisite: Completion of 21 hours of university-level coursework or permission of the course director.
Students will continue to plan and begin to execute an individualized project around a significant issue, question, or problem that requires multiple perspectives, and skills. Students will explain the value of their projects in terms of engaged citizenship and as representations of their cumulative learning. Projects may include independent research, creative work (e.g., art or design), study abroad, or community engagement. Prerequisite: LA 250
Students will complete an individualized project demonstrating engaged citizenship and their cumulative learning in undergraduate studies, and make a public presentation of the project. Prerequisite: LA 250 and 350.
There are no substitution, ELA, or transfer courses for the Kirkpatrick Signature Series.