Location: Moore Hall 101
Phone: 401-865-2231
Fax: 401-865-2057

Two ordering principles provide the structure of the course.  The first is chronology.  Over two years of study, students examine the major developments that have shaped Western Civilization from its beginnings in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, and Greece, at the start of the first semester of the freshmen year, to the current trends and developments marking the contemporary Western world, toward the end of the second semester of the sophomore year. 

The chronological approach is deepened by the second principle:  interdisciplinary study .  The interdisciplinary structure of the course means that all of the four major fields of study, together with the fine arts, are examined in relation to the larger developments of each time period. 

There are two main goals that the college aims to achieve.  The first is to foster the intellectual development of students as individuals.  We believe that college should provide students the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of both their world and themselves.  The second goal of the program is to provide students with a basis for further study.  The widespread fragmentation in higher education indicates that the complex reality of the civilization we seek to understand cannot be encompassed by any single discipline.  The complementary perspectives of several disciplines working together and learning from one another offer a more complete and critical way of exploring major issues. 

The program requires rigorous discipline from students in their first two years of college.  Effective reading and writing and thinking; analysis and synthesis of information and concepts; and understanding of key events, ideas, and forces that have shaped the Western world all contribute to the education Providence College seeks to provide.  By acquiring an understanding of the development of Western Civilization, students acquire a basis for understanding themselves and shaping their future.  They also acquire a basis for understanding other cultures and respecting their autonomous development.  At a time when critics often decry the decline in higher education of fundamental knowledge and thought, Providence College continues in this program to stress students' growth in understanding issues essential to an education in the humanities.

The faculty members who teach together as a team instructing a Western Civilization section not only impart the knowledge of their own discipline; they also link this knowledge to the other disciplines in order to examine the common questions, issues, and patterns of thought characteristic of particular times and places in the history of Western Civilization. 

Required Courses

• DWC 101 Development of Western Civilization I
• DWC 102 Development of Western Civilization II
• DWC 201 Development of Western Civilization III
• DWC 202 Development of Western Civilization IV

For course listings and descriptions, please see the on-line undergraduate catalog. 

Note:  DWC 101 is waived for students transferring to Providence College for the second semester of their freshman year; however, these students must take and additional course in either theology, philosophy, literature, or history unless this is accomplished through the requirements of the transfer student's major or minor.  All other transfer students are required to complete only one year of Development of Western Civilization.  They may choose either the DWC 101/102 or the DWC 201/202 sequence. 

Karen A. Holland, Ph.D., Director