Development of Western Civilization

A Providence College education prepares a student to be someone, more than to do something. It prepares students to hear more when they listen, reach deeper when they think, and say more when they speak. The Development of Western Civilization (DWC) program, the centerpiece of Providence College’s Core Curriculum, is at the heart of this preparation.

DWC is a team-taught excursion into the ideas, events, and people who have shaped Western Civilization. When it was first introduced in 1971, it was the only program of its kind in the nation. Four decades later, the DWC Program has been revitalized in ways that will develop active, engaged learners, well-prepared to succeed in the 21st century. Anchored in tradition, the revitalized DWC remains unique among core curricula in higher education in terms of its intellectual goals, structure, and pedagogy.

The revitalized DWC is a four semester, 16-credit course taken in the freshman and sophomore years, organized around seminar-style classes. It is taught by a team of three faculty members, covering the Ancient, Medieval, and Modern periods of Western Civilization in the first three semesters, followed by a team-taught colloquium in the fourth semester focusing on a contemporary issue in the context of the Western tradition. To accomplish its goals, the seminar size has been reduced from 22 students to 15-18.

DWC epitomizes interdisciplinary, team-teaching in an intimate environment. Faculty teaching in the program are committed to interdisciplinary inquiry and are experienced in collaborative pedagogy. Students are not only exposed in interdisciplinary approaches to enduring questions of Western Civilization, they are asked to speak and write with interdisciplinarity.