Students with laptops sitting in front of Crounse Hall

Curriculum

At Centre College, all students graduate with the skills, abilities, knowledge, and curiosity to change the world.


Your classes at the College will feature maximum flexibility within a few basic guidelines, known as the general education curriculum. These courses will help you develop your existing skills and allow you to explore the academic opportunities Centre has to offer. 


Centre’s general education curriculum helps students to:

  • Excel in writing and public speaking as well as learn to communicate effectively in an additional language, and with numbers
  • Learn about communities and their differences–from the local to the global, now and in the past–including an appreciation of diverse lived experiences and how power affects those experiences
  • Develop a broad knowledge of science and creative expression like the arts, and literature, and philosophy in all of their forms
  • Understand environmental sustainability
  • Think critically and introspectively, solve problems, and work collaboratively

With support from your advisor and other faculty members, you will design your own path to future success, in any form you want it to take!

 

Writing, Speaking, Collaborating

General Education seminars—named after Centre's motto "Doctrina Lux Mentis" and called DLM classes—prioritize writing and public speaking. This culminates in either your junior or senior year, when you spend a term working with a team of students from a variety of majors to address topics of real-world significance.

Centre students conducting a field study

Community Engagement

An essential part of a Centre education, community engagement takes place in the general education curriculum through community-based learning classes. Students also participate in a variety of community engagement activities through student organizations and clubs.

A student with a handheld device watches a monkey

Experiential Learning

Courses take place inside and outside of the classroom, on and off campus—even abroad, and allow you to get credit for hands-on learning with options like internships, community-based learning, faculty-mentored research, and active participation in the arts. 

Students working on mathematical models

Student Research

Faculty-mentored research opportunities abound at Centre - whether in the summer or during the academic year, you will have opportunities to work directly with faculty members one-on-one or as part of a research team.

Students use their bodies to spell out Centre in front of the Louvre in Paris

Study Abroad & Away

Centre is a top institution for study abroad, with semester-long programs in nine countries, including Mexico, France, England, and Ghana, along with study away programs in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Lake Tahoe. More than 85% of Centre students study abroad or away at least once, and our CentreTerm each January offers more opportunities to explore the world.

Student in Library

Course Catalog

Read about specific classes and learn more about the general education curriculum.