Communio: A Liberal Arts Seminar
Dr. Deirdre Egan, Assistant Professor of English and Director of American Studies

St. Norbert College offers a first-year course, Communio: A Liberal Arts Seminar, to introduce new students to the College’s three fundamental traditions—liberal arts, Catholic and Norbertine. Through the lenses of these traditions, the course introduces students to the rigor, varied perspectives and critical inquiry of college-level thinking, writing, reading and speaking. Our hope is that participation in the course will enliven students’ intellectual curiosity, so that they might further pursue their other interests in future coursework and in the world of ideas more broadly.

The course includes a laboratory component, facilitated by staff members from Student Life and Mission and Heritage, that assists students in their adjustment to College life and encourages learning in the world beyond the classroom. To foster a greater sense of community, all Communio students reside in Bergstrom Hall. The key to the course is the production of thoughtful questions, and the act of conversation, rather than easy answers. Communio employs texts, films, discussion, writing assignments and activities, in order to bring students into the active ways of living, learning and service that exemplify the community of St. Norbert College at its very best.

Communio engages the liberal arts, Catholic intellectual and Norbertine traditions to consider a broad critical question such as “How shall we live a good life?” The course is comprised of small sections of 15 students or fewer, who work directly with one professor, and these sections are linked to four other sections taught by other professors to form a cluster around a common question. Each individual section meets on its own for part of the week, and will meet occasionally with the other sections to share knowledge and activities. Clusters of sections may address varied aspects of the critical question, for example, “How shall we live in a technological world?” “How shall we live as women and men?” or “How shall we live in the face of crisis?”

This semester, the cluster of five sections, taught by professors in the disciplines of psychology, modern languages and literatures, English, religious studies, and business administration, will address the question, “How shall we live true to ourselves and others?” Through this question, we will examine the tensions and nuances of living in a world that values individualism at the same time that it impels us to live communally.

The title of the course derives from the constitution of the Norbertine Order of priests, which defines the concept of Communio as the idea of persons existing for one another in a community that values “every kind of service, counsel, edification and courtesy and also through dialogue, communication, consultation, collaboration and a truly common life.” At St. Norbert College, through our living, learning and service, we hope to engender this kind of community.