Passport Program for First-Year Students
The Mission Statement of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) affirms our collective commitment to providing our students with a transformational education. This Mission Statement also articulates the main principles and purposes of such an education:
“As a liberal arts college within a Catholic and Jesuit University, The College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Scranton offers a wide range of academic programs based upon an understanding of transformational education as a means to academic excellence, personal and spiritual fulfillment, and thoughtful service to the human community. The College is a community of learners dedicated to providing a liberal arts education for all of the University’s students, to the pursuit of wisdom and the dissemination of knowledge, and to addressing the critical problems of the world.”
The CAS Passport Program has been designed to introduce students enrolled in the College’s academic programs to this educational ideal through a series of required co-curricular activities. In this way, the Passport Program links a University of Scranton education with its roots in the liberal arts tradition, with the core values of our community, and with our students’ lives beyond the classroom.
The required Passport Program activities for all first-year students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences are the following:
- Royal Read. During the summer before arriving on a campus, every first–year student will read the book assigned for that year’s Royal Read. The book will explore themes related to the University’s Catholic and Jesuit and Identity, the Ignatian Values in Action Lecture (item E, below), and the first-year seminar.
- Dean’s Address. During move-in weekend, all first-year students will attend an address by the College Dean, dealing with the University’s mission and identity, academic expectations, the Passport Program.
- Group Advising Sessions. Every first-year student with a declared major will attend an advising session offered by the major department. These sessions will be offered before the students begin registration through the College Advising Center. Departments might also invite potential majors, including those undeclared students who have expressed an interest. The CAS Advising Center will help identify these students. Students without declared majors (CAS Common Curriculum) will attend an advising program designed and organized by the CAS Dean’s Office.
- Introduction to the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE). Students will complete an introduction to the CTLE.
- Ignatian Values in Action Lecture. In the fall semester, every first-year student will attend this convocation-style lecture, in which the featured speaker will discuss some of the ways that Ignatian values have shaped his or her life and work. Faculty teaching the first-year seminar will be encouraged to require students to complete an assignment involving reflection upon this lecture and its connection to the course.
- The Life of the Mind. During the first year, every first-year student will attend at least four events from a calendar of “CAS Passport Events.” One must be attended in the fall, the other three will be attended during the spring semester. The calendar will be maintained within the CAS Passport course in Desire2Learn. Faculty may email Bryn.schofield@scranton.edu with events they wish to have included.
