The Guided Studies Program is a non-major, interdisciplinary curriculum which the faculty authorized for implementation commencing with the freshman class that entered in 1979. The program is intended for strongly motivated students who wish to examine the evolution of Western civilization through an integrated study of European history, literature and thought from classical antiquity to the present. It concentrates on the primary issues and modes of interpretation that have shaped Western culture while introducing students to basic patterns of political, social and economic development. Courses in the humanities form the core of the program.

Those enrolled in the program take a specified sequence of courses that is characterized by both breadth and coherence. The various courses are integrated in such a way that significant connections are regularly drawn among them, thus ensuring that subjects are not studied in isolation.

The Guided Studies Program does not celebrate Western civilization to the detriment of other cultures. Rather, by furnishing students with greater knowledge of the West's leading cultural traditions, it tries to nurture the educated self-awareness and habits of critical inquiry that make possible the comprehension of other traditions. Furthermore, by exploring modes of Western culture in their historical setting, the program provides a context within which the student may make informed judgments about contemporary dilemmas and conflicts of value.

The program is designed to be compatible with every major at the College and may be taken by students whose main orientation is toward the natural sciences, social sciences or the arts as well as by those primarily concerned with the humanities. Although the sequence of courses is usually completed during the student's first four semesters of enrollment, it may be distributed across five or six semesters if such a pattern is more compatible with the student's overall plan of study. Students may use Guided Studies to satisfy the integration of knowledge requirement.

The program can accommodate only a limited number of students: approximately 25 in each entering class. Applicants for admission to Trinity who are interested in the program should send e-mail to the Admissions Office for further details.