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Trinity’s Curriculum
Trinity's curriculum consists of a core liberal arts education plus so much more. The "plus" reflects the countless real-world learning opportunities that come from being a selective liberal arts college in a small, globally connected capital city.
General Education
Fostering intellectual curiosity and core competencies, Trinity’s general education is designed to give each student the freedom to explore academic interests, discover passions, and acquire the breadth of knowledge integral to a liberal arts education. Our curriculum equips students with the flexibility of a general education and the capacity to become innovative thinkers.
Trinity’s general education curriculum has five key components:
- A First-Year Seminar. All students take a first-year seminar or participate in a Gateway Program, introducing them to the academic life of the college and reinforcing essential practices, including the capacity to write compellingly and read critically, conduct research and analysis, and communicate effectively and collaboratively.
- Foundational Skills. To have the basic tools needed to succeed in today’s world, students must demonstrate writing proficiency, quantitative literacy, and competency in a second language.
- Distributional Breadth. Since one of the hallmarks of a liberal arts education is breadth of knowledge, students take at least one course in each of these fields of study: the arts, humanities, natural sciences, numerical & symbolic reasoning, and social sciences.
- Writing-Intensive Courses. In reinforcing writing and critical thinking skills throughout a student’s four years, all students complete at least two writing-intensive courses, including the first-year seminar.
- Global Engagement. To thrive in a diverse global context, all students complete a course with a “global” focus or participate in a study-abroad program.
Majors and Minors
Depth is achieved through the majors and minors. We offer almost 40 majors and dozens of minors, both in traditional disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. Students are advised to choose majors that excite them, cultivate their personal strengths, and in which they are most likely to excel. In addition to acquiring depth in a particular field, majors and minors permit students to hone their writing, analytical, problem-solving or artistic skills; to develop close ties with a community of academic peers, and to enjoy intensive research and experiential learning opportunities. An integrating exercise, such as a seminar, thesis or final project, marks the capstone of a Trinity education.
To help students choose appropriate entry-level courses for select majors, please refer to this list based on recommendations from the academic department chairs.
Co-Curricular Opportunities
The city of Hartford as well as our program sites abroad further extend the learning possibilities, offering an abundance of co-curricular opportunities, from robust internships and student research grants to community learning projects and other forms of experiential learning and applied knowledge. Students in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and STEM disciplines all benefit from these offerings. These rich co-curricular experiences supplement in-class learning, reinforcing student skill sets and shaping academic and post-graduate trajectories.
Curriculum Committee
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Co-Curricular Initiatives
Campus-Wide, Cross-Cutting Conversations
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Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift ’87 at Trinity to Talk about ‘Sororities: Then & Now’
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