Liberal Arts
Program overview
Short-Term & Semester Options:
At Sacred Heart University, the Liberal Arts form the heart of a well-rounded education, grounded in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and its commitment to the development of the whole person -mind, body, and spirit. Studying in Dingle, Ireland, brings this mission to life through a wide selection of liberal arts courses designed to fit all majors and academic interests.
Whether you choose a short-term program or a full semester, you’ll gain an international perspective while immersing yourself in Irish culture, language, and society. Explore diverse subjects such as literature, history, music, sociology, psychology, anthropology, archaeology, and religious studies.
Courses are enriched through field studies and on-site experiences, offering the chance to not just learn about Ireland, but to truly live it.
From seminar discussions to walking through ancient ruins or listening to traditional music in a local pub, studying in Dingle will expand your worldview, inspire your imagination, and deepen your understanding of humanity, all while keeping you on track toward graduation.
AN 230 – Culture, Community and Folklore
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Humanistic Inquiry
- Social and Global Awareness
Offered
Spring Semester
Winter Short-term
Faculty
description
AR 229 – Intro to Painting
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Humanistic Inquiry
Offered
Summer 2 Short Term
Faculty
description
In this site-specific offering of Intro to Painting, we will explore and document the Irish landscape, environs, and people of Dingle. Students will be provided a watercolor pad and watercolor kit to document their unique experience of Dingle through pictures and words, in a visual journal. The produced work will be catalogued and exhibited at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT in the semesters following the program.
The basic and essential skills of painting will be covered through demonstrations of landscape, portraits, and scene painting. The writing component will be explored through reflections, poetry, interviews, and/or essays. No previous painting experience is necessary. Let’s make art!
CIT 201 – Catholic Intellectual Traditions
3 Credits
Offered
Fall Semester
Faculty
description
CIT is Sacred Heart University’s academic signature core. It provide students with an interdisciplinary, foundational understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition from the classical to the contemporary periods. Using seminar pedagogy, it gives students an understanding of the roots and development of the Catholic intellectual tradition as an ongoing, 2,000-year conversation between the Catholic community of thinkers, writers, artists and the cultures in which they have lived, asking fundamental questions about God, humanity, society, and nature.
In addition, it introduces students to fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition; enable students to understand that Tradition as characterized by open, rigorous intellectual inquiry in the context of a faith tradition; engage students and faculty in seminar discussion; and enable students to see the value of this Tradition in the contemporary world help develop students’ reading, writing, and speaking skills.
CIT 202 – Catholic Intellectual Traditions II
3 Credits
Offered
Spring Semester
Faculty
description
CIT is Sacred Heart University’s academic signature core. It provide students with an interdisciplinary, foundational understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition from the classical to the contemporary periods. Using seminar pedagogy, it gives students an understanding of the roots and development of the Catholic intellectual tradition as an ongoing, 2,000-year conversation between the Catholic community of thinkers, writers, artists and the cultures in which they have lived, asking fundamental questions about God, humanity, society, and nature.
In addition, it introduces students to fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition; enable students to understand that Tradition as characterized by open, rigorous intellectual inquiry in the context of a faith tradition; engage students and faculty in seminar discussion; and enable students to see the value of this Tradition in the contemporary world help develop students’ reading, writing, and speaking skills.
CJ 299 – TRUE CRIME ACROSS THE POND: A US-IRISH PERSPECTIVE
3 Credits
Offered
Summer 1 Short Term
Faculty
description
The public’s fascination with true crime highlights the importance of understanding the approaches to dealing with the victims and offenders depicted in true crime through the
fields of victimology and criminology.
This course offers a comparative overview of the true crime genre concerning the victims of violent crimes and the offenders who commit
them. Students will be expected to draw comparisons between Ireland and the US regarding true crime popularity and how depictions of it are handled in each country.
CJ 299 – VILLAINS AND VICTIMS: A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY PROFILE OF IRISH TRUE CRIME CASES
3 Credits
Offered
Summer 2 Short Term
Faculty
Heather Jefferies MA
description
This course will examine the interactions between the legal field and psychological science. Topics will include: the role and function of how psychological research has contributed to the legal process, profiling, prediction of violence, police interrogation, false confessions, eyewitness testimony, insanity, and other topics. Students will use forensic psychology to analyze human behavior.
While in Ireland, students will be immersed in the culture and have an opportunity to see firsthand how the Irish justice system handles criminal cases and how forensic psychology can play a role in informing the legal practitioners, in comparison to the US.
ED 341/541 – Irish and American Education in Comparative Perspective
3 Credits
Offered
Summer 2 Short Term
Faculty
description
This course, based in the Gaeltacht region of West Kerry, compares the education system in Ireland with that of the United States. Topics addressed include curriculum and instruction, funding and governance, teacher preparation, multiculturalism, language policy, and contemporary school reform. Student will be introduced to the students and teachers of Dingle, Ireland and experience the Irish education system up-close and personal. You will observe classrooms in action, learn from Irish teachers and administrators, and meet teacher candidates and their professors.
Open to all students in FCE teacher preparation programs, the course counts in lieu of Education in the United States, Multicultural Education, or an MAT elective. ED 402 for undergraduate credit or ED 502 for graduate credit.
ENG 281 – Writing Identity in Ireland
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Humanistic Inquiry
- Social and Global Awareness
Offered
Spring Semester
Faculty
description
This workshop in creative writing is designed to encourage English majors’ and Irish Studies minors’ engagement with Irish literature through practice, the exercise of creative ideation, and to develop students’ deeper understanding and appreciation of historical and contemporary Irish literary texts through artistic expression.
Students will read and workshop their ideas about Irish and Irish-American-authored texts in class, which they will then build upon in weekly creative writings tasks. These projects will range from flash fiction to poetry, songwriting to scriptwriting and comic book-writing, which they will also share with each other in class and develop into a writing portfolio.
Unique to the SHU Dingle campus, participants of this creative writing workshop will attend a number of readings by local/contemporary authors (who write both in English and Irish) and present their own work in two open mic nights alongside local practitioners. Students will develop an ongoing dialogue on Irish, Irish-American, and outsider identity, through the sharing of their writing and ideas. They will enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore and expand the Irish literary tradition from inside the Dingle literary arts scene.
ENG 299 – Ghosts, Changelings, and Mermaids: Tradition and the Body in Irish Writing
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Social & Global Awareness
Offered
Summer 2 Short Term
Faculty
description
In this course we read Irish literature — poetry, fiction, plays, and essays — at the intersection of disability, illness, the body, gender, sexuality, class, contemporary and historical medical approaches, and folklore. Our classroom includes Dingle and the surrounding area, where we will encounter fairy forts, holy wells, haunted castles, literary festivals, and cosy pubs.
Readings include W. B. Yeats’s Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, Angela Bourke’s The Burning of Bridget Cleary: A True Story, and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s The Fifty Minute Mermaid. Guest speakers/trip leaders include folklorists, archeologists, and writers, and the course also includes a day-trip to the Listowel Writers Festival to hear authors discuss their work.
MA 131 – Statistics for Decision Making
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Scientific Literary
- Natural/Physical Science foundational core
Offered
Fall Semester
Faculty
description
This course is geared toward liberal arts, science, business, and health science majors.” It introduces descriptive statistics, probability distributions (both discrete and normal), confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and correlation. Real-world applications are offered throughout for a more practical understanding of statistics use.
MU 106 – Introduction to Irish Music
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Humanistic Inquiry
- Art/Design/Communications foundational core
Offered
Spring Semester
Fall Semester
Faculty
description
This course provides students with a thorough overview of traditional Irish music, song and dance from their earliest references right up to today’s influence on the world music stage. Aural, as well as some basic traditional musicianship skills, will be developed over the course. Students will experience firsthand the Irish music scene locally.
Attendance at sessions and “céilís” will enable them to savor Traditional music in its natural social setting. The course will study the history and development of the tradition, while also ensuring the students gain a deeper understanding of this tradition by learning some practical skills.
PH 271 – Bioethics: Philosophical Approaches
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Social & Global Awareness
- Humanistic Inquiry
- Scientific Literacy
Offered
Winter Short Term
Summer 1 Short Term
Faculty
description
Spend 2 weeks learning about ethical issues in health care by exploring compelling scenarios and case-studies. Study the role of ethics and the importance of Philosophy to the Irish Catholic Intellectual Tradition and investigate how health care concerns impact the lives of patients and health-care providers throughout southwestern Ireland.
Among the central topics to be covered include informed consent, medical futility, reproductive ethics, privacy, cultural competence, and clinical trials.
PS 295 – Health Psychology
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Social & Global Awareness
- Scientific Literary
Offered
Fall Semester
Faculty
description
Focuses on the relationship between attitudes and personality factors and health. Emphasis is on stress management and behavioral change methods for health improvement and maintenance.
PS 299 - IRISH INSPIRATIONS: A JOURNEY INTO THE CREATIVE ARTS
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Humanistic Inquiry
Offered
Summer 2 Short Term
Faculty
Lisa Smith, Psy.D.
description
The creative and expressive arts offer individuals a way to explore personal experiences through various artistic forms (e.g., dance/movement, visual arts, writing, drama and music). This course will focus on studying these different creative modalities from an Irish perspective. While in Dingle, students will learn foundational knowledge about the history, theory, and practical applications of the creative arts.
In addition, course excursions will be used to help students tap into their creativity by exploring museums, Irish towns, listening to Irish music, participating in an Irish dance class and interacting with local guest speakers. Upon returning to the United States, students will reflect on how their experiences in Ireland influenced their personal growth and creative expression.
PS 389 – Celtic Connections & Enriching the Brain
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
Offered
Summer 1 Short Term
Faculty
Rachel Bowman, Ph.D.
Dawn Melzer, Ph.D.
description
Engaging with Irish preschoolers, visiting the aquarium and creating enrichment activities for the animals, participating in a Celtic Cub Scavenger Hunt, immersing yourself in meditation in an Irish forest during Shinrin-Yoku and being exposed to Irish music and language through guest speakers and excursions.
These are just some of the experiences you will have in this course which offers an applied approach to understanding neuroscience, the intersection between psychology and biology. Students will examine key concepts in neuroscience including neuroplasticity, language acquisition, learning, stress, and environmental enrichment in applied settings.
In addition, it introduces students to fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition; enable students to understand that Tradition as characterized by open, rigorous intellectual inquiry in the context of a faith tradition; engage students and faculty in seminar discussion; and enable students to see the value of this Tradition in the contemporary world help develop students’ reading, writing, and speaking skills.
TRS 271 – Celtic Religious Traditions
3 Credits
liberal arts exploration
- Humanistic Inquiry
- Social and Global Awareness
- Theology/Religious Studies foundational core
Offered
Fall Semester
Winter Short Term
Spring Semester
Faculty
description
Study the ancient religion of Ireland, of gods and goddesses, ancestors and rituals, holy places and sacred rulers. Learn about the Celtic origins of Halloween, and the great seasonal festivals of the druids. Walk through the landscape and discover traditions and customs from ancient times that are reflected in the modern world, through myth, place names and customs.
