The Foundations Program

Build the Foundation for a transformative education, a meaningful career, and a fulfilling life.

The Foundations Program will provide you with a Catholic liberal arts education that prepares you for thoughtful and meaningful engagement with your majors and minors, your co-curricular activities, your careers, and your lives more broadly. Enlivened by the Catholic affirmation of the harmony of faith and reason, Foundations will immerse you in multiple modes of inquiry as you boldly seek the true, the good, and the beautiful wherever they can be found. By encouraging you to pursue truth in the company of friends, Foundations will help you develop academically, emotionally, personally, and spiritually. In these ways, the Foundations Program will further Assumption University’s mission of forming you into a person known for intellectual seriousness, thoughtful citizenship, and devotion to the common good.

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Learn more about the Foundations Program’s Goals and Courses

Why our students love foundations

Harrison Puntillo

Class of 2027, Cybersecurity major

“I have had many important conversations about humanity and how we interact with the world. The Foundations Program has allowed me to discuss questions that I never would have explored on my own. Why is the meaning of beauty important? What things in life truly make people happy? What does it mean to be human?”

Experience the dynamic interplay between foundations and our majors and minors

Raymond Albert, Ph.D.

Director of Cybersecurity

“The Foundations program is integral to the Cybersecurity program in the formation of thoughtful citizens with strong moral character and integrity that are the foundation of trust that is essential to most cybersecurity efforts. The program strengthens student skills in problem solving, communications, management, and data analysis among others that are increasingly demanded of graduates entering the cybersecurity workforce.”

Steven Theroux, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology

“Assumption’s Foundations Program helps science students better understand the world and their place in it. The Program also helps students develop non-science based problem solving skils, and it aids in their ability to think holistically and creatively.”

Maria Parmley, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

“The Foundations Program allows students to synthesize ideas from many perspectives (historical, scientific, philosophical, etc.) to critically analyze information that they encounter. For example, how can the scientific method help us investigate human behavior? How might historical and cultural aspects impact the type of questions researchers/psychologists might investigate? Students’ experiences through the Foundation Program helps them to see the interplay of various disciplines and apply that knowledge in their fields of interest.”

Rachel Coleman, Ph.D

Assistant Professor of Theology

“Not only does Assumption’s Foundations program provide the basis for a well-lived and thoughtful life in one’s college years and beyond, it is also an excellent beginning for the study of theology, whether it be one’s major or minor. Because theology studies all of reality through the lens of revelation, the courses that make up the Foundations program can do nothing other than expand and enrich one’s study of theology.”

Michael Matrea , J.D., M.S., C.P.A.

Associate Professor of Practice in Accounting

“We provide our students more than just the technical skills needed to succeed in business. Through the dynamic interplay of our Foundations program, we also enable students to understand and apply diverse ideas and perspectives to navigate the complexity they will encounter in the world. As a result, our graduates are both capable professionals and thoughtful individuals who make a meaningful contribution to society by living fulfilling lives with purpose and integrity.”

Program Contact

Lee Trepanier, Ph.D.

Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

l.trepanier@assumption.edu

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