1. Fides Learning Community
Trust, confidence, belief, faith
Challenge and strengthen your most important beliefs
McAnulty College of Liberal Arts

2. FIDES objectives
By the end of the academic year, FIDES students will be able to:
Develop interpretive and qualitative research methods to explore the phenomenon of religious faith
Engage in critical thinking and informed reflection on expressed religious faith and philosophical ideals
Identify important sources of religious faith, including revelation and its expression in sacred writings, tradition, and mystical experience
Articulate how personal and community experience mutually grow and develop alongside religious belief

3. FIDES Courses/Faculty
Fall 2014
UCOR 030C, Research and Information Skills, Prof. Theodore Bergfelt
UCOR 101C, Thinking and Writing Across the Curriculum, Dr. Justin Kishbaugh
UCOR 132C, Basic Philosophical Questions, Dr. Joseph Cimakasky
UCOR , Global and Cultural Perspectives, Dr. Ellen Cavanaugh
Spring 2015
UCOR , Philosophical Ethics, Dr. Ian Edwards

4. Course Descriptions

5. UCOR 030C Research and Information Skills
This course will provide the basic skills required to do college-level research.
These skills include: defining information needs, determining which resources are appropriate, conducting research effectively, and evaluating search results.
Students will learn about the wealth of information sources available through the Gumberg Library, whether in print or electronically.
Students will also learn about ethical issues regarding the use of information, including academic integrity, copyright, and citation.

6. UCOR 101C Thinking and Writing across the Curriculum
This course is designed to help students develop their critical analysis as both a reader and writer. By the end of the semester, students will be able to:
Employ critical thinking in the analysis of writing and in use of information in their own writing
Distinguish between critical thinking and uncritical acceptance of received information
Use the concepts of the rhetorical triangle in their writing
Understand the difference between an arguable and an unarguable claim
Go beyond the conventions of high-school writing and select a voice and structure appropriate for the audience and rhetorical occasion
Write with a focus on process rather than product, and understand the purpose of drafting for their writing and critical thinking
Identify errors they make in standard written English and know how to correct them
Integrate secondary materials into their arguments
Correctly employ MLA format for documentation
Understand why plagiarism is a significant issue in an academic community and know how not to commit it.

7. UCOR 132C Basic Philosophical Questions
In this course, students will consider how the philosophical life is characterized by the search for wisdom and happiness.
As members of FIDES, students will further examine how faith and reason contribute to growth in wisdom and the attainment of happiness.
The student will be guided in this process of discovery by a consideration of the ideas of Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Descartes, and C.S. Lewis.

8. UCOR 143C Global and Cultural Perspectives
In this course we will undertake an odyssey of discovery of global and cultural perspectives through the study of some of the world’s great religions which are thought to be particularly representative of humanity’s religious experience. We will learn to use tools of scholarship to analyze the role spirituality, religion, and theology have in shaping personal, communal, and global life. In particular, the religious traditions of Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism will be examined in the light of contemporary understandings of the human person. Attention will be given to important sources, methods of analysis, and the interplay between expressed religious belief, theological claims, and moral action.
Upon completion of this course students are able to:
Engage in critical thinking and informed reflection on religious faith as a phenomenon of human existence
Identify important sources of religious faith, including revelation and its expression in sacred writings, tradition, and mystical experience
Articulate and apply basic methods theologians use in academic reflection on religious faith and practice
Demonstrate knowledge of major themes and topics of Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism
Explore practices of spiritual asceticism of Eastern and Middle Eastern faiths

9. UCOR 151-01 Philosophical Ethics
In this course, we will critically examine the ethical philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Kant, Schopenhauer, St. John Paul II, and the Dalai Lama from the perspective of wellbeing as contentment, flourishing, and happiness.
We will look at ethics as applied philosophy, or what could be called, “Clinical Philosophy.”
In so doing, we will be returning to an ancient Greco-Roman view of philosophy as a kind of “therapy” for the psyche or soul. Thus, we will look at various ethical philosophies as schools of therapy to be applied to contemporary psychological and socio-cultural problems.
We will reflect upon various ways of living a life of virtue (excellence) that can lead to wellbeing.
Through this course, each student should be able to not only articulate the important ethical ideas associated with each philosopher, but to learn ways of living that can help each student live a life predicated upon wellbeing, so that he/she has tools that will assist him/her in responding to life’s challenges.

10. FIDES Service Learning

11. FIDES Service Learning: Faith and Belief in Practice
For the Spring 2015 semester, FIDES students will work with LEAD Pittsburgh to collaborate with their trainers and educators on a resiliency training project that incorporates the “Clinical Philosophy” approach, or the practice of philosophy perspective, that is advocated in the Philosophical Ethics class. This will involve students being able to utilize and apply the insights of Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Kant, Schopenhauer, St. John Paul the Great, and the Dalai Lama to treatment of depression.
LEAD Pittsburgh, a non-profit corporation, advocates for education and awareness of depression. Early years focused on raising awareness and promoting acceptance of depression for what it is – an exceedingly common medical condition that can be recognized and treated. LEAD has been a catalyst in bringing about change and in planting seeds that have grown and evolved.

12. FIDES Extra-Curricular Activities

13. FIDES Extracurricular Activities
Visit the Pittsburgh Buddhist Center
Visit St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church to see Maxo Vanka murals
Movie nights (partial list):
Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
The Kite Runner
The Burmese Harp
Dersu Uzala
Inherit the Wind
Other activities may be added as the semester proceeds

14. Fides Learning Community
Trust, confidence, belief, faith
McAnulty College of Liberal Arts