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Great Books Colleges

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  • Baylor University (Waco, TX): The Great Texts program focuses on foundational works from antiquity to the present.
  • Benedictine College (Atchison, KS): Great Books curriculum is an option for students to fulfill general education requirements.
  • Biola University (La Mirada, CA): The Torrey Honors Institute focuses on teaching the Great Books and exploring ideas through Socratic discussion.
  • Boston University (Boston, MA): An elective core curriculum is based on the Great Books.
  • Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario, CAN): The Liberal Studies Program is oriented toward the Great Books.
  • Christendom College (Front Royal, VA): The core curriculum is based on the Great Books.
  • Clemson University (Clemson, SC): Great Works of Western Civilization is an undergraduate minor.
  • Columbia University (New York, NY): Masterpieces of Western Literature and Philosophy is a year-long course.
  • Concordia University (Montreal, Quebec, CAN): This liberal arts college focuses on the Great Books.
  • East Carolina University (Greenville, NC): Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences sponsors an interdisciplinary program in the Great Books.
  • Eastern University (St. Davids, PA): Templeton Honors College has a Great Books core.
  • Faulkner University (Montgomery, AL): Great Books Honors provides an honors track that integrates with each undergraduate degree program.
  • Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, OH): The Honors Program is centered on the close reading and discussion of the Great Books.
  • George Wythe University (UT): Academics focus on the classical canon of Western civilization.
  • Gutenberg College (Eugene, OR): The college features a broad-based Great Books curriculum.
  • Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI): The core curriculum includes Great Books courses.
  • Kansas State University (Manhattan, KS): The University offers a primary texts certificate.
  • Kentucky State University (Frankfort, KY): The Great Books are a key component of the curriculum in the Whitney Young School of Honors and Liberal Studies.
  • Lawrence University (Appleton, WI): The freshman studies program focuses on the Great Books.
  • Lynchburg College (Lynchburg, VA): The Lynchburg College Symposium Readings Program revolves around the Great Books.
  • Malaspina U (CAN): The liberal studies program focuses on the Great Books.
  • Mercer University (Macon, GA): The Great Books program is one of two general education tracks in the College of Liberal Arts.
  • Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN): A Great Books minor is available.
  • New Saint Andrews College (Moscow, ID): The curriculum is related to the classics and Great Books.
  • North Park University (Chicago, IL): A two-semester chronological program is available to honors students.
  • Northeast Catholic College (Warner, NH): The Great Books form the foundation for all courses, in both core studies and individual majors.
  • Northwestern State University of Louisiana (Natchitoches, LA): The Louisiana Scholars College combines Great Books based courses with other offerings.
  • Ohio Wesleyan University (Delaware, OH): Offered through the classics major, Ohio Wesleyan's program focuses on classics of Greek and Roman thought and literature.
  • Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA): Seaver College offers the Great Books colloquium as a four-course sequence on masterpieces of Western civilization.
  • Princeton University (Princeton, NJ): The Great Books are part of the program of freshman seminars in the residential colleges.
  • Quest University (Squamish, BC (CAN)): The required first-year core includes many features of a classic Great Books approach.
  • Saint Anselm College (Manchester, NH): A major is offered in liberal studies in the Great Books.
  • Southern Virginia University (Buena Vista, VA): The college offers a comprehensive liberal arts education based on the Great Books.
  • St. John's College (Annapolis, MD): The model of the Great Books colleges, St. John's offers a four-year, non-elective curriculum in which students read, discuss, and write about the seminal works that have shaped the world.
  • St. John's College (Santa Fe, NM): The model of the Great Books colleges, St. John's offers a four-year, non-elective curriculum in which students read, discuss, and write about the seminal works that have shaped the world.
  • St. Mary's College of California (Moraga, CA): The Integral Liberal Arts Program includes a Great Books emphasis.
  • St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN): The Great Conversation is an integrated sequence of five courses taken over two years.
  • Temple University (Philadelphia, PA): The Intellectual Heritage Program is a group of foundation courses required for students in the college of arts and sciences.
  • The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX): The Thomas Jefferson Center for Core Ideas and Texts offers serious study of original writings and in collaboration with the Liberal Arts Honors Humanities Program offers a major in the Great Books
  • Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA): A full Great Books curriculum is in place, with no majors or minors, no electives, and no specializations.
  • Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, NH): All students take a six-hour humanities course through the four years. Much of the learning is based on the Great Books. Students also are required to study Latin or Greek.
  • University of Chicago (Chicago, IL): The curriculum consists of a four-year sequence of Great Books readings.
  • University of Dallas (Irving, TX): Constantin College of Liberal Arts core curriculum offers a comprehensive Great Books curriculum.
  • University of Michigan — Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI): With rare exceptions, first-year honor students are required to take a Great Books course in each semester.
  • University of North Texas (Denton, TX): The Great Books program is an interdisciplinary major in the college of arts and sciences.
  • University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN): The Program of Liberal Studies is a three-year, prescribed sequence of seminars and specialized courses or tutorials anchored in the Western and Catholic traditions.
  • University of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA): The Saint Ignatius Institute offers "rigorous academics rooted in the Great Books."
  • University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI): Through the college of letters and science, the university offers a certificate program that is grounded in the Great Books.
  • Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT): The College of Letters is an interdisciplinary major program for the study of Western literature, history, and philosophy. It has the Great Books as its core.
  • Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA): The General Studies Program is a two-semester exploration of the formation and transformation of some western worldviews using the Great Books.
  • Wyoming Catholic College (Lander, WY): The curriculum is built around the Great Books, reflecting a philosophy that students should learn directly from the greatest thinkers.

Want more information on how this list was compiled? Find out more about where our Lists & Rankings come from.

About This List

Who needs textbooks? With Great Books programs, students get a liberal arts education entirely through classic works of theology, philosophy, history, fiction, science, and more. They're basically a bookworm's dream come true. FYI, this list is from The College Finder, 2017 edition now available!

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