HLLC Curriculum Overview
HLLC Scholars participate in a shared interdisciplinary curriculum built upon themes related to “local citizenship in a global world.” The curriculum promotes critical intellectual inquiry, increases cultural competence, and explores what it means to be a responsible citizen locally and globally.
The HLLC curriculum serves as a second concentration that seamlessly intersects with each scholar’s academic curriculum. It encourages scholars to critically engage in how local and global issues emerge in various fields of study. The curriculum also engages HLLC Scholars in existing anchor institution collaborations in Newark, allowing them to draw out the local-global connections in publicly-engaged scholarship and education. The HLLC curriculum consists of a minimum of 18 credits in HLLC-designated courses (with the timing of courses subject to students’ major or status as a first-year or transfer student).
The curriculum includes four core classes and a combination of HLLC inter-disciplinary elective courses taught by world-renowned faculty from various academic departments, local community leaders, and public scholars.
| Freshmen Track | Transfer Track |
| Courses | Credits | Semester | Semester |
| Local Citizenship in a Global World (Core) | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Negotiating Space, Place, and Identities (Core) | 1.5 | 1 | 1 |
| Voice, Citizenship, and Community Engagement (Core) | 1.5 | 2 | 2 |
| HLLC Elective 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| HLLC Elective 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| HLLC Elective 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Capstone (Core) | 3-4 | 4-6 | 2-4 |
HLLC Electives — Special Topics Courses
All HLLC elective courses are focused on themes related to local citizenship in a global world, and course offerings vary from semester to semester. HLLC elective courses provide scholars with opportunities for intellectual exploration and an introduction to advanced techniques in critical analysis, research, or fieldwork. Elective courses are intentionally cross-disciplinary and may satisfy requirements in various academic majors.
Capstone
The capstone experience builds upon the foundations of the HLLC core courses to engage scholars more deeply in how issues of social inequity can be addressed through the lens of their specific academic disciplines and community-engaged scholarship. Each scholar is expected to create a capstone project to be conducted at RU-N, in a local community (preferably Newark), or at an international site. Scholars may be involved in research projects, intern with local not-for-profits or government agencies, or engage in international academic or service learning projects.